DIGIT - The Royal Photographic Society - Home - RPS

DIGIT

Issue 19 November 2002

Contents:

The DIG Website

Bill Henley LRPS

An LRPS by CD ROM

Jim Buckley LRPS

Blending Modes

Betty Billingham LRPS

One Man's Meat

Warren S H Monks ARPS

Gaining a Lottery Grant

Peter Gill Dishart LRPS

Rye Beach

David Bebbington ARPS

Optical Mouse

John Tyler ARPS

Photoshop 7

Sid Pearce FRPS

Totally Digital

Sid Pearce FRPS

Quantity for Quality

Peter Gill Dishart LRPS

The Digital Imaging Group

. uk

The Royal Photographic Society

Digit

The New DIGIT Web Site

The origi nal sire at . uk was

set up as a tempo rar y solutio n some years

back but as so o ften happens it continued

for far lo nger than was intended. For

some time d1 e co mmittee had wished to

have an upgrade and eventually an

opportunity arose to do this at a pri ce

realistic to d1 e group. In thi s article I hope

to explain th e development and rati onale

behind d1 e design and implementatio n.

Also, to give instructions o n how to use

the site and indicate how the gro up may

best benefit fro m this exceptio nal resource.

I wo uld hope that I mig ht also stimulate

ideas for further exciting developmems.

] n co nclu sio n there will be some techni cal

and fin ancial d etails w hi ch may be

regarded either as con straints or creative

challenges.

Requirements:

AU pages to dow nload in a reasonably fast

ti me using a standard 56K modem

The home page to dis play fro m a data base

the currem calendar e,��ent o r news item.

This data base to be updareable via a web

browser (password pro tec ted).

T he ho me page to dis play fro m a database

an image ra ndo mly chosen fro m a Library

of in1ages. This image database to be

updatea bl e via a we b browser (password

pro tected).

T he home page to be attrac ti ve, di stinctive

and clear with in tui tive naYigation to o ther

pan s of th e site. All ocher pages to have a

Link to the home page.

A dynamic creative tool for all members

(website programmed and implemented by lain Henley MPhys)

The original specification was later

expanded but is included for information.

Member Discussion Rooms:

Contact d erails fo r the group committee,

regio nal organisers, RPS and o d1er relevan t Each item submi tted to d1e li st to con tain:

organisatio ns (including U RLs and email

Subject thread, text message, d are o f

addresses)

su bmissio n and the name & email address

Diary and repor ts of events fo r the group, of th e sender

Image Libraries

Web URLs and email lin ks for th ose

members who wish to have their details

publi shed

Each image tO have kev wo rd (s), date o f

submission and name and email address o f

the "author".

Library o f members' images

The above constituted the basis for the

"contract" but the site produced went

far beyond this specificatio n

and involved a great deal of extra

programming time.

Library o f exhi bi tio n images

Library o f examples of DIG IT

publicati ons etc

Member discu ss io n roo ms with d1reads

(password p ro tected)

Reviews of hardware and software

searchable by key words (updareable via a

web browser)

An o o line enquiry/ registratio n page

2

Login:

Use RPS number as ID

Allow change o f password

Allow addition o f extra information by me

user

Image functions :

Three separate databases of images instead

o f one; members, exhibitions, illustrations

for the information tab

H yp erlinks between images, members

details, exhibitions etc.

Flag up new items (up to 10 days old)

A search functi o n for exhibitions, images,

members etc.

Function to sort data table by members

name, exhibition images, number of

personal uploads

As many pages as possible to be powered

by dynamic databases which are updateable

Find members by name or RPS number

,��ia a web browser (passwo rd protec ted).

To provide members with:

RPS and o ilier relevant orga ni sations

(including regio nal g roups)

huge hidden costs. Involved at least four

times as much programming time as

originally anticipated.)

Current extras to the original

specification (not exhaustive) :

t\ n SQL database set up o n the

. digit.o rg.u k site and accessed via

ASP pages.

(T his replaces d1e original idea of b uying

in custom software w hich it was fo und did

not give the p ro m ised flexibili ty and had

E dit exhibitio n information

Front page:

Randomly select me image from one of

th e exhibitions

Include hyperlinked information about me

member and the image

Digit page:

Select m e committee names from me

database and hyperlink to their details

H ave the enquiry page automatically select

the secretary's email address from the

members database and email me enquiry

Events tab:

Divide events into different catego ries

Li st events in date order within categories

Present events in date order

Information tab:

Divide information into different

categories

Issue 19

Flag up new items (up to 10 days)

Place all items in a menu

Include a search function by author, topic,

etc etc.

D iscussion tab:

Automatically assign administration rights

when an administratOr logs in

Allow administrator tO edit, create and

delete forum headings in addition to the

members topics and items. ie.. Three

levels; forums (adm.in), topics within

forums (member), item with.in topic

(member)

Where now:

Top

The current design of the new site is such that it is your work and

yo ur co ntri butio ns that determine its character. The admini tration

system enables a team to maintain and update the m aterial and I

would hope tha t some non-committee m embers migh t beco me

involved in this. There must be much creative talent and many

original ideas out tl1ere for the information pages, the discussio n

forum etc. etc.

On the original specification the commercial quotes o btained were

from ?20000 to ?30000. That specification has been much

expanded and I sugges t tl1at the commercial cost for the current

site wo uld be from ?30 000 to ?40 000 . T here are still a number

o f extra fea tures that we would like tO include and we have the

op portuni ty to create a site, which gives superb value and service

to tl1e members at a ridiculously low price.

Navigation

Bar

r

0

,e.

::::,

Allow members to "sign up" to receive

any new item s by email for chosen ro pics

H yp erlink the member's nam es to

members details

Ad.min tab:

Make this tab automatically visible to

administrators when they log in

The Navigation Bar

Th.i s bar is alo ng the top of each page of tl1e web site in o rder to

provide a clear and co nsistent interface for naviga tio n. Each

section o f the site has a tab and within each tab are separate menu

items. The sixth tab is blank but auromatically reveals an Admin

label whe n an autl1orised administrator logs in.

~6

0 6

4

l,tl!.

E dit members details, allocate

administration rights, indicate co mmittee

titles as appropriate

fD Olgit,1f 1ma9lng Croup F~

'-"'

~�� 19

1.cr1uh

i:.

Print

i't

HOfM

m

<

(1)

::,

rt

Vl

f-1on1 P.i~g'' - - - - - - - - - - - - ~

&:ii

M.aD

j@ Mi,J/._..,c.U:._..Jil....,fffgfJph1e- Soc

(1)

Vl

ty

Exh,bit!onfl

Create, edit & delete forum headings

~ :;!':n~��J:?:;~~::!~tt!��::~i:n:':::?

Fon.tmH

"'ll" u i>oym? ntfrotnpl-,oto9,11ph9.

The R.PS Jo..,.n?I 1, h?? to membe,,.

1nd 1, 01,1bluh?d ten time? o?? yb

Create, edit & delete events

Th.,???? 1:1 tP?ci ? I ~ n t l 910 f

D,g,t1llma-Qlf\O ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download