NEW Custom Made Tattoo Gallery

[Lochlan]

Good morning LSTers!

We very excitedly would like to formally announce....After feedback from you all and the first ten months of launching Last Sparrow Tattoo Forum Steve has designed, built, and implemented a new custom tattoo gallery system for us! No other tattoo web site has the system we have which is awesome as we think we found the best of various galleries plus added some features we thought would be cool and put it all together for you.....

Here are the some of the new features:

1. Batch uploading - 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 are 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 are able to rate all pictures and sort by the highest rated.

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

6. Favorites - we are 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 are able to receive email notifications anytime someone comments on one of our pictures if we want to.

...and a bunch of other cool stuff.

With these new features and system we are asking everyone to move their current images uploaded to the new various categories. You can do so by:

1. clicking 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'

If everyone could do this it would be much appreciated so that we, Team LST, don't mis-categorize your tattoo pictures.

When doing so check out the other various options/details you can add to each image. I really like this from a tattoo customer perspective and/or when you post pictures of others tattoos you've gotten so you can give the tattooers and/or shop credit as well.

We hope you enjoy this new feature and let us know if you have any questions. Thanks again to Steve. Also thanks in advance LSTers for taking the time to move your images and we hope you continue to enjoy your stay with us......

Tattoo Gallery

[Valerie Vargas]

not sure what to think of the new galleries... they do look better but i'm not sure what to think about my uncategorized images being categorized on my behalf. also when you click on a persons profile and try to check out their work, it just takes you to a massive gallery of everyones tattoo uploads making it hard to keep track of whose work youre looking at. we'll see how it goes...

[Steve]

Hi Valerie,

Thanks for voicing your opinion here - I'm sure others have the same questions.

Can you help me understand this part?

when you click on a persons profile and try to check out their work, it just takes you to a massive gallery of everyones tattoo uploads making it hard to keep track of whose work youre looking at.

You should only see your pictures when you go to your profile (regardless of which category the are in):

View Profile: Valerie Vargas - Last Sparrow Tattoo

[Iwar]

I also experience this. When you click on a profile and click on a picture from their gallery, then click next picture a few times and you're suddenly flicking through other pictures from other galleries. I liked the "Personal" galleries before the update a lot better. It's also a bit frustrating that the pictures are named whatever the picture upload file was named instead of the description set by the the user uploading the it.

[Lochlan]

Thanks Iwar and Valerie for speaking up,

I am going to let Steve have at the Gallery questions regarding navigation.

Valerie, you should be able to override any move/categorizing that has occurred to your images but if not please let us know....

LSTers, we are slowly moving through the pictures and trying to categorize them AND would love if the user did it rather than us!

Iwar, for the naming of pictures you should be able to not only add a name to a picture but also a description if you want.

LSTers, we would prefer you adding tattoo names/style/object/etc rather than numbers or what-have-yous as it can also make for an easier navigation tool for other LSTers. If you add the tattooers or shops name in the description this could allow another search feature

[RockelMan]

Maybe I am just not looking at it right but I cant seem to find a way to delete some of the pics I have in my gallery. I have a few that I think are more of a duplicate and as they are of my incomplete sleeve I would like to remove some as I will be adding more later on.

[Stewart Robson]

I only just realised that the galeries were different by accident. I don't check every new post or thread here so this almost passed me by.

The points you mention, Lochlan, are cool and will be helpful for sure.

The categories thing I'm not so sure of. If the user places things into categories, that's cool, but having things labelled by a staff member isn't.

Maybe Im being over-sensitive about this but I'm not comfortable with my work being part of a fully searchable catalogue by subject or style. I know that once it's on the internet, you can do that via google anyway, which is why I stopped being so descriptive with the blog entries on my website. I could see from the search engine terms on my website that visitors got to my site by searching google for things like "gypsy girl tattoo on arm with day of the dead makeup" or "fox and cherry tree tattoo sleeve". Terms so specific that it's obvious why they are searching for tattoo photos.

I'm trying to showcase my work and to share it with my friends, peers, customers and future customers. I'm not interested in being part of a bank of resource material for people to search a database for all the separate elements of their tattoo, print their 'inspiration' and take it to their local shop.

Maybe I'm over-reacting here.

I know I'm no big fish and nobody is copying the tattoos I do but I'm still not comfortable with the categorised galleries.

Recently a tattoo magazine that I read and occasionally submit photos to, started doing a similar thing on their website, labeling every image according to the design elements, colour, style and placement. Then they charge a subscription to that online database. Now it's a ready tattooed 'try-before-you-buy' gallery of tattoos. With that subscription you can search for exactly the elements you want and chances are, you'll find just the tattoo you described, on somebody else, that they paid for and some tattooer put together, solving all the problems of placement, layout and readability etc, so it can be printed and taken to anybody who is ok with copying a tattoo verbatim. That also prevents the person from going to tattooer who's work they like and describing what they want. All they can picture is that tattoo they fell in love with on the internet because it fit their search criteria.

That made me re-think if I wanted to submit work to that publication at all.

I know that what you're doing here is not on that same scale and it seems to make sense from a usability point of view but it's the very thin end of the same wedge.

I know that I can't stop this happening and it makes a lot of sense to a web developer who cares about usability. I just don't want to be part of that.

So I guess the point I'm trying to make is: I would prefer to be able to opt out of having my work categorised in this way. It would have been preferable to opt-in to the new gallery system, or maybe to have a catch-all category or 'uncategorised'?.

If that is not possible, I'll need to re-think if I want to keep a gallery of my work here at Last Sparrow and just stick to reading and occasionally posting in forums. That would be a shame as it's a great site/forum and I'm happy to be a part of it and share my work here, particularly because I thought this place was different from other social networks, a place where the users could have some control over how their images were used and not a place for people to easily trawl for their next tattoo.

Aside from my own personal, possibly anti-social reasons, I find the new galleries confusing to browse. While browsing one artist's work and clicking 'next' I'm suddenly looking at something else, uploaded by another user. That's not how I expect to view the gallery of an artist's work and seems counter-intuitive.

Is your eventual goal to have one giant gallery that is only navigable by subject or search terms rather than from within an isolated users profile? I'm a lazy web user (possibly old fashioned) who likes to point and click instead of typing to browse sites.

Maybe these are teething problems that can be worked out easily. Maybe I'm being over-sensitive.

This post was not intended to be a rant, so here's an honest question because maybe I'm missing something: It's easy to see how having our work as part of a searchable database is good for the site visitor, but how is it good for tattooers?

[Steve]

Thanks for everyone's input here - I was starting to wonder why nobody had opinions about the new gallery yet!

RockelMan - I have updated permissions so you can delete your pictures now - let me know if you find otherwise.

Valerie/Iwar/Stewart - thanks for clarifying the next/previous issue with not staying in the members' gallery. I see it too now, and will work on finding a fix for that. In the meantime, you can use the 'slideshow' feature to view all of the pictures in a member gallery as expected.

Keep the comments and suggestions coming - we definitely want to make the site as good as we can. The primary idea behind the gallery is just to make it easier to see what is in it. with 3,500 pictures in a big bucket - it was getting hard to navigate.

We shouldn't be losing any of the features that the old gallery had, just getting a bunch of new ones that make it better, so let me know what else is missing from the old gallery and I'll do my best to fix it.

[Lochlan]

As Steve said, thanks for speaking up with comments and suggestions. We, team LST, were wondering why no one really said anything when we announced the upcoming changes in April. We, team LST, discussed it amongst ourselves for awhile before we came up with a game plan for a new gallery that seemed like the most user friendly one which as mentioned we had to custom build cause we didn't think very highly of the other ones we saw.

I want to echo what Steve said:

The primary idea behind the gallery is just to make it easier to see what is in it. with 3,500 pictures in a big bucket - it was getting hard to navigate.

We were getting feedback from users as well that the navigation around the gallery could be better so that's all we are aiming to do, make the best possible tattoo site we can for tattooers and tattoo customers.

Stewart and others I hope this answers your comments and suggestions. If not, please let us know.

[Lochlan]

Stewart and other tattooers to the question:

"It's easy to see how having our work as part of a searchable database is good for the site visitor, but how is it good for tattooers?"

Here's my humble attempt at exploring and answering it,

A large chunk of users on LST are tattooers then when looking at who is using the gallery an even larger chunk of those in this area are tattooers who upload their tattoo pictures to it plus view them. Only so many of the tattoo customers on LST upload their tattoo pictures. A lot of the feedback we got on the old system came from tattooers looking for easier navigation, sorting, etc.. Scott was rather amusing when we were discussing what is out there and looking at/on other sites then designing what our, LST, tattoo gallery and categories would be.

And to build off of this with one of the new features is the rating system for LSTers to use a star rating system to pick the tattoos they like most. It is like a user based tattoo magazine editorial board. It has been discussed recently the quality of tattoo magazines are not all that and there are not really any tattoo ezines which tattooers think that highly of. WELL...this new user friendly system is a platform for tattooers to be active in their craft and what is good if they please to. I don't remember Scott's exact words but when he and I were first thinking about starting this site one of the turning points for him was around the line, "you can't complain if you don't vote". He randomly said it one day and it has stuck with me and him as well I believe. We have more in the works for the site as a whole too but the gallery system was one of the jumping off points we decided to do first to work to provide a better tattoo website not only for the tattoo customer but the tattooers. Scott used this line in our press release which I think is fitting here, '“My goal is to provide a source for people to see and meet good reputable tattooers [tattoo artists] from around the world, just like the magazines used to do. I'm hoping that Last Sparrow Tattoo can help protect the art of tattooing while respecting its roots and growing the community,” he said. He is not as much interested in this month’s new hit sensation; but rather in celebrating the longevity of the art form."

There are many many new features and the above is just one. We are working on some security stuff which will hopefully help with some of the other concerns.

Before you couldn't sort your pictures, so for example, when posting before and after pictures of a cover-up the order could be off which this new feature fixes. We often discuss tattoo designs and some upload pictures straight to the thread which is awesome and easy reference. Then there are those who opt just to use words which is also awesome which the new gallery should help the user see some of that specific image executed by various tattooers if they desire. Plus tattooers can see the variations some have used, like a recipe for them to add their own spice on classic tattoos. Lastly on this point it also allows a potential customer not knowing what say a homeward bound tattoo is and looks like by putting an image to a word.

There are tons of other tattoo sites out there and I think a large chunk of us on here can agree the quality is not all that and LST is trying to put quality out there to the current and potential customers & tattooers so they can be better educated. Better educated not in what equipment a tattooer is using but ability to spot a not so good tattooer and a good tattooer. Exposing the gap and requesting better tattoos, better tattooers, and better tattoo shops!

I hope this helps......

[Steve]

When you click on a profile and click on a picture from their gallery, then click next picture a few times and you're suddenly flicking through other pictures from other galleries.

This is now fixed - please try it out when you have a chance, and let me know if you find otherwise. Nice pics in your gallery by the way Iwar!

Cheers

[Stewart Robson]

Now that Steve has fixed the problem so that you can just cycle through the same user's gallery it seems a lot easier to use.

Lochlan, I fully agree with your points and the original manifesto of this site, which is why I joined in the first place, although I don't usually participate in threads on internet forums. The interesting discussions and photos, by and from tattooers I admire keep me coming back.

I guess any problems I have are down to the way the site could be used, not how it's designed. Too many people don't want to be educated about good tattooing, they just want to print pictures to take to a shop and get the same tattoo. A searchable database, organised by subject feels a little too much like online shopping, rather than research to me. I know I can't stop people doing that and it's been happening via google for a while now.

The idea of a high quality online community/magazine is awesome and I hope this continues to be that. But one problem with aiming for quality is editorial control. Someone would need to decide what is worth inclusion and what isn't. Sadly, that's not the way to build a happy online community that people want to be part of. If anyone can join and share their views, then it's closer to public access television than an informed documentary or arts show.

It's a pickle for sure and it's also the blessing and the curse of the internet.

Good luck!

[RockelMan]

Thanks for everyone's input here - I was starting to wonder why nobody had opinions about the new gallery yet!

RockelMan - I have updated permissions so you can delete your pictures now - let me know if you find otherwise.

Thanks Steve. I see the delete option for my own photos in my gallery but when I select the ones I want to remove, then click the delete button at the bottom of the page, it reloads the page like it is going to delete them but the photos are still there. any ideas?

[Lochlan]

Stewart, once again thanks for being vocal as it is helping us look at options. Everyone can never be happy especially in an online community as you mentioned but we can listen to people and see how we can make the site better. Also I like pickles to eat and psychologically, it keeps me on my toes working to problem solve creatively and efficiently.

So if no one knows this, ALL SITES on the internet can have their images dragged off and/or right clicked if you run pc UNLESS the security settings on the site have been changed. We are in the process of changing our settings so people can not do either.

[Steve]

Thanks rockelman - let me do some testing tomorrow and get back to you.

[Stewart Robson]

So if no one knows this, ALL SITES on the internet can have their images dragged off and/or right clicked if you run pc UNLESS the security settings on the site have been changed. We are in the process of changing our settings so people can not do either.

That doesn't worry me so much, but I know it's important to lots of people. Disabling hot-linking would keep visitors here at LST instead of all over tumblr. A screen grab will catch anything displayed in a browser though.

Thanks again for trying to make this place super-cool.

[Steve]

I see the delete option for my own photos in my gallery but when I select the ones I want to remove, then click the delete button at the bottom of the page, it reloads the page like it is going to delete them but the photos are still there. any ideas?

Hi RockelMan - I tested this out and was unable to reproduce what you're seeing. When you have a chance, could you try it with a newly-uploaded image? Maybe it's just happening with images that were imported from the old gallery.. If it continues, let me know which browser you are using. alternatively, just let me know which images you want to delete and I'll do it for you. Thanks!

[Steve]

So if no one knows this, ALL SITES on the internet can have their images dragged off and/or right clicked if you run pc UNLESS the security settings on the site have been changed. We are in the process of changing our settings so people can not do either.

This is mostly completed now - should be a little harder for people to save your images to their desktops.

[RockelMan]

Hi RockelMan - I tested this out and was unable to reproduce what you're seeing. When you have a chance, could you try it with a newly-uploaded image? Maybe it's just happening with images that were imported from the old gallery.. If it continues, let me know which browser you are using. alternatively, just let me know which images you want to delete and I'll do it for you. Thanks!

Hi Steve. Yes It is from the old gallery. For some reason some of the photos I deleted are gone but still, photo "arm4" is there. If you could remove it for me as it just does not seem to want to go LOL. I have yet to upload any new ones to my gallery because I have another appointment this thursday so I will take new photos of my sleeve in progress then

[Steve]

Hi Steve. Yes It is from the old gallery. For some reason some of the photos I deleted are gone but still, photo "arm4" is there. If you could remove it for me as it just does not seem to want to go LOL. I have yet to upload any new ones to my gallery because I have another appointment this thursday so I will take new photos of my sleeve in progress then

Ok - Arm4 is deleted now - thanks for your patience with the new system. Cheers

[Valerie Vargas]

hey, one question, i think my brain isn't working today, how can i delete photos from my own gallery?? i must have looked everywhere but i'm obviously not paying enough attention, please someone point me in the right direction! thanks!

[Lochlan]

hey, one question, i think my brain isn't working today, how can i delete photos from my own gallery?? i must have looked everywhere but i'm obviously not paying enough attention, please someone point me in the right direction! thanks!

1) Navigate to your picture you want to delete

2) Click 'Image Tools" on the right side above the image

3) Choose 'Edit Image'

4) On the vertical tool bar on the right side you should now see the option to delete image and the rest should be self explanatory......

[Ursula]

Just wanted to say thanks for adding "tattoo art" and "tattoo life" to the image sections. Finally I have the proper place for most of my photos :)

[Valerie Vargas]

hmm, i dont see the option. all i see on the right hand side is 'image info, 'image manipulation' and 'image replacement'. no mention of delete...

[Steve]

hmm, i dont see the option. all i see on the right hand side is 'image info, 'image manipulation' and 'image replacement'. no mention of delete...

Hi Valerie - thanks for your patience. Please try again now and let me know if the delete option still isn't there. Cheers