Updates Today

[ToddP]

I've been doing a little work on the forum today. You probably won't notice, but the software has been upgraded from 3.00 to 3.03. Nothing very noticable. However you will notice that all attachments will now be shown as 250x250 thumbnails, which can then be clicked to see the full size picture. In addition the posts will show the thumbnails for ALL the pictures attached to a post, it will not be limited to 1 picture as it was before. Let me know what you think.

Here is a sample:

1 - Daughters - Corey & Allison
2 - Daughter - McKinzee
3 - Daughter - Ashlee
4 - My House
5 - My Airplane 1975 C172 (1/10th Owner - Great Club)
6 - My and my Gyro Airframe

[GeorgeHedinger]

Tod, great idea showing just thumbnails. With my 56k phone connection it is
sometimes very slow loading the full size pics. This should speed it up and I won't have
to load the full sized pics unless I want to.
And thanks for the great job you do here. Great learning resource for the gyro
deprived such as myself.

[Heron]

You bag of goodies never ends? :D
Good for us!!
Thanks
Heron

[jucie]

Great, Todd! That's very user friendly for everybody. From now on life becames a lot easier to guys that doesn't know how to resize pictures before posting.

May I ask you how do you deal with all this storage requirements? I know the forum database keeps the text forever, but what about the attachments? Some pictures are big! Is all that stuff stored forever?

[ToddP]

Jucie,

So far I haven't deleted any of the attachments, however eventually I will have to clear out old attachments because of the storage constraints. I will NEVER delete any of the text archives however. There is still a 150k limit to the size of files uploaded. Without this limitation people would undoubtedly upload files directly from their 5 Megapixel cameras and we'd have 3-4 MB pictures.

[rehler]

Todd,

That is a great improvement. Thanks for your work.

Minor problem noticed - the "new posts" stay new even after they are read, unless I click on "Mark Forum Read" which still clears them all.

[jucie]

So far I haven't deleted any of the attachments, however eventually I will have to clear out old attachments because of the storage constraints.

Next time you ask for donations to mantain the site, please put into account any additional storage to keep as much as possible of this wonderful stuff. Hard disks are cheap these days and this site contents becomes better and better all the time.

[KenSandyEggo]

Todd, your wife must be really beautiful to have such beautiful daughters. :rolleyes:

Will the pics still appear as 650 wide from the thumbnails or are they all going to be smaller now?

I mentioned somewhere else that before, one could change the font, color, size, embolden etc. directly after typing in text. Last time, I was only able to change the font and everything else came up in a confusing window to change anything else manually. I tried it, but the heiroglyphics also show up in the post.

Never mind about the photos, I just clicked on a photo I recently posted and it came up the size I usually post.

Yes, I second that. A big thank you for this Forum.

[Chuck Irby]

Very nice Todd, and beautiful daughters. The changes are good.

[StanFoster]

Todd: Excellent job you are doing.

Stan

[PW_Plack]

Todd,

Are you still using a hosting service? If so, and you can't just add capacity anytime you want, maybe let us know when a purge is coming, or try to at least keep the diagrams attached to technical posts available on the server.

I've never been a member of a forum on any topic which was so well maintained and responsive. You're doing a GREAT job!

If I had to choose from among all my memberships and subscriptions, and could only keep one, I'd have to live without PRA and Chapter 73, AOPA, and EAA. This forum bring me more useful info on my primary flying interest than the others combined.

[darrellwittke]

It's a great forum and I like the new thumbnails. How many runs do you go on and still have time for all this?

Say the word if you require more compensation for your work, and thanks again!

[Rando]

Todd,

That is a great improvement. Thanks for your work.

Minor problem noticed - the "new posts" stay new even after they are read, unless I click on "Mark Forum Read" which still clears them all.

I am experiencing the same problem that Ken mentions above.

[ToddP]

Ken & Randy,

When you notice this problem, try clicking "refresh" on your browser. If the pages now show correctly, then its an issue of your computer or browser "caching" former pages and showing a previous version rather than the updated version. This will load pages faster for you, however it can be frustrating as you've noticed.

[Rando]

Refresh worked for me! But why did it work fine before the latest upgrade?

[ToddP]

I certainly appreciate the kind comments. Working on the forum is very rewarding because of the support I receive from everyone here. To answer a couple of questions: The capacity is not currently a problem and increasing it in the future should also be no problem. The hosting company I've been using for the past few months has been fantastic. I don't have any plan to purge any attachments right now but will warn people well in advance if I ever do.

Darrell, to answer your question I actually drive the busiest engine in Spokane. A couple years ago we were ranked the 100th busiest engine company in the nation. Between the fire dept., my credit union job, 4 daughters, 1 wife and trying to get some flying in I stay pretty busy. I have no idea what boredom is but really enjoy almost everything I do.

I appreciate the offers of contributions but everything is covered for the year. I plan on asking for contributions again next year around March or April to cover next years expenses.

Thanks for everyone's support!

Todd

[GyroRon]

Todd, if I slip you a twenty do you think I can get a fixed wing section? :)

[GyroRon]

And why don't you tell us about your fixed wing stuff? I for one would love to read some posts about flying around in the 172

[ToddP]

Randy,

I'm not sure, someone with a little better understanding of how browsers cache pages will have to give that one a try.

[ToddP]

Todd, if I slip you a twenty do you think I can get a fixed wing section? :)

:o What am I gonna do with this guy? :o

[ToddP]

And why don't you tell us about your fixed wing stuff? I for one would love to read some posts about flying around in the 172

Next Saturday I'm flying down to Corvallis Oregon to pick up my nephew. On the way, my brother and I are going to fly along the Cascade range. I should have some great pictures of Mt. Ranier, Mt. St Helens and Mt. Adams when I get back. I sure hope the weather is good.

[GyroRon]

SWEET, can't wait to see your pics and hear about.

[Dean_Dolph]

Me Too! It isn't a deal breaker but it is a nuisance.

[PW_Plack]

Todd,

I hope you get a better day than I did. My brother drove up here last week to Portland from Kansas City, and my sister drove up from Ft. Lauderdale, and the aerial sighseeing in the 172 was supposed to be a highlight. My brother really wanted to see Mt. St. Helens.

We didn't break the haze till 9,800 AGL, and then just saw distant snowcaps above it when we got well north of the Columbia River. I was disappointed, but my sibs thought it was spectacular to be that high, and see the tops going up even higher from there!

I wish I'd had my digital camera last fall. There were some gorgeous, clear days when we could see five of the Cascades from pattern altitude at Lenhardt Airpark. Hopefully we'll get a break from the fires when you head this way. That would clear things up quite a bit.