Some Thoughts About How To Use This Forum

[Gary Lewis]

I just saw ctubutis say something about missing posts, and that triggered a thought I'd had about explaining a few things about this forum.

First, you can subscribe to get email notifications, either individual emails or rolled-up summaries for the day, and you can do so at any level.  I've subscribed at the top level and for individual emails for every post, but you can subscribe to any and all of the forums.

Let's say you are interested in any posts that are made in the thread called FAQ's, Links, & How-To's.  That thread is in the Research Links forum, so you'd go to to that forum and open that thread.  In the upper right you'll see an Options selection, and within that a Subscribe Via Email option.  If you click that you can sign up for that thread.  Or, you can do the same for the Research Links forum, and get notifications for any post made in it.  Or, as I've done, at the Bullnose Forum level and you'll get notifications for anything that goes on.

What about if you want to have someone see a specific thread.  Or a specific post?  In that case you need the "permalink" for the thread or the post.  Click on the Permalink option, do a Control-C, and it'll be on your clipboard, and you can then post it in an email or even a post here or on another forum.

But, speaking of links, there's a pesky problem going on with Nabble where sometimes when you come into the forum, like having clicked on a link in an email, it says you need to log in.  But, usually you can see in the upper right that you already are logged in.  In that case you can click on a link, like Bullnose Enthusiasts, and go on into the forum, but you've lost the link you were following and will have to go find what you were looking for manually.  I'm sorry about that, but the "powers that be" say they are working on the problem.

Then there's formatting a post.  The easiest way is to respond via email as you'll get a much bigger range of formatting options.  However, doing that also includes a quote of the post to which you are responding, and that makes the thread longer.  But, there are some tricks in the forum.  For instance, if you want a bulleted list you can click the H2 drop-down button and then select H6 and it will insert the HTML code to give you a bullet.  The code looks like "< h6>< /h6>" w/o the space right after the "<".  And if you put your cursor between the > and < then whatever you type will be set off by a bullet.  For instance, if I do this "< h6>This is a test< /h6>" but without the extra spaces you get

This is a test.

And then there's indentation.  Clicking the H5 selection does that for you.  Again it drops in code that looks like "< h5>< /h5>" but w/o the extra spaces, and anything you type between the two arrows gets indented.  So, if I type < h5>This is a test.< /h5> it'll give you

This is a test.

Similarly, H4 gives you

This is a test.

And H3 gives you

This is a test.

And H2 gives you

This is a test.

And H1 gives you

This is a test.

, although you have to type in the 1 as there doesn't seem to be a button for that.

Well, that's enough for now.

[ctubutis]

Thank you for the explanation, Gary, all forum software is not the same (and I don't know this particular variant as well as you do).

I'll have to learn the e-mail notification stuff, I was subscribing to EVERYTHING in the weeks past and it got to be just too much so I shut it all off, I'll be more particular about it. Still need to figure out the different views, though, and be able to recognize that there are already replies somewhere that I'm just not seeing.

About the login authentication thing you mentioned, that kind of thing is a cookie synchronization issue that generally comes about as the features are added over time. If the devs have their acts together, they'll also be working on implementing https (encrypted network connection) at least for login purposes, they don't have that yet (IB just recently got it working on their VB stuff) but the industry is moving towards it whether people like it or not (Edward Snowden had a lot to do with this).

[Ford F834]

Hi Gary, I am wanting to post project threads for my two trucks, but I need to get a handle on getting the pictures formatted and oriented correctly. As you know, my threads are a story through pictures and I want them to look good.

Resolution: I can't upload photos from my iPhone without selecting a resize option. I get an error saying the file size is too large. Do you know what the max byte size or pixel x pixel dimension is so that I can resize the images myself and get a better result than the resize pop up can give me? I really want to avoid 3rd party image hosting after my last experience with PhotoBucket.

Orientation: Nabble does not seem to accept vertical/portrait photo orientation. It re-orients them to a horizontal/landscape position. I also noticed with my rosewood thread that I took pictures with the camera pointing down. Regardless of my phone's orientation sensor, some pictures visually made more sense when rotated. I did this in camera roll and saved the change. Nabble somehow reverted them to the original sensor orientation.  I'm not quite sure how to get around this except maybe trying to screen shot the original or a save-as in photoshop.

Post Editing: do you know how long the time window is for editing a post? It is nice that Nabble gives you the option to delete a post completely in case you post a duplicate or post to the wrong thread by mistake.

User images: on FTE you have an album of post photos that you can access and re use an image link if you want to. Does Nabble have any way to do that?

This may be a matter of trial and error but I figure it is worth asking in case you know any of these answers from your research on Nabble.

[Gary Lewis]

Sorry for the delay, but have been on another errand of mercy involving a stranded church member and the trailer. So, let me work this tomorrow?

[Ford F834]

No worries at all Gary, whenever you get a chance. I am glad you were able to help someone in need and I am very slow with writing and posting things anyway.
 

[Gary Lewis]

This is a test. Original picture coding was nabble_img src="IMG_6835.jpg" border="0"/ but with the left and right <> ahead/behind it.  And that gives this iPhone pic on Big Size.


I then added "50" to the code to give nabble_img src="IMG_6835.jpg" border="0" width="50"/  And that gives this little pic:




Let's change that to nabble_img src="IMG_6835.jpg" border="0" width="100%"/

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
Blue: 2015 F150 Platinum 4x4 SuperCrew wearing Blue Jeans & sporting a 3.5L EB & Max Tow
Big Blue: 1985 F250HD 4x4: 460/ZF5/3.55's, D60 w/Ox locker & 10.25 Sterling/Trutrac, Blue Top & Borgeson, & EEC-V MAF/SEFI

[Gary Lewis]

Ok, here's what I've sorta figured out.  On the picture size you can choose the Big option and then edit the code given.  You can either tell it how many pixels to make the pic wide or tall, and if you do one w/o the other the pic retains its original aspect ratio.  But, if you tell it both it will change the ratio.  And to do that you make it look like nabble_img src="IMG_6835.jpg" border="0" width="50"/  Or, you can tell how what percentage of full size to make the pic.  In the larger of the two above I told it 100%.

Orientation: All I can suggest is to try one of the free or very inexpensive apps on your phone.  I have Photoshop Express and it wasn't much if it cost - if anything.  I haven't tried it here, but can if you want me to.  However, on FTE I was having that problem and discovered that just opening and then saving the pic in Photoshop changed its orientation.

Post Editing: I don't think there is any time limit for editing on Nabble.  There is nothing I can find about that in the support area.

Gallery: Look just below Bullnose Forum in the navigation menu.    I've had that on the site but just didn't know what to do with it so had it cloaked.  But, maybe you can explore it and see if it does what you want, so I de-cloaked it.

I know I haven't answered all the questions, and there are sure to be more, so please ask.

[Ford F834]

Thank you Gary, I will try some of my photo editing apps a try. I have several free ones, or I don't mind buying one that works. Hopefully that will fix the orientation problem. I am not sure what resolution your ballpark shot started out at, but I am hoping to be able to post some sharper image resolution. The rosewood bezel pics look okay on the phone, but when you zoom in to get a really good look the results are disappointing. For images like my DNE2 manuals I just don't think that resolution will work at all. I realize that since Nabble is free, we might be stuck with low-ish resolution, I just wanted to find out how to get the best possible results.

[Ford F834]

Okay, I found a bit of useful info. Max file size is 1Mb, and the max pixel width is 750 because that is the width of the text column. Any wider image will be cut off on the right. I noticed this with reamer's pic of the tailgate bumper. I had the option to save the image to see the whole thing, but I couldn't get it to display the whole image within the forum. There is an option to attach a file up to 5Mb to a post which users can right click and download. This might prove helpful for certain images to be attached in a higher resolution format like the manual pages that I mentioned. At any rate, this is worth a read:

http://seahawk-forum.968426.n3.nabble.com/Inserting-Images-in-the-Forum-tp1599211.html

[Gary Lewis]

Jonathan - That's a very good find.  And it explains a lot. The guy that wrote it, Greg, is the nice gentleman that has helped me significantly on setting up this forum. He seems to be one of the most knowledgeable people on the support forum about Nabble, short of the very few who have Nabble behind their name.

Do you think we need to either copy that and post it somewhere or just have a link to it?  I'm sure Greg would be happy for us to use it, but I'll ask.

[Ford F834]

Either a handy link or reprint with permission would be great, just so folks know how to use it and make the images display the way they intended. I still wish the normal embedded image resolution could be more than 750 x 750 and not be cropped on the right, but for general illustration it's adequate. It's mainly a bummer if you want to zoom in on a detail, or save a particularly nice image that someone else posts up for your own photo archives.

[Gary Lewis]

Lots of thoughts here. First, in my response to Ron I noticed that the Flareside illustration didn't fully show at 750 pixels. So I kept decreasing the width until I got to 720, and that's where all of it showed. I can't explain that, but offer it as an observation. 

Second, in thinking about documentation re the forum I realized that there is no reason I can't have a few more pages "nested" under this one in the navigation menu. So I moved the Bullnose Gallery and a new page called Forum FAQ's under Bullnose Forum.  Like this:

• Bullnose Forum
• Bullnose Gallery
• Forum FAQ's

But I'll get Greg's permission and copy his stuff over to the FAQ's page so we can add info to it as we learn.

Thoughts?

On Monday, August 21, 2017, Ford F834 [via Bullnose Enthusiasts] <[hidden email]> wrote:

Either a handy link or reprint with permission would be great, just so folks know how to use it and make the images display the way they intended. I still wish the normal embedded image resolution could be more than 750 x 750 and not be cropped on the right, but for general illustration it's adequate. It's mainly a bummer if you want to zoom in on a detail, or save a particularly nice image that someone else posts up for your own photo archives.

SHORT BED 4-DOOR DIESEL: 1986 F350 4x4 SRW under construction-- 7.3 IDIT R&D 64mm intercooled turbo 150cc IP stage 1 cam main girdle 13" Southbend clutch ZF-5 + DNE2 overdrive 4.10 axle gears hydroboost brakes

STRAIGHT SIX 4X4: 1981 F150 2wd to 4x4 conversion-- 300 I6 close ratio diesel T19, Gear Vendor OD in the works

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[Ford F834]

A couple of comments Gary, I think the navigation for the FAQ on the forum itself sounds good, along with the gallery if/when that is set up for use.

As far as the whole image thing, I am still a bit baffled. I think most of my confusion though is related to the way pages display on my iPhone 7 plus. The software on this phone does a lot of odd things to the display based on orientation. Turning the phone screen to landscape opens up a side bar in mail etc., so some of my problems may be my phone over-thinking things for me...

When I view the forum with the phone vertically, the right side is always cut off, even on the home page, and I can't scroll left to right to see the rest. When I turn the phone horizontal, I can see the whole thing.

Individual posts sometimes display entirely with the phone vertical, but sometimes it is cut off. I think it cuts off when large images are embedded or when responses came from email or other text was not formatted with the Nabble text box (?). Usually turning the phone horizontal allows me to see it all, but sometimes vertical only shows 1/4 of the width, and horizontal brings it to 2/3 (similar to vertical on the home page) and it won't scroll. There are some posts I can't view on my phone no matter what I do.

I tried downloading Google Chrome, but it behaved the same with the added quirk that I can't reply to posts. It launches the pesky re-login box while logged in no matter what. I can navigate to home>thread>reply in circles and always launches the login instead of the reply box.

Regarding the image width, my rosewood pics that I re-sized using the Nabble re-sizer, display fully with the phone vertical, along with all the text. The images in the flareside bumper thread are cut off on the right (both yours and Ron's) but I can scroll to see it. When I turn the phone horizontal yours displays completely, Ron's does not and will no longer scroll.

I'm sure this is more gory detail than you want/need, but it's pieces to the puzzle. I do 99% of my activity by phone, so naturally I want to figure out a best practice that will display on the device that I use.

[Gary Lewis]

Jonathan - My head hurts!    And not because of your post/observations, but because yours sorta line up with mine.  Sorta.

I use essentially three devices: Windows computers, albeit one is a Win 8 and one a Win 10, iPad mini, and iPhone 6.  I rarely post with the phone, but post a lot with the iPad and I have noticed similar things about not being able to see all of a post.  I had thought it was associated with large images, but hadn't caught that some might be from email posts.  Hmmmm.

Perhaps we can keep a log of posts that don't work?  Maybe a new thread in Founder's Forum that documents what we find, with permalinks to the post?  And, one of those posts needs to say "Every time I click on a link in an email that takes me to the Founder's Forum I get a sign-in request, even though I'm signed in."  (And by the time I click the link above to go to the forum I've forgotten where I was going.  )

However, if I want to do serious typing or editing I'll get this laptop (Win 10) or go to the shop on the dual-monitored Win 8 'puter.  The ONLY editing of the web site is done from a real computer, as it is almost certain things will get messed up with a mobile device.  So I've just adopted the idea of using a computer to do serious things.  And, because of that I'm not seeing all the ills you are, or I'm not seeing them as frequently.  So, if you can document your findings then maybe we can get our heads around things.  And, maybe in doing so we can help people know how best to use Nabble.

Having said that, Greg, the guy that runs that boat forum you found and who gave me permission to use his guidelines on picture posting, said this morning:

Franklin recently announced that Nabble is in a non-development maintenance only phase. His plan is simply to get it stable (part of the planned outages currently going on is to move to better servers). That will then allow him the time to work on Blasma to which everyone will eventually be moved. That platform is designed to be open source and his hope is that it will attract many third-party developers which can add further bells and whistles.

In other words, what we are on is what it is, although we may figure out better ways to use it.  But, they are working on a new system that, I hope, solves most of the problems we are seeing - and gives us some new ones to work out.  

[Ford F834]

Gary, Nabble can be a little quirky here and there but overall it works pretty well. so far I have found a way to work around everything except the couple of threads that won't display horizontally. The relay for the blower motor is one. No matter what I do I can't get it to display on my phone. Period. I'm trying to figure out what is different in that thread compared to the others, but nothing is raising any flags. Maybe as we go along I will figure it out.