Forum Features & Updates

Hi Marina, Many thanks for that - sounds like Fotosizer could be a great free option for those who can't afford the more expensive software - or perhaps people who simply don't do enough photo editing to make it worthwhile paying for an image editing programme. A lot of people who are new to computers probably aren't aware of just how much amazingly useful "freeware" is available just by Googling their requirements. However, coming soon to a forum near you will be something I've been experimenting with recently. Hopefully within a few days I'll be making available the option to rotate and crop your images - plus some very basic effects like black & white or sepia. I'll have to think of a name for it!

Luckily with Linux it's ALL free as it's 'Open Source'. Nautilus is the file manager for the GNOME desktop and has many handy extensions you can add to the right click menu or even write your own,one of these is a resize image feature,it will also mass resize images.

Windows is 'free' too once you know how?

I know what you mean dutchman,there are ways round the expensive OS and software for Mr Gate's machines with keygens and cracks,i got totally fed up with Windows about 12 years ago and vowed never to go back,only recently did i put it on a spare hard drive just to test the gallery problem i was having and after the several re-boot crashes and lock ups i was glad to get back to my fast,stable and very secure Linux machine,it was like putting on a nice pair of slippers after the hours of frustration with Windows. It's really a case of each to their own and most people in their workplace are confronted by Windows so that works for them.........or doesn't in some cases We have 'GIMP' instead of expensive Photo-Shop,QCAD instead of Autocad and the universal Open Office that works on all platforms,but if you are a 'Gamer' then it's not for you,but it's totally free and fun

Image editing

I have a new toy for you all to play with! Anyone uploading an image for use in a forum post will now be faced with a choice.... to just "save" the image in the usual way... or to "edit" it before posting. There are various reason why one might wish to edit a photo. A photo might need rotating to make a "sideways" image the right way up - or maybe to just slightly rotate a photo to correct a skewed scan. Once rotated (or not, as the case may be), an image might also need cropping to remove any unwanted edges - or simply to recreate a smaller portion of the image. Photos can also have two colour effects applied - Black & White or Sepia tone. I've added some basic help if required - just hover over the blue icon next to "Rotate", "Crop" or "Effects" in the toolbar. Have fun! Rob

I hope more members will try it out soon. A little more functionality (like contrast enhancement, etc.) will be added eventually. Cheers, Rob

As promised, you can now enhance the contrast and brightness of your photos, as well as cropping or rotating them.

Further updates to images and things.... Firstly, for the technical minded, a "histogram" now appears beneath the edited image to help you select contrast or brightness. This simply displays a spread, in the form of a graph, of the dark-to-light content of your edited image. i.e. if the graph bars are mostly to the left then the image is "on the dark side" (!), if they're mostly towards the right, then.... you guessed it, the image is rather light - and if the bars are bunched up in the middle rather than spread out, then your image is probably low on contrast, so you can adjust it to overcome that. Also, for anyone who has ever posted an image on either the forum or in the gallery, I've added a tiny "Download" button beneath every image in Your profile. One click on that and you can save any of your photos back to your computer, which might be handy if ever you lose them. Have fun again! Rob

And there's more.... I've just worked out today how to increase or decrease colour saturation of an image, so that little "extra" is now also available to anyone that would like to tinker with their images before adding to a post. Also, after some great constructive ideas (thanks!), I've altered the layout, hopefully for the better. Let's see what you can create with my new "free imaging suite"!!!

I thought you all might like to know that I've now made Image Editing available to all existing Forum and Gallery photos as well as newly uploaded ones. If you wish to edit any image that you've already used in a post, simply go to Your profile, scroll down a little to find all your old images, and click "Edit" beneath the picture you want to do something to - like crop, rotate, re-colour, etc. For any Gallery photos, go to Gallery Admin, select "Edit images and categories", then "Edit images in this category". Underneath each thumbnail of your photos is a new link saying "Edit this image". I just hope it all works!

Excellent Rob, thank you! (What were you doing up at midnight, I thought you had to be in bed by 10:30pm? )

Quite a major change to this site's purpose really, but having thought long and hard about it, and after suggestions from members, I've decided to give this a go.... a place where non-Coventry subjects can be talked about. For now I suppose it's under trial, but if it works out then we can consider it a permanent feature of our forum. At the top of each forum index list you will now see a new link to Non-Coventry topics, and vice-versa on the "non-Coventry" page. A new category has also been added for the same purpose. One minor difference, though, is that these "non-Coventry" topics will not appear in the usual topic index, so they won't clutter up the main function of this site, which is to discuss anything related to our city. This doesn't make these topics any less important however, and I hope our members will enjoy having sessions "off-topic" as well as the usual Coventry stuff. Best of luck to all.... Rob

Our own Coventry street image directory

With thanks to Foxcote for the initial suggestion, there is now another new toy for you all to play with! Coventry street views - there's also a button in the menu up there on the left for quick access from any page. The idea is to have a place where all the great street images that we've got spread around the forum can be collated into one directory for easy location in future. Even URLs to good images on other sites can be included, although the preference will be to have our own collection. Any member can have a go at adding images to it.... fancy your chances? Simply click the "Add another street view" button, then use the alphabetical locator to find our forum images - and when you find a picture of a street that you wish to add, click "Select", which will take you to the next page where the street-name, year and any additional information can be added if known. Only the street-name and year (or approximate era, e.g. "early 1900s") are mandatory. I've added a small number just to get us started. One quick hint.... if you find a good image on the forum that you'd like to add, you can easily find the image's filename by right-clicking the image and selecting "Properties".

Oh, you are a good boy Rob, what are you ? I am sure it will be overflowing in no time

Yesterday, I had a look at Rob's new Street directory and had a go at putting a photograph on. It was easy to do and I can see that it'll be really helpful to us all. It's a bit empty at the moment because it's waiting for you all to add to it! All the photos that we place on the Forum will still be in situ so as not to spoil the flow but we can add a photo or refer to this new directory for any street. So, good one Rob