The Forum,
Clicking
on the "Forum" button will take you to our Forum page. It's not the
most "cutting edge" technology, but it functions well.
Anyone is
invited to read, post and join in the forum discussions. However, in
order to post you will have to become a member. There is no charge, and
not much of a form to fill out, just a few notes to let us know that
you actually exist.
The forum is divided up into "Categories". These
are further divided up into "Discussions". You can start a new discussion
simply by clicking on the button, or read an existing discussion by
clicking on it. As you scroll to the bottom of the discussion you will
reach a place to add a comment and join in the discussion ( highly
encouraged ) Next to the names of other people who have posted you can
see a few options. "Quote" allows you to insert that persons post
within your post. The "Private message" button does just that. it sends a
private message to that poster. Please check your messages by clicking
on the icon at the top right of your page.
The Photo Gallery,
Again clicking on the "Photo Gallery" button will take you to the Photo Gallery. Anyone can view the pictures here. And anyone can post pictures here. If you are not a member, or if you are and are not "logged in" your pictures will upload, but will need approval before they actually post.
Unfortunately the way the Photo Gallery is currently set up you will have to sign up all over again. I know it's a pain... sorry. You can use the same name and password as you did in the Forum. The advantage to signing up is that you will be able to have your own gallery, and not have to wait for approval for your pictures to show up! The sign up deal is easy, click on register and follow the prompts.
Once you're all signed up you will see a "Create / order albums" button. This will allow you to take full advantage and make your own albums. Follow the prompts to make an "Album". This step is unnecessary if you are uploading a pic to one of the "Public Galleries" To upload click on the "upload file" button and again, easy prompts to follow. The max file size for pics is currently 1024 KB, which based on the resolution can be a really huge pic, or a tiny one. You may need to compress your picture before you post it if it was shot with a really high res. If that's the case, and you need help on that shoot me a PM. After your pic is uploaded you will be given prompts to which album
to place it in! You also have the ability to put a comment about your pic, as well as post comments on other pis as well. Please do, so we can learn the story behind your picture.
When you click on one of the Category links it will take you to that category. Clicking on the albums or sub categories picture icon will take you there. If you click on a selected picture it will open nicely, and clicking on that picture again will "maximize" it. Some are quite large!
Clicking on the "home" icon at the top will take you back to the main home page, while clicking on the "coppermine" icon will take you back to the start of the photo gallery.
In the end it's mostly self explanatory, play around with it some and it should all come to you. If not feel free to shoot me a PM or E-Mail.
Thanks again, Rob
