New Gallery System coming soon

[Steve]

Hello fellow LST'rs

We have been working hard to upgrade the current 'Tattoo Gallery' section and it's almost ready to be installed, so we wanted to let you know what to expect so you aren't too freaked out by it!

Here are some of the things you can look forward to:

1. Batch uploading - we will have the option to upload multiple pictures at a time without having to select them individually.

2. Tattoo Categories - Every picture can be assigned to a category so that we will be able to view all of the Dragon tattoo pictures (for example) in one area!

3. Slideshows - we will be able to watch a slideshow of all pictures in a given category, or member album without having to click each one - just sit back and enjoy.

4. Image rating - we will be able to rate all pictures and sort by the highest rated.

5. Sorting - we will be able to sort by most views, most comments, highest rated, newest, oldest, etc.

6. Favorites - we will be able to save and collect our favorite images on LST to a new 'My Favorites' area to check out any time without having to search for them.

7. Email Notifications - we will be able to receive email notifications anytime someone comments on one of our pictures if we want to.

...and a bunch of other cool stuff.

One thing that is different from the current system is that there will no longer be the option to create multiple member 'albums' - all of your current pictures will be moved into a new 'gallery' tab on your user profile page (so don't freak out :eek:).

After the new gallery is live, we will ask you to go through and assign each of your pictures to the category that you feel best fits them when you have a chance. All existing pictures will be assigned to a generic 'Tattoo Pictures' category by default when the new system is installed.

We are aiming to install the new gallery system some time between now and cinco de mayo (just for fun). There will be a couple hours of downtime while we perform the upgrade.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Enjoy!

[Steve]

Update: there are a few small technical niggles that are holding up the new gallery system, so it looks like we'll miss our target date of cinco de mayo sadly. We are getting close though so it shouldn't be too much longer.

[Steve]

So, as mentioned in another thread - this is finally ready to go live. I am installing it today and hope to make it live today or tomorrow! We expect that there will be some bugs to work out, and some initial confusion about the new interface and functionality, so thanks in advance for bearing with us as we learn the ropes with our new and improved system. The net result should be a big positive for everyone. Cheers.

[Steve]

I am going to turn off the ability to upload images now, while I copy current images into the new gallery - so that people aren't uploading during the transfer. It should only be for 20 minutes or so. Everything else should function normally.

[Steve]

Ok turned back on. hitting a couple speed bumps and have to catch the bus soon, so probably switch to new gallery tomorrow. stay tuned!

[Steve]

Update: one small bug holding up the process here folks. should have it sorted within a week.. good times!

[Steve]

Okey dokey - making another run at this now. I've turned off upload option in current/old gallery system (I hope) while I import pictures + comments to new system.

[Steve]

Alrighty - some of you may have already noticed that the new Tattoo Gallery system is live! Go ahead and start moving your pictures to the best-fit categories by following these steps:

1. click on the thumbnail of the picture you want to move

2. select 'image tools' at the top right

3. select 'edit image'

4. scroll down to the category dropdown menu below the picture

5. choose the new category and hit 'save changes'

Let us know if you run into any problems trying to do this.

You can also go ahead and start uploading new pictures and using all of the other new features available.

I'll be fine tuning things here and there over the next week - let us know if you run into errors/bugs/etc.

Enjoy!

[s33ktruth]

Alrighty - some of you may have already noticed that the new Tattoo Gallery system is live! Go ahead and start moving your pictures to the best-fit categories by following these steps:

1. click on the thumbnail of the picture you want to move

2. select 'image tools' at the top right

3. select 'edit image'

4. scroll down to the category dropdown menu below the picture

5. choose the new category and hit 'save changes'

Let us know if you run into any problems trying to do this.

You can also go ahead and start uploading new pictures and using all of the other new features available.

I'll be fine tuning things here and there over the next week - let us know if you run into errors/bugs/etc.

Enjoy!

Nice job, I like the way you organized it like a Database, do you specialize in programming?

[Steve]

Nice job, I like the way you organized it like a Database, do you specialize in programming?

Thanks! Yes, I'm a full-time web developer. :)

[Lochlan]

Hurricane of gnarly! Steve has been showing me the development and progress of this new tattoo photo gallery feature that we, LST Team, wanted for several months and I was so excited. Then just now I got my first opportunity to do a trial run of uploading a picture and all I can say is it is so much better! From a tattoo customer perspective you can place the tattooer and tattoo shop or what-have-yous in the description field as well. I can't wait til everyone categorizes theirs tattoo pictures so we can try the slideshow feature!!!!!!

Thanks again Steve! And thanks LSTers for taking the time to (re)categorize your tattoo pictures and also fill out the various fields if you please.