I just sent a pm to the administrator about my frustration using the photo - my pictures storage. I'm not finding a 'how to' anywhere on the site as to how to organize everything.

 

Art - There is no requirement to organize any of your photos on this site. With that said I can provide you w/ one quick & easy way to organize your photos on this site which nearly no one at all (ever) uses. JoeP uses it, I don't care to use it; but let's move on.

Create (actually you should already have at least one) Album located on this site. You may or you may not have ever seen it, don't know it even existed & likely don't know how to use it. In the grand scheme of things, you can post any photos you like into one, several &/or many Albums. Each Album is simply a storage container for any photos you'd like to store on this site. The "key" to remember when "using" your Album(s) is this. Unlike how you and the majority of members post a photo/image, you likely UPLOAD each image from your device (desktop, laptop, tablet, etc.) directly into a Thread/Post. But, here's the "key", note you can: (1) create as many Albums as you like; (2) You can name each Album; (3) You can upload any all photos into any of those Albums; and, (4) When it comes time to reference &/or UPLOAD a photo into a Thread/Post, you simply insert the location of the photo you want to use. That "location" will be one of the Albums you created. So, instead of actually UPLOADING a photo from a device, you're simply (doing nothing more than) pointing to one of those Albums which ALREADY contains your photos.

 

Art - Open your "USER CONTROL PANEL" on the left side open your "Pictures & Albums" container. You can find your pictures & Albums or create Albums from that GUI interface. There's a couple ways, that would be the easiest.

 

Additionally, there's another GUI interface (found elsewhere) which allows you to view, edit, create, upload pictures which looks like this (below). Have any questions, ask. You'll note (and this will make more sense) when it then comes time to share a photo in a Thread/Post you'll use the "My Album" container when you want to add a photo into a thread post; instead of the "Browse This Device".

 

Art - You got this. So, when it comes time to Upload (find) a photo to post/share into a thread/post, you'll click on the "My Albums" icon instead of the "Browse Your Device". Simple. You already have photos in your Albums (if you uploaded them into Albums), you're simply stating/telling the GUI where to find those photos.

 

Art - Since you're likely curious why/how this thread is now in the "Site Help" section, I simply let Eric know I'd continue to assist you to help him focus more on Administrator functions since this takes some time. I never saw a need to create a "Sticky" (per se) regarding guidelines to manage/use CO on-line storage capabilities. It doesn't come up often; yet, I can relate to frustration in navigating CO on-line storage capabilities. Ask away...I'll do my best to provide any guidance I can.

 

In Post #4 you might ask exactly where did I find that GUI? You can simply click your CO member name from anywhere, select "MY PROFILE" and you'll see on the RH side of the MY PROFILE screen the same GUI I posted in Post #4. That is the other manner in which you can navigate to your Albums to create Albums, Edit Albums, Upload photos/pictures/images. HTH

So from anywhere, simply click on MY PROFILE to find that GUI.

 

Thanks Norm - The problem I'm having is I want to keep things separate and into different albums but the default seems to be it throws everything into one place. I've tried to make different albums and succeeded only partially. Then when I upload a new picture it automatically places it into an already established album and when I go to the album to retrieve it I have to scroll through all of the pictures to find it. Then on top of it the program makes multiple copies of it and none of it is in an organized fashion. It's so screwed up I can't even explain it correctly. It shows where I can sort and rearrange the pics and I'll do that but when I open the album back up it has everything jumbled all up again. One album I made was supposed to be one of the car shows I uploaded and now when I look at it everything from recent uploads is all mixed up through out it. I don't even know If I'm making any sense. I can't even remember how I ended up making new albums to begin with, I just feel so freakin inadequate when it comes to this stuff. And the deteriorating old age brain trying to remember stuff doesn't help.
So, am I over complicating something that should be easy?

 

No. You are not over complicating this. You are (unfortunately) working well w/in the parameters established by the software of this site. Very much NOT like other sites which are organized in a manner to facilitate on-line storage (there exist MANY on-line storage programs - many for specifically storing images), CO on-line image storage (actually any on-line storage) can be and is expensive. CO on-line storage is NOT optimized for managing CO member on-line storage capabilities from a CO member perspective. Unfortunately, you'll need to operate/navigate w/in the constraints dictated by the current software. This is challenging & quite cumbersome. Again, the site is not configured for optimal image storage capabilities. To provide additional on-line storage capabilities (I'm certain) falls well outside any SLA (Service Level Agreement); therefore, it will never happen on a free member oriented "forum" - i.e. you get what you pay for, sorry.

You would be far better served to upload images either (1) from your device each time you intend to post an image or (2) use a free image storage facility such as Google Photos, Amazon Photos or any of the plethora of additional free on-line storage vendors. Then, having created an image nested folder hierarchy on one of the free image storage sites, you simply point to that image (located on that free storage site e.g. the URL link to the image) and UPLOAD from that site (or continue to use the Browse This Device GUI).

To sum up: On-line storage is expensive, it is not available for CO members. Don't expect IB (Internet Brands) to provide free on-line image storage capabilities - requires additional s/w development & is expensive. The CO site does an excellent job of navigating the current s/w required for a "forum"; but, here again - it is not an on-line storage facility (vendor) - it's a user forum.

 

Got it, that makes total sense. One of the reasons I thought it would be better to keep them in my albums on here is because I always have to resize them and when I do that I end up making a copy of the original one. I don't have a problem with the storage capacity on my computer and storing them on it. I'll just have to keep both of them from now on. When I go to upload a pic I know I already did before I know exactly where it's stored on my computer and I don't have a problem getting it multiple times if that's what I need to do.
Quick question, what about the photos that've been uploaded of the car shows and or other photos for that matter, if I were to delete them from "my album/pictures" does it delete them from the threads and posts they were uploaded to?
Thank you for the lesson.

 

Excellent question for which I do not know or have an answer w/o challenging myself to see how it plays out. Yet, I'll provide a simple/complex (LOL) scenario. When you UPLOAD an image from anywhere, that image is stored in the CO database (DB). The DB is configured on one or more IB DB servers where all images &/or textual dialog is referenced & stored via simple "links". Think about you're storing "pages" & each page contains elements. One of those (or several of those) elements is an image (on a page). Most images are referenced on a website page as an object element via a simple link. A link is nothing more than a route to anything contained on any page of the website. There exists a back-end DB (databases likely) & a website front-end DB. Both the back-end DB & the front-end DB yield images nearly on-demand, but again when constructing a website, these assemblages of pages (maintained in both databases) operate in unison & are synchronized to provide the fastest end-user delivery possible. Since I have no knowledge how this CO website configures their databases w/ the front-end GUI interface (e.g. what you physically "see"), I can't say if you'd lose your images in each thread/post where they have been previously posted. By default, most OTS (Off The Shelf) website pages are designed with simple "links" which point to the location of each image. IB develops & writes their own pages and defines there own elements. Since an image is an object element contained on a website "page", if that were the case for this site (which again I can't say) you'd either: (1) lose the image posted in each thread since the link points to a location of an image & the image has been deleted; or, (2) the image is not lost because the original image still resides in the DB where the link points to even though the link was broken - IOW, the actual original image resides on the back-end DB even though you deleted it from an Album. It's really a matter of how IB CO website manages their databases & the type of object elements which reside on each page. My suspicion is if the link which references an object element (image) contained on any website page points to a DB page which no longer contains that object element then it can no longer display an image. Great question though. I'd have to challenge myself by validation since I obviously did not write nor develop the program. I'm certain my answer sounds & appears like jibberish; but, there are several factors at play here & I make no apologies for my ignorance. One (paramount) factor is the ability to retrieve & restore one or more databases employed on the website. There exists "some" legal ramifications pursuant to law, as well. Most business on-line companies/corporations are required by law to provide off-line archival DB storage. Yet, these archived databases are not what serve up current pages to a website, they contain the "original" copies of all website pages for which all object elements on all pages are securely stored. More mumbo jumbo I'm aware. Try it...post an image from an Album, delete the image, revisit the page where the image was posted - is the image lost? I'm going to say the image is lost on that page. To really & substantially confound this scenario, the website can create redundant links (pointers) which change the original locations of the links on any page & point to a different location(s). Yeah, it's convoluted - no direct answer from me, sorry.

 

Thanks, what you wrote is easy to understand and follow. There are some pics I have deleted but I never checked to see if they are gone from the thread, I'll check and let you know. I know when I had my Flickr account and if I deleted a photo and if I clicked on it where it was on another site a popup would appear and say this photo is no longer available, so the link was broken.

I just checked the post I did about the Lincoln Continental and all the pics are still there even though I deleted them from my album. https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...6/#post1600882

 

That's excellent feedback. Thanks, Art.

 

Now onto something else. I finished up the flasher project and it works like a charm. If only I knew someone who is really good at producing neat visual graphics I could start that thread. I've been reading up on the how to's but I just keep muddling my way through it and getting something that looks like a five year old did it.

 

I will send you a PM.

 

Thanks Norm you're such a pal.