Feedback very appreciated: next release of Tidypics ready for TESTING

Ready for TESTING means: Please do not use it on any productive sites yet! Therefore, the upcoming next release of Tidypics is only available on github for now.

What's new:

The major change is the handling of comments and likes made via the activity page. If you now comment on an "images uploaded" river entry (or like such an entry) the comment/like will now get added either to the image (in case only a single image was uploaded) or the album (if more than a single image was uploaded in one go). The comments/like will still show up on this upload entry in the river but now also on the album or images pages respectively.

Why do I ask for feedback and testing?

For existing comments/likes made with former versions of Tidypics on the activty page to appear in the same way as any comments/likes made with the new release the existing database entries for these comments and likes need to be updated. Therefore, the upcoming release of Tidypics comes with the necessary upgrade script (to be started via the Tidypics settings page).

Depending on how many database entries need to be updated these script might take a while to execute. Also, there are several differences of these database entries to be considered (due to possible different Tidypics versions used in the past while these entries were created). Additionally, Elgg 1.9 comes with a different and additional requirements for the upgrade script (therefore the script differs for the Tidypics version for Elgg 1.8 and 1.9).

Testing capabilites of me are limited (especially regarding the size of the test installation available). Also, I might not have considered all possible use cases yet that might have to be taken into account for the upgrade script. Therefore, I would like to ask you - if you have some time and a suitable Elgg test installation at hand: could you give me some feedback how the upcoming version of Tidypics - especially the upgrade - works for you? How long does it take to run on your site (with some rough info about the size of your installation)?

It won't make much sense to test the upgrade on a fresh installation as there won't be any entries to be updated.

Where to get the upcoming Tidypics for testing?

Before testing the upcoming Tidypics release please read the README.txt. Best would be to backup the database before running the Tidypics upgrade. And again: DO NOT YET USE ON A PRODUCTIVE SITE!

  • This is a great work being done. Thanks for the update. Feedback soon.

    This is the most important plugin that one needs apart from the core - so once again huge huge thanks to iionly!

  • Still testing ..........

    1)    Cannot upload sample  image file - 4000 x 3000 pixel but size is very little, approx 200 kb - error message : too many pixels

    problem with php ini settings ?? problem with tidypics or elgg??

    2) Under Activity integration options 'One entry with all photos of the batch' is problamtic where there are say, 20 or 30 or similar large number of simultaneous uploads - instead of "all photos" maybe it should be "some photos" ( 5 or 7 or whatever)

    3) "Before you can start with uploading your photos you need to select one of your albums you want to add the photos to or you can select to create a new album: "
    - instead of dropdown  menu radiobuttons or something similar may be more userfriendly - dropdown does not show the already existing albums unless clicked and 'insists' to create new album

    4) Cannot see exif data in most photos but need to test more

    5)Tags

    Allow user to delete tag, allow user via settings / tools ro disallow tagging his name

    Show tags ( tag words) in side bar - and when the word is clicked or hovered upon let the selected area show up (currently only user name appears if tagged)

    6) features - when photo clicked on, in the river, let it open in a lightbox with comment area sp that user do not have to leave the river

    7) features - native slideshow ( plus minus like and comments)

    8) features - on hover on album thumbnail show a few tmubnails of the various photos in it

  • Thanks for the the suggestions. But that is not what I would first of all need to know - the main intention I asked for feedback: how does the upgrade script included in beta 13 works for you?

    The memory requirement for image resizing when using the GD image library is depending on image dimension not on file size. Either increase php memory limit or even better use ImageMagick image library which has much lower memory requirements.

    There's now also a limit of 10 photos for the Flash Uploader for a single image upload. If you want even less preview images to show up in the corresponding river entry you would need to modify the river view. That's rather easy to do. In contrast, it's rather impossible to offer exactly the river view regarding the number of preview images that everyone would agree on. So, there are three options available that I think cover most requirements.

    Radio buttons require much more space. Again, different wishes from different people make it impossible to fit everyones needs. Again, not too diffucult to modify.

    Do all the images have exif data? If not, there's no data to show.

    Prevent user tagging is something that sounds interesting. Word tags are integrated in the Elgg tagging mechanism. Therefore, they are displayed where you are used to by other type of content.

    Photos in full view on river page: on the one hand sounds interesting. On the other hand this would be different to any other type of content on the site.

    What is a "native slideshow"? What mean "plus minus like and comments"?

    Preview of album content on hovering: I don't think that is very practical. Sounds like a lot of "flashing" on mouse movement most likely in connection with a noticeable delay on image loading.

  • the main intention I asked for feedback: how does the upgrade script included in beta 13 works for you?

    I tested on a default installation of Elgg 1.8.19 so that there is no possibility of conflict with anything else. So to test upgrade script I will install an older version of Elgg and upgrade and then see.

    The memory requirement for image resizing when using the GD image library is depending on image dimension not on file size. Either increase php memory limit or even better use ImageMagick image library which has much lower memory requirements.

    Yes, I was thinking that it could be some php ini settings problem.

    There's now also a limit of 10 photos for the Flash Uploader for a single image upload.  In contrast, it's rather impossible to offer exactly the river view regarding the number of preview images that everyone would agree on.

    Limit of 10 photos is good - I missed that. "A set of 7 photos" is there already in settings for another purpose. So the concept of a predetermined "number" that everyone uses is not new. The problem with too many thumbnails in  rows  are two:
    - "spams" the river
    - in second row there is slight indentation of the row which is less pleasing to the eyes in any theme

    Radio buttons require much more space. Again, different wishes from different people make it impossible to fit everyones needs. Again, not too diffucult to modify

    I agree it can be modified if I put in the slight labour. But UI wise it is not that good - it can leave some user confused if everytime they see "create new album" even after creating new album. But then yes, any one can modify it..

    Do all the images have exif data? If not, there's no data to show.

    I need to test it more. I think in another gallery script (non Elgg) same phot is showing exif data. But if everyone else is not having this problem I need to test it more. Will do so.

    Prevent user tagging is something that sounds interesting. Word tags are integrated in the Elgg tagging mechanism. Therefore, they are displayed where you are used to by other type of content.

    Just looking at the photo user has no idea it has been tagged. It is customary for photo tags to have the tags enlisted below the photo or in the side bar, and on click/hover on the tag the tagged area shows up.

    Photos in full view on river page: on the one hand sounds interesting. On the other hand this would be different to any other type of content on the site.

    May be not in full view - but in light box. Hypegallery does this. Since photo is different type of content ( blog, forum post, bookmark are all text primarily) it may be good to show photo in lightnbox with comment box from the river.

    What is a "native slideshow"? What mean "plus minus like and comments"?

    I think there was some discussion on this before. An inbuilt slideshow - not third party like Cool Iris. Incorprate "like" button and comment box in the slide show optionally - since social nets are doing this user expectancy has become like that

    Preview of album content on hovering: I don't think that is very practical. Sounds like a lot of "flashing" on mouse movement most likely in connection with a noticeable delay on image loading.

    If you have a FB account you can see what I mean. ( I do not recommend or suggest anyone to have FB account though)  There is no flashing - it is nicely done there. These are fancy features no doubt but may be handy also. This is something not urgent. But we need some feature (useful or fancy) which FB or G+ do not have :)

  • The testing is not about upgrading from an older version of Elgg but about upgrading from an older version of Tidypics. The upgrade script in the new version of Tidypics fixes the existing river / comment / like entries made on the activity page to be fully compatible with the behaviour of the new Tidypics version.

    The "7 images" limit is for the "new album created" river entries. The number of images in an album is not limited as such, so the number of thumbnail images of the album to be shown in these river entries must be limited. For "image(s) uploaded" entries there is already a limit for the number of images you can upload in one batch (at least now also for the flash uploader while the limit of 10 was already in place for the basic uploader). The idea is that you can configure the river entry to show previews of all images that were uploaded (either in one entry or separate entries for each image) or show only a single preview image. If you want a behaviour that's somewhere between these options then it's not too difficult to modify the river view. I simply can't make it to fit it the wishes of everyone exactly.

    "Create new album" or selecting an existing album for image uploads are both valid options. I think the instructions text is specific enough to not confuse the users. If you prefer the "Create album" option to be at the bottom of the dropdown selections you can also modify the corresponding view.

    The word tag list is shown above the photo in the title section. That's where the tags are shown for other type of content on Elgg sites, too.

    The slideshow IS "native". It uses a script by CoolIris but it runs on the site's server exclusively. Still I want to replace it with some other slideshow script (as PiclensLite does not work on Elgg 1.9 anymore). But I will still replace is with some existing slideshow script and not write it from scratch.

  • The number of images in an album is not limited as such, so the number of thumbnail images of the album to be shown in these river entries must be limited.

    I understand. Thanks.

      If you want a behaviour that's somewhere between these options then it's not too difficult to modify the river view. I simply can't make it to fit it the wishes of everyone exactly.

    I agree. Please do not take this as argument - good plugins can come with intelligent defaults. Users who are on dedicated and 'resourceful' server may want to batch upload (or zip upload) of more than 10, maybe 100 simultaneous pictures. However the site need not show all the thumbnails - no social site or social script does this. Its like - "these 10 thumbnails and 'n' more". Maybe a nifty solution will be to let the admin fill up a number field to determine the value of 'n'. Once again this is NOT urgent and may be tweaked by me/by someone in future.

    I think the instructions text is specific enough to not confuse the users.

    UI experts say users hardly read detailed text :( . Once again this NOT urgent - it was just a feedback.

    The word tag list is shown above the photo in the title section. That's where the tags are shown for other type of content on Elgg sites, too.

    Its  customary across the entire web to show photo tags differently - this are sort of hypermarks. Often photos have the usual tags and the photo hypermarks both. Once again this is not that urgent.

    CoolIris

    By native slideshow I meant no branding - hypegallery uses a slideshow without branding but I have not looked into what it is.

    The testing is not about upgrading from an older version of Elgg but about upgrading from an older version of Tidypics.

    I will do this and post the results. I know many users are using tidypics or are in need of this   so for at least new users (who need no upgrade) you may release an alpha/beta version - this github version looks pretty good and without any problems. Those who have huge number of users and photos as well may comment on scalabilty and resource consumption. We may have more feedback and comments once an alpha/beta version is released.

  • Taggging, in the sense, marking on the photo takes too many steps compared to real world user nets. Please see the attached image file. Most often the new member may not know that this feature is there.

    When tags are listed by the side of the tag icon, both the usual Elgg text tags and "marks" on photos are listed together but the user see only one tag on the photo, wondering where is the other. I would consider this an user interface bug. Please see the diagram.

    image

  • Not all tags can be related to a specific part of an image. Some tags aim rather at the whole image. These tags can be added by the image uploader during upload or at a later time when editing the image - like with ANY other type of site content. Additionally, the word tags for specific sections of an image can be added by any user. Separating these word tags from the generic tags is one possibility. Listing them all together is the other way - that I decided to follow. I'm sure regardless which way I would have implemented it some people would prefer the other way.

    Anyway, the purpose of this thread is about feedback regarding the upgrade script that comes with Tidypics beta13. The versions of beta13 available at github for Elgg 1.8 and 1.9 respectively are feature-complete. There won't be added any new features to this version but only in later releases. Beta13 at github is meant for testing. I thought it might work to post it there first and asking for feedback about the upgrade process here on the community site because I wanted to avoid people installing it blindly - ignoring any release notes I post - and then complain about something not working to their liking.

    I'm open about general feedback (e.g. posted on the Tidypics download page). But right now, here in this thread I'm no longer reacting on general feedback but only on specific feedback given about the upgrade script of beta13 as I was asking for originally (but maybe not clearly enough).

  • As far as I can see upgrading is okay. Upgrade script is working.

  • @iionly : Initial testing results - Fresh installation of both 1.9 and plugin

    1. Deprecated errors in /photos/siteimagesowner/guid = Deprecated in 1.8: Do not rely on $vars["url"] being available in views
    2. No page owner is beign set on on /photos/siteimagesowner/guid
    3. After uploading a photo to an album under /photos/owner/username its not showing in the /photos/siteimagesowner/userguid/ - the photos and photoalbums links in owner menu.
    4. Popup window for upload photos not showing the albums created.

    Edit : #4 happens when I login as admin and create an album in another users account. its working fine in normal case (when the user creates an album of his own)