I just wanted to take a few minutes to update you on what I've been working on for the last couple of months.  I've been integrating a new post editor for the forums and other areas of the site that will give you more flexibility in your postings and make inserting photos and videos much simpler. First, I'd like to show you an overview of the editor. (Click the imagefor full view)

 

 

As you can see, there a many different formatting options to make your post look the way you want.  But what I really want to show you is the new image funtionality. 

 

 

The first new button is the 'image Gallery' button.  When you click on it, it will bring up a listing of all the photos in your 1st class web space.  You can locate which file you want to post by just looking at the thumbnails.  Find the image you want and click on it.  It's that easy, it will be inserted into your post.  You can also upload a new photo to your space from the gallery button by clicking on the 'Upload' button.  This will make posting your photos much easier. 

 

 

The next screen shows the 'Insert Image' button box.  It's similar to the gallery box, except that you have to look at each image one at a time to locate the image you want.  The real power in this button is the ability to upload , delete, move, and rename the image files in your 1st class space.  If you don't want to bother logging in separately to the 1st class web interface or FTP, you can just manage all your files right here.  Also in this box, you have the ability to create thumbnails to post of your images which you can link to the larger versions.  If you want to post an image that is not in your 1st class space, you can just copy and paste the url into the URL box, and your image will be inserted.

 

 

Next up is a button that will allow you to insert a youtube video right into the forum.  You just get the embed code from the youtube site and copy it into the specified box.  It's that simple!

 

 

And finally the link box.  You can create links by highlighting text, then clicking the link button and inserting the URL.

 

I'm in the final phases of testing and should have the new post editor ready by the end of next week.  I've already done quite a bit of testing, but could always use a few more sets of eyes to make sure that I've thought of everything.  If you're interested in helping out, please send me an email and I'll send you a link to the test site.  I need a good variety of web browsers and operating systems, but I'm most in need of an experienced computer user that has a MACINTOSH/Apple computer.  I still need to do some further tests on Safari.

 

Also in the works for late September or October is the latest version of the forums.  This new version has a lot of features that members have been asking for like a "printer friendly" view of the forums, the ability to edit posts for the first 48 hours after the post is made, better search capabilities, a points and rewards system to replace post counts, automatically convert urls into links, automatically reduce the size of extra long links, the option to hide avatars and signatures of other users, and many other feature and performance enhancements.

 

Many of these features however, will only be available to 1st class members.  Those that choose to support the site with their subscription funds will have the cool new post editor.  Regular non-paying members will have a version of the new editor with limited functionality.  Some of the new features in the new version of the forum will only be available to 1st class members.  To ensure that you wil have the latest tools to share in your hobby, make sure to Upgrade to 1st Class Today.  If you are already a 1st class member make sure your account isn't expiring soon and  renew your membership today!