Window on Wildlife

Please post any problems with this Forum in this topic, and we will try to help you.   

Due to a significant amount of attempts by spammers to join the Forum, we have had to add a modification to the registration process in which new members are asked two random questions which they must answer correctly before they can proceed. This does prevent some, but not all, attempts to join by inappropriate persons.

If anyone still has problems registering they can write to window-on-wildlife.com using the admin mailbox address.

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Personal or Private Messages (PMs)Please note that if you are sent a PM, you will receive a notification as an email WITH the content of the PM. It will look something like this:-

You have just been sent a personal message by >> membername << on Window on Wildlife.

IMPORTANT: Remember, this is just a notification. Please do not reply to this email.

The message they sent you was:

....

Please note that you must NOT reply to the PM by email, you MUST log into the Forum to do so. Please be advised that if you click on reply to the email, then a copy of your reply will be received by anyone who is an Administrator on this Forum, thereby losing the privacy of the PM.

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Jumping or Jiggling text

You might find that when you're writing a long message the text appears to jump and jiggle.. i.e., the cursor is below the bottom of the text box and you cannot see clearly what you are typing. This is an incompatibility problem with the SM Forum Software and Internet Explorer 8. To rectify this, click on a small button at the top of the browser window which is to the right of the Address bar - it looks like a piece of paper torn in half. You only need to do this one - it should correct the problem.

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Do look at your Profile settings, there are lots of options you can set for yourself.

For example, do you want to automatically save copies of PMs? Look at Personal Message Options
Do you want the world to see your email address? If not, look at your Account Related Settings
Do you want an Avatar? Remember, they need to be small and not blinking. Look at Forum profile Information.
Your Timezone is on Look & Layout Preferences.
When you reply to a post, do you want to return to the topic after posting? Look at Look & Layout Preferences.

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Jumping or Jiggling text..  :eek:
I remove most unused things from my tool bars but after searching, I was able to stop it by clicking "Tools" scroll down to "compatibility view" and click it. it should show up with a check next to it after.. That fixed it..  :wink2:

Terrific CLC and WELCOME to the Forum  :nod2:

Post all your questions and tips here, everyone.

I don't want my e-mail to show.  I've tried editing my profile, but it's still there.    :signhelp2:

Only you and the Admins can see it hermit.

That's a relief.  Thanks, Laura.   :)

I am thinking others might have the same confusion I had yesterday about email being visible or hidden because you are able to see your own email on the Member List (there is an envelope icon) and also in your Profile Summary at all times. But others cannot see it if you have checked and saved the instructions to hide it in your Profile under Account Related Settings.  Only you can see that, while others will see no icon by your name in the Member List and no email address in your Profile.  If you need to know/be reassured that that is true, just ask another member what they see next to your name in tne member list and in your Profile.  

For example, hermit, on my screen I see no icon next to your name in the Member List, and I see "hidden" in your profile. :bigsmile:

If you see an envelope icon by someone else's name in the Member List, then they have not hidden their email and you can click on it and send a direct email, and you can also view their email address in their profile.

This is a change from the secure button we had on the forum where we could click on someone's email button and never see the address until that person responded via email.  If you allow your email to be visible, then it is available to everyone. They can see it in your Profile, and if they click on the envelope icon next to your name in the Member List, they will see it in the address of the email they could send directly to you.

Can the forum configuration hide the email address by default ?

Maybe we could have a topic where everybody can "fool around" with all the new possibilities of this forum. A "Test area" so to speak.

EDIT: ""shortcuts: hit alt+s to submit/post or alt+p to preview"" This doesn't work for me. Could be Firefox or because I use Windows7.  :rolleyes2:

EDIT2: I also noticed that when I post a message I don't get to see that particular post but go back to the topic list. After editing I do get to see my post  . . . . . settings in user-panel or a general forum setting ? ? ? ? ?  :shrug:

If you check in your Profile, under Modify Profile > Look and Layout Preferences - You should make sure that you have checked "Return to topics after posting by default".  That will take you back to your post.   :bigsmile:

Testing to see if that did the trick . . .  :bigsmile:

Edit: Yes ! ! !  :lollol: Thank you for the help.  :nod2:

I found that one last night too!  I hate when you don't go right back to your post!   :mhihi:

TC thanks for providing some tips, that was kind of you. Some of us are more used to this software than others  :nod2: and there are lots of things to learn.

DEF, "Can the forum configuration hide the email address by default ? " No, but when Admins register users, we usually tick the box for new registrations, just in case it's unchecked. If a user wants to change it they can go back into their profile and modify it.

This is a simple question that I should know how to do ... but don't.   :blush2:

How do you post a 'link' with different words?  Lori and Marcia do it all the time .... like here...
http://www.window-on-wildlife.com/index.php?topic=25.0

PattiO: A short and easy way to post that type of link in bolded text is to type the below into a post and replace the first asterisk with the web address of your desired link, and replace the second asterisk with the words you want to use for your link. (You will also need to change all of the round brackets I used in the examples, to square brackets, as the 'formulas' wouldn't post correctly when I used square brackets ::)).

(url=*)(b)*(/b)(/url)

PattiO’s Profile (http://www.window-on-wildlife.com/index.php?action=profile;u=14)


However, in the example you pointed to, I used an enhanced version of the above to select blue as the color of the link and to underline the link.  To use a different color you can change the word ‘blue’ to the word used for any of the other colors available in the posting window.

(url=*)(color=blue)(u)(b)*(/b)(/u)(/color)(/url)

PattiO’s Profile (http://www.window-on-wildlife.com/index.php?action=profile;u=14)


Then there are even more ways to personalize a link, such as changing the size of type, or even using colors other than those available in the posting window...  :faint:

In order to do that you can write it inside the code tags.


A good way to find out how things are done in a message is to click on QUOTE. Then you can see the codes behind it.
Instead of text you can also use an image to "dress-up" a link:

It might be a good idea to go into the CSS of the forum and change the font-size for the CODE block. It is rather small right now and could be a problem for some who's eyesight is not like it used to be  :wink2:
font-size: x-small; should be set to    font-size: small; or font-size: 10px

* I noticed that the buttons for font face and font size have no effect. When I highlight text and click on the "size" button all I get is the default size which is 10 pt. Of course one can change the value then, 14, 16, 18, 24 instead of 10, but there should be a drop-down menu from which to choose. Same for the font face.

Thanks DEF, clever of you to find the right CSS text - how did you know where to look for the style? I've made it "small" instead of "x-small" - it looks much better.

You're right, clicking on the font size and style do nothing - it just puts tags there and you have to change them. This is something for me to tackle when I have more time. Thank you for pointing it out. I manually made it size 12, which is why the text is larger.

I use Webdeveloper, as an add-on for Firefox.
Because I make the style(s) for my own forum and am using css for my own website, I know a little about where to look and what to look for  :wink2:  :nod2:

 :puzzled2:  So basically I need to brush up on my HTML.   :lollol:

Never hurts  :lollol: :lollol: :lollol:

Thanks DEF, I know about styles too, but these PHP Forums are very intricate - there are many style sheets built into the system in many directories, I just wondered how you found the relevant one so easily.

Sheer luck  :?:  :?:  :?:  :lollol:

Meanie   :nono1: :lollol:

The aforegoing discussion about font size reminded me of how difficult it is to read the right-hand column of Last Posts in the index.  The biggest problem is that the repetition of the name of the thread is distracting and unnecessary and is in the same tiny, light blue print on a non-contrasting smokey background as the poster's name which makes the person's name hard to see.

I like the format we used to have:
The day, the date, the time
Poster's name

EXAMPLE:

Mon Feb 02, 2009 6:25 am
Judy

I think that Will had difficulty yesterday because of this.  It's too small and too much to grasp for the information you are seeking: When and Who, not the name of the thread that you already know or you wouldn't be seeking this information.  

The addition of Today before the date is fine and useful, but the date should be there too.

EXAMPLE:

Today, Mon Feb 02, 2009 6:25 am
Judy

Of course, the old forum had the words "Last Post" at the top of the column.  So, if you can't label the top of the column, how about using an unobtrusive small font label like this?

EXAMPLE:

Last post:
Today, Mon Feb 02, 2009 6:25 am
Judy

Doralyn, I appreciate the suggestions. These kind of modifications take a lot of investigations and then some programming of the PHP files, if indeed they are changeable. I just don't have enough time at the moment to try and find those kind of solutions, I'm sorry. Maybe in the future when I have some spare time. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful, there are other tweaks that I have been doing and have a list of about 8 others I intend to get around to. Each one can take hours of work.

Strangely I don't find the right column in the index particularly small, maybe my own browser window font size is larger than yours. This is an option each person can set on their own computers for the time being.

Could some of you please take a look at a page when you're looking at a topic or thread and see if there is a "notify" button top and bottom right of the window. It might say

Reply   Notify   Mark unread  etc.

The "notify" button should be there, but doesn't seem to be visible for a few people, maybe everyone?

ETA: I "think" I've solved it - two options in the Control Panel:

Notifications   
  Request notification on replies 
  Request notification on new topics

I've checked the both, so hopefully this will solve this particular problem  :nod2:

Mine has:
Reply  Mark unread   Send this Topic   Print

OH, Notify just appeared in the second position

On the top is the same 5 things :bigsmile:

:) :) See my post above Doralyn, thanks so much for being my tester - it obviously did the trick! Are both top and bottom the same buttons?

Now could you put this link string at the bottom like the old forum.. :?:. :lollol: Window on Wildlife > Welcome! > Forum Guidelines and Information & Tech Help > Forum Technical Help or...
just a go to the top button ... if not no big deal it's  8)

Yes, I miss the "go top" button. I'm still learning, CLC and all these modifications take time to find out how to do them, where to do them, then to do them then to test.. etc. I have a small list of things now to tackle, but I'm really exhausted at the moment and am running behind with my own work, which is not good.  :nope: I don't mind people putting requests in though, there's nearly always a solution or option. Thanks for everyone's input.

Ooh - ooh - pick me!!  (she says, frantically waving her hand to the teacher)  I think I found where to add a "go to top" button earlier today!  :biggergrin2:

Off to see if it works....  (if I can find it again)  :mhihi:

Added:  Well, it didn't work quite as I expected - but there is now a "go up" link next to the page numbers on the lower left, and a "go down" link next tot he page numbers on the upper left.  Hopefully that's a net gain.  :bigsmile:

NOTIFY is indeed now showing up and working.  THANKS !!!!
I am trying to "teach" computer to NOT send the notifications to SPAM.  I've put the WOW address info in address book. any other ideas? 

Jwnix Try right clicking the email and look through the list to see if you can find add to safe senders list or similar .. Not sure what email you have .. :-\

using MAIL, Apple's mail server..... will look up spam rules on line. good idea

The font size and color does seem like one of those things that will take some poking around in the templates and/or style sheets - a good suggestion, but not likely a quick fix.

I will mention that the name of the thread isn't necessarily unnecessary - many of our topics here only have one thread, but there are quite a few that have a couple of threads, and that tiny link lets you go to the thread with the newest post.  The Woolwich osprey cam has two - one for the cam (fingers crossed) and a second for pictures from the site; same with Milford osprey cam; Delta BC Eagle Cams has a thread for Delta 1 (primarily a link to the old forum as there's no cam this year) and Delta OWL, and we're hoping for a Delta 2 cam soon; Captive Bald Eagles has threads for the Carolina Raptor Center and for Pigeon Forge.

We will work on the readability issues - but I did want to mention that there is a reason for the link to the thread - though perhaps it's not important enough to take up space there.

Judy B, thanks for the "go up" and "go down" buttons. Perfect, and for addressing the possibility of making the Last Post column more readable.

I really want to thank all of the Administrators for keeping up with the past three days and working on the tough issues. :nod2:  Thanks for also reassuring us that our suggestions are noted and on your lists.  I hope you will all be able to keep up with your own lives too, so waiting for solutions in the future is easy to do. :bow5: :biggergrin2:

Thank you Doralyn and yes, we will work through the list as and when we can. Some things are just a simple tick box in the Admin area - others involved programming the PHP files and stylesheets... much more complicated and time-consuming.

I've installed a new modification which I think everyone will like - it give a little dropdown box where the page numbers show on the top of a thread/topic - you can skip to which ever page you want very easily. This would have been a great feature on the phpBB Forum with our thousands of observation pages!

By the way, if you find the Index page is just toooooooo long..  :eeek: you can shrink and collapse the main categories... did everyone know that?

Good afternoon :bigsmile: I see my notifications are now working :thumbsup1: In fact they are working "overtime", too many now. One would be enough to let me know that someone posted but I got about 8, one for each person that posted. Can that be fixed :?:

Laurad wrote: "you can shrink and collapse the main categories... did everyone know that?"

No, I didn't know that :nope: In fact I don't have a clue what shrinking and collapsing categories is :puzzled2: Tell me all about it sometime :dunno:

In your profile section,  there is an option to only be notified once for reply instead of each reply......also, if you look in the HELP tab of your profile, there are specific instructions for some of the cool features they've added.

re; collapsing the topic..... look to the left of the topic line in blue,,  and there is +  or  -    symbol.  if its the  -, and you click it, that topic will collapse and you are only looking at the name of the topic.  to look at the threads again, just click the + and it will ADD threads to your viewing field.

Will on the front page or   index page  (http://www.window-on-wildlife.com/index.php) you can collapse each main title for instance hit the minus sign before welcome  and this ..
Welcome!
  Forum Guidelines and Information & Tech Help
How to use the various features of the forum software and some posting guidelines. Technical help with WMP, RP, screenshots, videos, etc...  39 Posts
2 Topics  Last post by willpatt
in Re: Forum Technical Help
on Today at 02:59:40 PM  
  Daily Friendly Chat, Creative & Information Topic
Daily chat and also a place to post anything creative and informative.  115 Posts
1 Topics  Last post by Lori
in Re: Daily Friendly Chat,...
on Today at 02:08:23 PM  

Becomes this...
 Welcome!
....................
the only draw back is you can't see if there are any new posts..

Thankyou Jwnix and Chris :bigsmile: I found the + and - signs and they do something but not a whole lot that I can see as yet.

This though: "Show unread posts since last visit.
Show new replies to your posts.", up there at the top really expanded things into topics I had not seen for awhile. "Technical Help" was not there for some reason :puzzled2:

It takes the system a few moments to collapse the topic so you might not notice it right away.  I wondered what the symbols were there for and discovered this feature quite by accident.  now my whole index page fits on one screen, and I can open whichever cam/topic I wish to look at.....

That - and + sign is working in a split second for me but it does nearly nothing :rant2: All it does with this topic for example is take out the header with my avatar in it. Must be something wrong in my profile I suppose :puzzled2:

Will there is a + & - sign for each category as well as the one for the header with your avatar. :nod2: Scroll down to the North American Osprey Cams (http://www.window-on-wildlife.com/index.php?action=collapse;c=15;sa=expand;sesc=94d431c16c34cd1583fea5c57f69e894#15) and click the minus sign.. :wink2:

Thankyou Chris :bigsmile: Now I know what the - and + does...although I don't yet see why I would want to go around closing everything down. I need to see what's in there for now. Handy to know about it though 8)

Has anyone addressed an issue I'm having....I see that it is "mandatory" to have your e-mail address on your profile and as in the past, I assumed that checking the box saying "do not show to public (or words to that effect) would keep it off the board.  However, I'm seeing my e-mail address on-screen on the discussion threads and also the Members Section, so perhaps it's not working all the time?????  I'm used to having my e-mail only show to Administrators....

Thanks!

Carol

Yes, we have, Carol.  It's easiest to just tell you.  I just checked your Profile and it says "hidden" and the Memberlist and it does NOT show an email envelope icon.  So you have successfully hidden your email.  Only you can see it in your Profile, and only you will have an icon showing in the Member List, neither are visible to anyone else.  In the Account Related Settings area under your Profile, you should also see the dark check mark saved in the box next to "hide email address".

Thanks!  Wanna just make sure you're saying what it sounds like you're saying:  In the Discussion Board, I can see all my icons (PMs, E-mail and Profile)...and you're saying that I'm the only one who can see these, correct?

That'correct Carol. I can not see your email address anywhere. So you have the right settings.  :bigsmile:

  :investigate2: I can't see it either, Carol. :thumbsup1:

Carol, no one can see your email address, or any PM's you send or receive, but we can all see each other's Profile Summary if we click on a name.  HOWEVER, your Profile Summary does not contain your email addtess, it says "hidden". :bigsmile:

I hope this is reassuring.

whippets84 - everyone who replied is correct - only you and Admins can see your profile in it's entirety, inlcuding the email address.

Whippet84, welcome to our forum.  We were all worried about that at first but soon found that our fears were unfounded.

Thanks to all who responded....thought so, but wanted to be sure.  Very nice new board, people!!! :clap1: :thumbsup1:

moving picture discussion here from the delicious pavlova page....

I put url between the brackets, but nothing seems to show in the preview, except what I put there.....I'm missing a step it seems?

(http://www.google.com/images?q=pavlova&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=Ep_qTK_-O4L68AaaxPDJDA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CDgQsAQwAg&biw=1419&bih=672)

ETA:  this is the URL of the page that i put between those brackets, no spaces, and nothing showed up.....I think there is one more step that I am not doing....

http://www.google.com/images?q=pavlova&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=Ep_qTK_-O4L68AaaxPDJDA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CDgQsAQwAg&biw=1419&bih=672

Bringing this over from chat. I'll try to explain a bit better.
Any picture posted on the internet always has a URL address and it usually ends with .jpg but some are using other extensions now. You don't have to save the picture at all on your computer.

Right click 'on' the picture and at the bottom you'll see 'properties'. Click on that.
Then you'll see this:
(http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q170/mainepatriotsgirl/Misc%20Pics/example.png)
Copy the URL Address.
Click the button above that looks like the picture (next to YouTube) and you'll get this:  [ img][/img ]
(Again, I had to insert spaces to make the example show)

Put the picture URL in between the 2 ][ and make sure that there aren't any spaces.
EX: [ IMG]http://wonkothesane.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Pavlova1.jpg[/IMG ]  (I added the spaces again)

Preview your post and you should see your picture. :wink2:
Give it a try and if it doesn't work I'll be able to see what's missing.

I would to like to add some remarks to the message above if I may.

Simply copying the URL of an image you find on the Internet and paste it here in your message is not a good idea. It is called "Hot linking" and most sites and their owners will not allow it or will not be pleased if you do.
With "hot linking" you "steal" their bandwidth and it may even result in their site (temporarily) being blocked. The only proper way to link to an image is to upload the image to your own image-host and get the link from there.

Sometimes DEF but I have plenty of people that hotlink my pics and I don't mind. :mhihi:

On the other hand, if you take someone's pic and host it in your account as your own and post it, that can be worse. :nono1:

If your pictures are on Photobucket or Imageshack, it is less of a problem I think. :nod2:
But I wouldn't want people to hot-link an image from my own website, it could get me in trouble with my provider.  :wink2:

Josephine .. The link you posted is the whole search page loaded with pics of pavlovas, not a single picture link.
I don't want to cause any issues so I'll help you with Photobucket and posting pics via PM if you would like. It's really easy once you get the hang of it.
Judy, JudyB or Laura, feel free to delete my posts.

appreciate the offer, and I'm not going to use PB. 
thanks for the help....

Problem here it seems like: At the bottom of page 4, if I click "Next", I get shuffled to another topic: "Re: Forum tips, tricks and general discussion". Strange :puzzled2:.  Then if I click "Next or "Previous"(forgot which) at the bottom of that topic, I get returned to page 5 of "Forum Technical Help" :puzzled2:

Thanks for your thoughts, Lori and DEF.  I'm not sure if this thread is the right place (or if we really have a place for discussions like this) - but speaking as a member who does have a personal website, I had not really thought about the pros and cons.

In recent years I've copied any photos I use to my website, after revisiting my early threads and seeing that half of the pictures I carefully picked to show the development of chicks at a couple of nests had been replaced with little "file not found" boxes.  I always give credit - and am making an effort to have clear permission to post the pictures and s'caps on my website, though I have work to do there.

I don't have an especially active website - and do have a fair amount of bandwidth - so it's never been a problem.  The pages that are visited the most are my summaries of dates, and they're text pages.  But I can see the logic to putting an especially interesting photo on PB and linking to it there when I post on a forum.

I know it is here somewhere but I can't find it.  How do you add an avatar?  :puzzled2:

Will, the next and previous links are for next and previous topics. If you want to go from one pag of the same topic to another the numbers of the pages available are on the bottom left.

To add an Avatar, Bee you need to click on "Profile" a button which is nearly at the top of every page. Once you are there, you will see some more links on the left side of the page one of which is Forum Profile information. On the right is a button called Browse - this is how you search your own computer for the picture you want to use. It should be small, about 80 x 80 pixels, I think, but if it is larger I think the Forum software reduces it.

Thankyou Laurad :bigsmile: I think the word "Topics" should be there to indicate to everyone what Previous and Next are for :thumbsup1:

Yes, I agree Will, but we didn't write the software for this Forum.

Much of it is customisable, some of it easily done, other things take hours of investigations and then modifications. Then we have to worry about what happens to all the modifications should we need to upgrade at any time. I think there are a lot of really nice features about this Forum software, it's nice from an Admins point of view and I think also for users, like yourself.

There are bound to be things that don't make sense or that are hard to find, but it takes a little while to get used to things, so I hope that won't bother you too much not seeing the word "topic" in the link. I know it foxed me the first time I clicked on it also - to me it seems a rather pointless link to have at all. Maybe one day when we're doing some other modifications we can tackle that one also. Each one takes a long time to do.

To add an Avatar, Bee you need to click on "Profile" a button which is nearly at the top of every page. Once you are there, you will see some more links on the left side of the page one of which is Forum Profile information. On the right is a button called Browse - this is how you search your own computer for the picture you want to use. It should be small, about 80 x 80 pixels, I think, but if it is larger I think the Forum software reduces it.

Thank you Laura, if it had been a ..... it would have bit me!  Can you stand one more dumb question, how do you add color to your signature line?

Bee - you need to add the same tags as you would when creating a post. In other words, if you want it to be purple, you highlight the word, then choose purple from the menu. If you look closely at the code, you will see [ color=purple] purple [ /color]. The words between the square brackets are what makes the text have a color. My example has spaces which you must remove - I only put them there so it wouldn't create purple text. Hope this helps.

Well Laura, dummy here can't find the 'code' in the profile section.  Want to come across the pond and point it out on my 'puter?  It is a beautiful, sunny day here and my friends in northern England are complaining about their weather.  :shrug:

Bee, I'd love to come and help   :mhihi: but you'll work it out before I get there. You have to manually type this in without the space next to the square brackets:-

[ color=purple] put my signature line here [ /color]

That's all, just type that and whatever text you want in the signature. Remember to have no spaces between the [ and the word "color" and again no space between [ and "/color]

 

If you want to give someone a string of code, you do not have to put spaces and explain what you did.. :nono2: Just type or paste the code you want to show. Then highlight it. Then click the # icon (its reads insert code when you hover) just above this guys head  :rant2: and it will come out like this..  :wink2:

this   put my signature line here  becomes

this
Then it can be double/tripple (depends on browser used) clicked and copied :bigsmile:

I knew that..  :mhihi: I was just being very, very lazy  :blush2:

ETA:  Just re-reading this.. I'm not sure what you meant by "Then it can be double/tripple (depends on browser used) clicked and copied"..  :puzzled2:

I recently had my computor updated to IE 7 or 8 and a lot of other things by my nephew.  One thing that is causing a problem is updating my pages.  After reading the last page of any thread, I just saved in my fav's and when I opened the thread it would take me to that last page.  Now it doesn't and I have to mark down the page number so I'll know what page I had read.  When I save to fav's now it opens up another thread of the same name.

Also what happened to "remember my password"?  I have to type in my password every time I sign in. :puzzled2:  Tks.

In this forum if you go to the Home Page  (http://www.window-on-wildlife.com/index.php) and look for the topic you want and look to the far right --> you will see something like this;
Last post by chipmunk
in Re: Forum Technical Help
on Today at 09:01:14 AM  
in the last block.  If you click this part  Re: Forum Technical Help
on Today at 09:01:14 AM  (http://www.window-on-wildlife.com/index.php?topic=23.msg1581#new) it will not bring you to the last post if there has been 10 posts or pages :rolleyes2: since you were last there. :nono2: It will bring you to the last post you read. :nod2: So you really don't have to save it each time you finish :wink2:..


As for the password there should be a drop down menu where you can pick how long to stay signed in when you sign in.. :nod2:

Hope this helps

CLC you've taught me something I didn't even know about this Forum.. I thought the right hand links would take you to the last post posted in a thread, not the last one since your last visit there.

For remembering password, choose "forever" in the dropdown box next to where you put your username and password.

Chris, I just did a search for Ustream and Windows 7 problems and found one message with a link to Uniblue (Registry fixer). The post said this, on a Windows 7 Forum:
http://www.sevenforums.com/browsers-mail/5312-ustream-flash-crash-firefox-ie.html

Ustream & Flash crash Firefox and IE

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey!

I got Windows 7 just some days ago and I really love it. But there is a minor (?) problem

When I try to watch streams on Ustream, the browsers crash. I think it has to do with Flashplayer somehow, because Ustream is based on flash. I'm using build 7048.

I really love Windows 7, but I probably love watching NHL on the computer more. So...anyone else experience the same problem? Any solution?

and someone replied:

lol i do the same to watch pistons games... i didnt have any problems with flash on ie with 7048 and dont have any with 7057 now...

you might want to try reinstalling flash

So maybe it could be a Flash problem.. what do you think?

Yea, I guess he taught us all something! ... Because I thought it was a link to the top post of the last page.

I'm going to have to experiment a bit with that link as I'm not sure if he is right yet..  :whistle:  :lollol: Normally I have notifications to threads I watch, so I've rarely used the link on the right.

Chris/SL w/oS is right because I clicked on the blue button for new posts and read the whole story form there to here, i.e., all the posts I hadn't read before.   :nod2:

Laura, since the beginning of the forum I have experienced problems with signing in which I've just lived with, but it's "getting old" >:( and maybe now is a good time to ask for you to look into it.

When I put my name into the box on the top, upper left, to sign in I put "D" and my name appears in the dropdown and I click on it and it puts my name there and fills in my password, but it always says that my password is incorrect.  This morning I typed my password in first and then my name and it still said my password was incorrect :!: When I fill in the screen saying it was incorrect, it takes it.  It's a lot of bother not to be able to just sign in up in the corner.  I know it has my correct password because I know how many letters it has and on occasion it does work.

Doralyn, I don't really know for sure, but as far as I am aware, the Forum itself does not give a drop down option for filling in your username and password, in which case it sounds like it's a Windows or browser issue. I have never used the option to allow Windows to remember my passwords, but I do use the "Forever" option on the Forum login screen so that I never have to type in my username and password. Have you noticed the drop down option that says something like "stay logged in for 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, forever"? Try actually logging right out be specifically clicking on "log out" and then try logging in again.

I just don't know what else to suggest becasue the drop down box is not a feature of this Forum software. Let me know how you get on. Maybe someone else has an idea.

I have always had the "forever option" selected.  I did what you suggested, making those choices again to be sure, but the same thing happens. 

When you say you never have to type your name and password, do you mean you never log out, even when you leave the forum and shut your computer down?

Well, yes, I do log out sometimes, but not always. When I leave the Forum, I just close the browser windows and shut the computer down. When I start up again in the morning, I do not need to "sign in", it remembers my username and password. If you are actually clicking on "log out" then the "forever" option is overridden and yes, you would need to sign in again. 

Once you close your browser window you are in effect logged out and will not appear on the online list, especially if you do shut down all browser windows. However, the Forum software allows you to retain the username and password information in the box next to where it says "forever", unless you select 1 Hour - but I've never tested that. Your problem might be a cookies or Windows Passwords problem, I just don't know.

Ahhh, so if I just don't log out, I won't have to type in anything. 

Am a correct in assuming that this program remembers that I didn't log out and so I'm automatically already signed in when I bring up the forum, BUT that no other entity knows that?  Neither any other site, web page, person on this forum, etc.?  Also, if I just close the window or put something else up in it, then I appear to be "not online" in the forum pages?

I never gave it much thought before and always assumed that if you were logged in, then without logging out you closed all browser windows that you would then drop off the online list. I just ran a test using another computer and although I closed all the windows, the other computer, (where I was viewing as a guest), showed me as being online still. I was wrong about this and assumed that closing all browser windows would sign you out, but it seems your name will still remain on the online list, but for how long, I do not know.

You asked "Am a correct in assuming that this program remembers that I didn't log out and so I'm automatically already signed in when I bring up the forum? That is my understanding - it's not the Forum software as such, but it must put a cookie on your computer, because if you go to another computer and launch the Forum, then of course it won't know who you are and you would have to sign in again.

I do not really understand what you mean by "BUT that no other entity knows that?  Neither any other site, web page, person on this forum, etc.? " The only one I can answer is "person on this forum" - yes, it would appear that your name remains on the online list unless you sign out.

Thanks, Laura, let's try this.  I am going to not log off, but I am going to shut this window down for a long while as I am on my way outside to work (for several hours).  When I come back in, I will come back to the forum and see, #1 if I'm still signed in, and #2 if in the meantime you post here that I am/or am not shown as being "online" with the little green box by my name, and if you happen to notice, for how long (one of your questions) or if it just stays the same.  OK?  Bye, I'm leaving now.

--------
By the way, I love how easy it is to modify a post without all those time thingys at the bottom of a post.  I even correct my spelling in old posts if I happen to notice it, just because it's so easy to do.

I never log out.....yet it shows me time as 15hours and 51mins. currently. I have no idea how that is tracked----can you see the time I have logged in as well? or is that only for my information?

Well, Judy did find a method of removing that "time online" feature, I just haven't had time to do that also, sorry. I'll get round to it because I think it's distracting and probably not all that accurate.

I don't know if anyone can tell how long another person has been online or not, it's possible Admins can, but I've never looked.

Doralyn, at 11:37 your time, you show as online.

I didn't understand what you meant by this, but am glad you are finding some things nice to use - "without all those time thingys at the bottom of a post" - what time thingys? I think this software is really nice and it grows on you the more you use it. I like that I can modify it as much as I can too, it's just a matter of how much time I have.

Doralyn, 9:09AM PST(12:09EST) and you are Offline as shown in your post above.

The only thing I log out of is my bank. When I go out or to bed, I just close all windows and leave the computer on. If you turn it off all the time, components get heated and cooled and after awhile they just CRACK :!: :lollol:

I just checked also and you're not showing as online any more at 12:14 your time.

OK, I'm Baaacck!!  And it worked.  Thanks for the feedback Laura and Will.  When I brought up the forum just now, I was indeed still signed in, and as you both said, I appeared to be off line in the interim, which I was!  I suspect that the phrase "during the last 15 minutes" used at the botton of the index page where who's online is shown in a list, may be why I didn't show immediately to have left the forum because I was active during the beginning of that 15 minute interval. 

What I meant by the time thingys. Laura, was the small print beneath a post on the old forum that told you how may times someone had edited a post, in great detail, day, time, number of times like a "big brother" watching all you do. :rolleyes2:

 :lollol: Peggy and i were checking that out the other day. We discovered that even if you leave the forum up on your desk top, if you don't click anything on the page for 15 minutes, you are then "off line"

Well, we're learning all the time and it was an interesting exercise. I just assumed that shutting down all the browser windows would log you out immediately, but not so. Now I know that it seems there might be a 15 minute interval while you will still appear to be online, even when you are not.

I wonder if the incrementing time at the top takes that time into account also. Would most of you prefer to see that gone? I will find out if I can remove it - I think Judy found a solution, but I just didn't have time to do it. Each modification I make takes a lot of time investigating, sometimes practicing on a test Forum, then doing it here.

Interesting that you and Peggy tested it, Chris.

Doralyn, I had forgotten about that time thingy (how many times you had edited your post) at the bottom of every post one modified. It was a feature of this Forum, but I removed it early on  :innocent:

I seem to have trouble figuring out how to set up SAVING the PMs I send....can someone help me please?

you have to click the little box that says save to sent? maybe draft? each pm u save :nod2:

jwnix, two ways. One is that every time you compose and send a PM - right at the bottom of the PM compose window there is a check box which you can tick or untick depending on whether you want to save the sent message or not.

Second and probably better way - go to your own Profile Settings, click on "Personal Message Options" on the left side and then you will see two check boxes:-

  Save a copy of each Personal Message in my outbox by default.
  Show a popup when you receive new messages?

Check them as you desire.

Hope this helps  :love:

thanks.  I thought the OUTBOX was where they hang out until the recipient picks it up and was looking for SENT file. you have clarified it,...much appreciated.

Every Forum software seems to work it's own peculiar way  :puzzled2: we just have to get used to the way each one works. Unfortunately we cannot actually tell when a PM has been read.. but is that a bad thing? I find it quite intrusive for the sender to know when I have actually read the message, so I do not mind.  :-\

I have such limited experience with forums, that my "data base" of knowledge of how they work is not very large. 

I think the only advantage for knowing if sent mail was opened, is a clue that it got to the person.  then if you don't hear from them, that is a clue in itself.  sometimes. 

I'm having a lot of trouble getting into the threads.  I wanted to post on the Chat thread this morning and the page opened and part of it was Doralyn's pictures of the trains which I know was either posted on mon. or tues.  As I scrolled down the dates of the posts went backwards instead of forward.  This also happened when I tried to post on the Maine V discussion. 

I have had this problem since we opened the new Forum.

I also have to type in my password every time even though I've checked 'Forever".

Could it be something to do with me joining the new forum.  I remember that when you joined the new forum, you rec'd acknowledgement from Judy and then she sent out a second acknowledgement, I never got the 2nd acknowledgement.  This is driving me crazy :puzzled2: :rant2:

chipmunk, go to your Profile, and under Look and Layout Preferences make sure you have not checked the box requesting that the most recent posts are displayed first or on top of the page.

I also have to type my password twice, no matter which sign-in place I use, the upper corner, or the pop-up sign-in screen.  It is maddening!!!  I've even tried changing my password, no help, nothing works.  It's a puzzle.

Doralyn, thanks for helping chipmunk. Hopefully the order in which the pages are displayed correctly.

After some investigation with Doralyn, we discovered that if you actually log out, then yes, you will have to re-enter your username and password each time. Doralyn, are you logging off each time still? Have you tried just closing the window and then returning to the Forum later? I rarely log off unless I'm on someone else's computer and I'm never asked to re-enter username and password. I have the option of "forever" set also.

If you're not logging out and you had clicked on the "forever" option, then we need to look at it all more closely. I doubt it's a problem with the Forum software, it could be a cookies setting on your computer, or internet options. If you can try to explain what happens in more detail, then maybe I can help work it out for you.

chipmunk, I checked your account settings and they are just like every other member's settings. I think the system should have sent you a confirmation email when you were accepted, but even if it did not, that should not affect your logging in process now.

Laura, I don't usually log off during the day, even when I use the window for something else, and often at the end of the day I will not log off, but just close the window.  The next day when I rebout, then I have to sign in again.

Here's another question.  If I close the window during the day, and I have selected "show online" will I still show as being online at the forum?

Thanks Doralyn ,  I have changed my Look and Layout preferences and hopefully that will work.

Thanks Laura, I just thought :puzzled2: it might be the problem,

chipmunk, are your problems resolved? I hope so.  :bigsmile:

Doralyn, I don't really understand why you're having the logging in and out issue. Is there any chance you could test it all on another computer, just to narrow it down to whether it's a problem with your computer or your status on the Forum? Do you have to re-enter your username AND your password each time or just your password? Could there be a security setting in your browser that prevents it from remembering passwords, or a security setting on the computer? Do you have problems staying logged into other Forums?

I usually just close all the windows and shut the computer down at night, but never have to re-enter username or password, unless I specifically log out.

I think that whatever online status you set at any given time, that may be what it is next time you log in. I think we ascertained that if you are showing as "online" and shut the window without logging off, you will appear to be online still for a period of time - I am not sure how long, we would need to carry out further tests. However, I think that if you actually log off, then you will not appear to be online, but once again, you need to run tests to see if you want to know for certain.

I would like to have my e-mail removed from my profile.  I tried change profile, but it doesn't go away.  I have checked hide e-mail, but an envelope is next to my name in the members list.  Is there a way for it to be removed, so that my address is not visible.
Do you do that, or do I?
Thanks,
Judy

Hi, NJudy,
I had the same questions, along with many others about seeing the email icon in both my profile and in the member list, but if you have chosen to hide it, which you have because I see "hidden" in your profile and I DO NOT see the email icon next to your name in the member list, then be assured it is not available to anyone else.  Only you can see your own email in your profile and an icon in the member list.  I believe the administrators are also able to see it in your profile because they are the gatekeepers here.  (Judy, JudyB, and Laura).

More on this is on p. 1 of this thread in "Reply 6" which I wrote back in November.  I hope this helps. :bigsmile:

Doralyn

Doralyn,
Thank you for checking...It's a relief to know that my e-mail is no showing.....

When I went to upload my latest pictures from Jordan Lake to PhotoBucket, it looked as if I'd have to upload them one at a time - normally I can click on the first one and shift-click on the last one and upload as a group.  I emailed PB to ask about that, and this is what they said:


The email thing only works for folders on the top level of your account, and the bulk uploader involves clicking on each picture in order, and I'm not sure about the options for assigning titles, which has been part of the upload process before.  No clue when this might be resolved, but wanted to let you know it's a "known issue"!

I've been having a terrible time with Adobe ever since their upgrade to Adobe X.  There was an update a few days and it has been better since then.  I wasn't having problems uploading pics with PB though ... I had problems with the whole thing crashing.  It would shut down the cams on me as well as the PB page.

Thanks for the hint, DEF!  I found I could give them titles as I uploaded them, and then use the Organizer to sort alphabetically by title - which works for me because I use the date and sequence number as part of the title.

Good morning :) Problem: The index(table of contents) seems wrong. I was looking for White Rock Cam but under "Cams" I found discussion topics. "Cams" should give me cameras I thought. Anyway can someone help me find the "White Rock Camera"...oops guess it would be under Hancock Wild Life Foundation :blush2: But I am still confused about "cams" for "discussions" :puzzled2:

HI Will..not sure this is what your looking for but here goes..

The links for the White Rock cam are in the first paragraph on page one of the thread..there is one for "Close-up-cam" and another for the "Wide-angel-cam"..they both open up as new windows so you can actually have both up at once.     

Thank you birder. Indeed the links for the cams should be in the first post of every thread that relates to a webcam, so the White Rock links would be in this post, the first one of the thread.

http://www.window-on-wildlife.com/index.php?topic=46.msg101#msg101

Hope this helps, Will.

Thankyou Laura and Birder :bigsmile: At the top, yes I never thought to look there :rolleyes2:

Always happy to help, Will. Sometimes the Forum can seem dauntingly long and confusing. I have to admit I stick to the threads I am familiar with and rarely venture anywhere else and often have to ask for help too. We do try to have the formula though of keeping the first post of any thread as a place to put the most relevant info and links. I started a thread called "what are you watching" under  "Daily Friendly Chat, Creative & Information Topic". The idea was that it could become a one-stop place to find out what's of interest at any given time.

I'll keep trying but I'm stuck again on changing my Post time or whatever it is called. Any help :?:

Will go to Profile.. then on left click Look and Layout Preferences. If your changing for daylight savings time add one hour to the # in the
Time Offset:
Remember to click on the "change profile" button at the bottom of the Profile screen.
Hope this helps... :bigsmile:

I had a -1 in there and changed it to 0, then to -2. Should be one or the other :!: Had it right the first time -1+1 = 0. Zero worked but I had to post to check it. Thanks Chris :!:

Will, it should be set to 0 for the pacific time zone  :bigsmile:

Yup, I got it now, thanks Marcia :!:

Anyone else having issues logging out since the update last night?
I've tried in both my IE and Firefox browsers and I can't log out...
I get this message:
Session verification failed. Please try logging out and back in again, and then try again.

So I guess I am now officially here forever. If you see me here and I don't answer you, I'm not really here. :mhihi: :lollol: :nod2:

Well, I just logged out and then in all right, Lori.  Yesterday I was thrown off the forum again (has happened several times this week) while posting again, so we'll see if there was an issue that got corrected in the maintainance session overnight.  I know this probably doesn't help you, sorry, but I tried to give you a little feedback.  Hope it straightens out for you.

Something is not working correctly on the forum now.  It is a major hassel to post anything at times.

1.  I get logged out spontaneously, and it says I "have to be a member to post".

2.  Or I get post saying things that are not accurate/true:

The following error or errors occurred while posting this message: Your session timed out while posting. Please try to re-submit your message.
No subject was filled in.
The message body was left empty.  

3.  No subject The following error or errors occurred while posting this message: No subject was filled in.    

I've never filled in a subject before, why now????

A good thing to try is to clear your browser cache.  In Firefox, it's under "privacy" in the preferences.  It's a link called "clear your recent history". in the dialog box that pops up, select 'cache' only.    A second step may be to erase the cookie set by 'window-on-wildlife'.  The cookies can be deleted from the same area of "privacy". 
If you have both Firefox and IE installed, try using the other browser to post, see if that helps. 
I realize that if you have 2 browsers that you want to use 1 or the other, but using the other browser can help figure out where the problem is.  If it was a forum issue, everybody would be having troubles.

Sometimes if the forum software is updated, the old code could be hanging around in your cache, clearing the cache help those types of problems.   the 'cache' is where your browser stores files as it browses the web.  When you go to a page, the browser grabs a copy from the cache instead of downloading from the remote server again.  the cache can help speed up browsing, but it can lead to oddball problems.

Thanks, roger, I'm using IE, all I have to use.  And I do those clearences every day.  Lori was having issues after the update overnight also.  :puzzled2:

I did clear browser history again, and that  logged me out :rolleyes2:

Doralyn, no promises, but if I find some spare time I will try to look into this more for you. I cannot help thinking that the problem is with your own computer though as no one else is having the same issues. Have you tried logging in from a different location? This would certainly narrow it down to whether it was your own personal log-in, the PC or the Forum itself. If you have a moment you could search the Simple Machines Community Forum for a possible solution by entering some of the error messages you are getting. They are very helpful. http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php. Let me know how you get on and Roger, thanks for your input too.

Hi JudyB.     Here is the time and date that I had trouble with the forum

11:58 AM  Thursday  -  Was already on the forum, clicked on refresh and got a totally blank page.....  I then hit go back arrow to last page and that didn't work.   With blank pg. up I tried to reload the link, no luck, I finally clicked to the link to our old forum, left a brief note saying I couldn't get into new forum and tried the new forum link again and finally made it back in.....   This is the first time this has happened to me..... 
I am using Internet Explorer 8, my computer runs Windows 7 home premium  with a 64 bit - dual processor......   Hopefully this will help....

That sounds to be about the same time I had trouble.  I was typing out a post in NCTC ... when I clicked post the screen went blank.  I refreshed a few times and still nothing...just a blank page.  I closed it and came later and it worked fine ... but I lost my post.   :rolleyes2:

7:10pm 3/31/11
Cam froze then lost picture. had to close and re-open again. Then it was ok.

Posts requested by JudyB :bigsmile:

Information regarding forum spontaneous shut down on Thursday, March 31, 2011

Copy from Cam 1 Discussion: (NOTE the exact times are in the restatement below)
I got this message about 15-20+ /- minutes ago and couldn't get on.

HTTP Error 500 Internal server error.
I went to Google for an explanation:  Explained: HTTP Error 500 Internal server error. Introduction. The Web server (running the Web Site) encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from ...

It took a while before I could get it to come back up.

Earlier, around 9:30 am, the same thing happened on this site and froze my whole selection of open windows except my picture file.  Shut down, rebouted about 11:23 am and got on the forum,

AND: This was a restatement and explanation from later, with the times:

RE: Freezing: The cam didn't freeze for me, the forum did.  I don't think I made that clear above.  I could not do anything here, type, change pages, move down the pages, nothing worked either time. The first time (around (9:30 am) I discovered the forum and every other window open was affected but my pic file on my computer. I LOST unsaved personal communicasions in progress.  

When I cam back way more than an hour later (11:24 pm) after shutting my computed down, I rebouted, cleared all SSL states and browser history and cookies, and came back and got on......and then it happened again (12:21 pm) on this site, but this time, only the forum froze and I noticed in the url line above the Internal Server 500 error I posted above..  So I waited and did other stuff and came back and got gack on.

Several of us early birds got frozen out of the Forum this morning for about 7 or 8 minutes at about 05:50 Maine time. I was in the middle of posting and then got "this page cannot be displayed". It rectified itself and we were all able to get back in. Some went to the old Forum to report that we could not get in.

Since there are quite a few pages, instead of reading all, I'm just going to ask -

Is there a setting in our profiles, that I could perhaps set for posting in threads and after
posting, I stay in the thread verses getting brought back to the forum subject lines?

I hope that makes sense.  lol

Shoebutton, yes. If you open a window in which to type the message to post, i.e., if you click on "reply", down at the bottom, under the textbox, there is a hyperlink that says "Additional Options". Click on it and then select  "Return to this topic". That should do it.

Thanks so much Laura!  Appreciate the response. 

 Yes, and I will be right back.

Steps:
Click on Profile
Click on Look and Layout on the left
Click on the boxes to make choices, including Taking you back to the same thread after posting.

Doralyn, thank you!

Many of you know that I am computer illiterate so coming here for some help.  :rolleyes2:
I have a Power Point slideshow that I want to share on the forum but I can't figure out how to get it posted.
Anyone know?

Sherri, you're not that illiterate  :nope: :innocent:

The only way to share that kind of file is to upload it somewhere on the internet and then link to it. Photobucket, Youtube etc., allow you to upload images and video. I just did a search for "sharing PowerPoint on the internet" and came across this free site - I didn't sign up for it, but you might like to look at it. It might be what you want.

http://www.slideshare.net/

I did another search, "YouTube and Powerpoint" and came up with a tutorial on YouTube. It involves a few steps, if you want to follow them, you will learn a bit about Windows Movie Maker in the process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZmOVt_BIAE

It involves opening your PP presentation, Save As - select JPG format, save all the slides.
Open Windows Movie Maker and import the images. You can then drag them into the timeline, select how long you want to display each slide for, save it as a wmv file and upload to YouTube.

The steps in the tutorial are listed a lot more clearly than I have just given above, but I wanted to give you an idea of what might be involved.

Laura, thank you so much for all the trouble you went to!
Hm-m, sounds like quite a process for YouTube.....that is why I don't do videos.  :bigsmile:

In the meantime, easier to email the presentation so will do that.  It is really beautiful. :nod2:

I am getting an error message when I try to click through to the old Forum.

"Fatal error: Call to undefined function r() in /home/hostingp/domains/hostingphpbb.com/public_html/forum/includes/page_header.php on line 505"

This is the link I use for the Old Forum
http://www.hostingphpbb.com/forum/index.php?mforum=tdbc
I have a shortcut on my desktop, but when I click on the link from the Forum here, I get the error message.. what a mystery. Why should it work from my desktop but not from here?

No idea Laura .. I've tried everything I can think of too. All my bookmarked links for the old forum still work too, just not if you try to post them on this forum.  :puzzled2:

Thank you for trying Lori, it is mysterious. The link used to work, what has changed?  :puzzled2:

It's driving me crazy too. It has to be some quirk that this forum doesn't like all of sudden. I wonder if you do the migration that the old forum wants you to do if it would work then?  :puzzled2:

Does it drive you crazy because you use other links to the old Forum, too? I will have to try and look into it. I know that the URL for the Old Forum is a bit strange - hard to explain.. but the only way I can actually get that link to work is if I have been to the Forum before, i.e., must have something to do with the cookies. If I am on another computer it doesn't always work.

Anything that I can't get to work drives me crazy.  :lollol:
I'll see what happens when I get to work on that computer.

ETA--- No luck on this computer either. Tried all different browsers.
Laura, I've never had any problem bringing up the old forum on other computers. I just google Maine Bald Eagle Discussion and it would always come up for me.
You are the the queen of computer program lingo so I bet you'll figure it out.  :biggergrin2:

Ok ... so I post this link here ...

http://www.hostingphpbb.com/forum/index.php?mforum=tdbc (http://www.hostingphpbb.com/forum/index.php?mforum=tdbc)

Ha ... and it doesn't work ...... that's really strange.   :puzzled2:

Thank you both for trying. I think the problem is only with the phpBB Forum.. but it's strange. If you copy and paste the link it does work. I think they may have some kind of redirection going on there as they have changed hands several times and probably use different servers, etc. It means the link in my signature line doesn't work any more.

I downloaded windows movie maker 2.6 it is better than the one with windows 7. Much easier and you can take pics out of your videos..  this says vista but works with 7   http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34

Thanks, Chris!  I'll give that a try!

I never even knew I had Windows Movie Maker on my computer!   :blush2: :lollol:  But I still don't have a program to actually take the videos.  One of these days!   :rolleyes2:

Patti, I use a free one called CamStudio.

I recently asked for help on how to embed videos on the BRI Ning site and Judyb very kindly wrote the following.

To embed a video on the ning site, go to your video on YouTube and there should be a "share" button/link somewhere.  Click that, and there's a button for Embed.  Click that, then choose a size (I tend to chose something fairly small - partly because I usually record from a window no wider than 500 pixels, and partly because the column there isn't that wide), then copy the code from the box.  Go to the ning site, and one of the icons looks sort of like a piece of film - click that and it says to paste the code from YouTube etc - paste the code and click OK.  You can add text before or after before you post your comment.

Thank you.

I posted this on the Eagle Cam 1 thread in response to a comment, and suggested people post follow-up questions here, so I'm posting my original remarks here as a starting point.

Off topic here, but important enough that I want everyone to see it - at places like Best Buy or Staples you can usually find external hard drives for under $100.  Almost anything will work with a PC; if you have a Mac, you need to make sure it will work with the operating system you have without reformatting or other things that are fully do-able, but will slow you down while you're on a roll.  Mac-formatted external drives may be more expensive (no reason except that there aren't as many of them).  Some of the drives include software that will automatically back up everything; others let you copy whatever you want manually.  I'm happy to answer questions on the tech thread if the instructions don't make sense, or if you're not sure what's best for you.  My suggestion is to initially back up everything that's important to you, then find a place other than your house to store the drive - our complete backups are at Charlie's Mom's house.  It's not something that any of us want to think about, but if you're robbed or something happens to your house, you'll still have your files.

The next step is to buy something smaller to save important files between full backups; I have a couple of hard drives about the size of a paperback book that hold a lot of data, and I can stick them in my desk drawer at work when we go out of town - but I have a lot of large files (we record Charlie's CDs at home, and the basic tracks are huge - and Charlie does a lot of graphics - again huge).  For average use, including a lot of screen shots, a thumb drive will work just fine, and if you look around at a couple of stores with tech stuff (and that includes places like Target or Wal-Mart) you can often find 16-GB drives for under $10.

If an external hard drive is out of the question price-wise, start with a thumb drive and back up what's most important - baby pictures of the new grandchild, your checkbook data if you use Quicken or one of those online programs, the novel that you're secretly writing - whatever.  Keep in mind that thumb drives are fragile - as soon as you can, buy a second one and copy the same stuff to it, in case the first one fails.  (External hard drives are less fragile - but it's still better to have two, and alternate them so one has everything, and the other is only a few months old.  But I'm big on redundancy - if they made suspenders for women (and if I didn't have woman-type hips) I'd probably wear suspenders with my belts, just in case.  :rolleyes2: )

Sorry for temporarily hijacking this thread - but I've had computers fail a couple of times, and do feel strongly about this.  As mentioned before, please use the tech thread for follow-up questions.  Thanks!

I completely agree and endorse Judy's thorough message above.

Hard drives are so much cheaper now than they used to be. At least you get more for your money. We bought our very first USB external thumb drive (the size of a small lighter) when they first came out. It cost about $70 and only held 250 Mb. I loved it and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread! I still use it when I am out and about and need to carry small files or copy things from work to bring home, although I now use DropBox for a lot of things like that.

Now, for about the same money, or as Judyb said, about $100 I bought a 2 Terabyte external Drive. I also have a 250 Gig drive and I pretty much do what Judy suggested, back up everything in one go. Then I use a program on the computer called Backup & Restore and I have it set to do a daily backup automatically of any file that changes or is new. It's called an incremental backup. Every now and again that file gets too big, so it automatically starts a new one. I then have two backups or more and have to then delete the old ones.

I know it seems like a lot of trouble, but once you have a system going it just does it automatically and every now and again I chec that it is in fact doing what it it suppose to be doing. Things can always go wrong. The USB might have become disconnected or the power cable could have. The drive might not be working, etc.

I'm not as cautious as Judyb, though and have not parked a backup drive at someone else's house, but can understand why she has. If someone stole my PC and external drive I would lose so much of my work. I used to put things on CDs, but have stopped doing that now.

hermit, what sort of things would you want to back up? What do you use your computer for? If you have photos or documents, then a small external hard drive would be ideal. You could just manually copy things over to it using Windows Explorer or My Computer (in the case of a PC).

So embarrassing.  I've forgotten how to do a smart link for YouTube.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQloo-9Ig9I&t=60s

What should I remove to make this a smart link?

Hi, Beans,

Hyperlink formula is here:

http://www.window-on-wildlife.com/index.php?topic=97.15

Reply #20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQloo-9Ig9I

Hi Beans, nice to see you - it has been ages. I hope you're well. The way to share a YouTube video is:

1. Open the YouTube page where you have uploaded the video.
2. Bottom left under the image, click on "share"
3. Under all the options for sharing there will be a hyperlink, e.g., "https: // youtube/...." (without spaces). All you want from that link is the last set of numbers and letters, i.e., uQloo-9lg9l in your case. Copy it (or copy the whole link and delete the rest).
4. Paste into your message and then surround the letters and numbers with the YouTube tag. [ YouTube]... [ /YouTube] (without the spaces).

Hope this helps.