Me too please.  I tried to do this the other day and eventually gave up.

Hi all,

You're right, this isn't an easy thing to do at the moment. Basically, the forum as-is isn't set up for it. The way people include images at the moment is to upload them to an external site (such as the photo sharing site flickr.com) and then link to their image within the post using this syntax:

[img]http://www.example.com/image.jpg[/img]

Quite an arduous process!

We are, however, currently reworking a lot of the site which we will be releasing soon-ish. And this seems as good an opportunity as any to ask for any ideas or wish-list items people have!

The main emphasis is on a single logon for the whole site (namely galleries and forum) and to integrate the two much more closely. The main idea is to make it clear in forum posts which gallery member is posting etc. with links to their gallery and so on. Adding images to forum posts will also be much simpler and handled directly on the site.

The other main area is opening up the galleries. Letting people comment on items, a search facility to find items / artists easier and a quick-view of what has been added since your last visit are the main additions.

Please feel free to jump on this thread with any suggestions. Is there anything (maybe not even related to the two paragraphs above!) that you'd like to see?

Thanks for your interest.

Russ

Thanks Russ
It all sounds good. I think I will leave the photos until we upgrade.
I like Charlotte's search Idea.
I am a member of one site which has so much going on that the only post or thread as they call it that I managed to do was in their welcome forum. I keep trying but I find its just to much going on.
So not to busy Russ  .
Sue.

Just a suggestion, but you might try porting the db to SMF forums as they are far more secure and, in my experience this last year, keep out the porn spammers. I was a die-hard phpbb user once, but the security of SMF finally won me over. SMF will also allow you to host uploaded attatchments, and more.

I'll second and third a forum search engine. That would make it easy to find posts about certain subjects/problems/solutions.

A link in the left column to people's on-site galleries would simplify things too. I like that idea, Russ! Good job!

Would be cool if the boards allowed uploading images. Would be much easier than posting them on personal webspace, then putting the link in an image tag.

One thing I'd really like to see: SOMEBODY MAKE MY PAPIER MACHE FOR ME!   I don't have enough time! 

Sue, don't worry about being non-techie. Just adopt the motto, "If I can't glue it, I don't do it!" 

Hi all,

Many thanks for all your suggestions so far. We really appreciate your input!

Will it be possible for a member or a visitor to post a comment on an individual piece of an artist in the gallery?

Yes, this is a good idea and is definitely one of the main features we'll be adding.

The basic plan is to allow comments / questions by other members (and possibly guests if we can get the potential spamming issues sorted out) on any item in the galleries. Any comments the gallery owner makes (presumably in reply to previous comments) will be highlighted as such.

Just a suggestion, but you might try porting the db to SMF forums as they are far more secure and...

Yes, we are being hit by spammers rather frequently unfortunately. The moderators (Dopapier, Catperson and Jackie) do a good job to keep them at bay but we will be taking further steps to quash them!

I'll second and third a forum search engine.

A forum search is actually in place at the moment - The small text/image search link at the top will let you search within the forums only. Mental note - make it stand out more!

Would be cool if the boards allowed uploading images. Would be much easier than posting them on personal webspace, then putting the link in an image tag.

I totally agree that posting images on the forum is far harder than it should be.

The idea with the new system is that there is just a single membership for the entire site. Therefore anyone in future who posts in the forum will also have a gallery account by default (obviously use is optional though!).

What we're thinking about doing is having a "scrapbook" area where you can upload whatever photos you wish that can be pointed to from the forum (for items you don't wish to have in your gallery yet).

I like the idea of being able to search the galleries if possible. I don't know how much work would be involved in this but would love to be able to type in say (bowls) and pull up a list of all the relevant pictures.

Another must have feature as far as I'm concerned! I'm afraid that now the number of galleries has risen it's very difficult to find what you're looking for. Your idea of key search terms is a good one. I think we'll allow people to search on the item descriptions as well as let members "tag" items with specific keywords (e.g. "sculpture", "hand" and "bowl" as you suggested).

--

As for time scales, it's a case of as soon as possible at the moment. It'll probably be rolled out in iterations though, with the first just being a revamp of the design to allow for the new additions.

Thanks again for all your ideas. If you have any feedback (or criticism!) of the above, please us know so we can take it on board.

See you soon!

Russ