image upload from write tab (for end users)

squaredeye · 2005-08-19 18:05:22

I am sadly toying with the idea of hosting the blog portion of my community site because of the ease for end users to upload images for posts. I think it would be a helpful tool to have a simple uploading popup from the write tab (similar in ease to blogger) without losing the larger functionality of the image tab, or for that matter a plugin like mary’s upm_img_popper. In the grand scheme of things, I am sure this is low on the list, but I am consistently amazed at how confused many users can be with basic steps like “go to image tab, upload image, make thumbnail, etc.” This one little thing could help a great deal. Maybe its best as an optional plugin – I dunno?

Cheers,

Matthew Smith
artiswork.org

photonomad · 2006-01-12 23:13:56

I agree — it is such an effort to first upload the image, then find the id number and then go into the write tab and enter the image number.

Why not have the ability to upload an image in the write tab (to the left under advanced options near the number field) or as a pop-up that is more full-featured (i.e. – with thumbnails, caption, etc. — just like the image tab).

The KEY is to automatically associate the uploaded image with the article being written — without having to manually go from tab to tab and enter the number in the article image field.

The uploaded image would still show up in the images tab — it will just be easier on the author to add an image or images to an article.

plugin or add to the core — anything like this would be really convenient and less confusing to end-users.

Last edited by photonomad (2006-01-12 23:14:46)

bauhouse · 2006-01-16 18:32:57

I agree that this is the most difficult thing for end-users to grasp. It is the least intuitive aspect of Textpattern. I’m also not having much success with mary’s upm_img_popper.

squaredeye · 2006-01-16 18:48:06

Perhaps if a lot of us got together, we could put up a ransom for a plugin to make this work?
OR we could ask Hakjoon, who has taken over the upm_img_popper plugin to see if he could integrate this functionality into the plugin?

M

sekhu · 2006-01-16 19:35:03

if it makes things any easier, installing glx_admin_image and upm_image_popper allows you two reduce the process to two steps:

1) upload image – glx_admin_image will create the thumbnail for you
2) go to article, use upm_image_popper link to insert image

It’s not as intuitive as it could be, but I remember when upm_image_popper was very basic and then grew with demand and need. If something like it could be integrated into TXP it would be great, including the additional feature of being able to search for your image by name

nardo · 2006-01-16 22:10:42

upm_img_popper has quite a few options and looks daunting for the first time user – but it does offer great flexibility with precision … insert an article image, insert an image into the flow of the article, give it a class (float-left, float-right, for example), present an image using a custom form … some users get this and appreciate it

but … sometimes you don’t want to give the end-user choice, so perhaps an extension preference could be ‘restrict options to show users’ (with a small link “advanced options” then becoming available in the pop-up window for admins, etc)

squaredeye · 2006-01-16 22:16:38

Not a bad idea Nardo. I’ve often thought about trying to learn how to comment out some of the unneccessary fields in upm_img_popper, but never got around to doing it?

Yet another question for hakjoon.

Still, I think the idea of incorporating upload would be the most intuitive for all users.

hakjoon · 2006-01-16 23:02:22

I was originally planning on building in an upload function to an image browser I was going to build for my WYSIWIG plugin, At this point I think I’m going to try to integrate img_popper into it since that way it would be one image managing popup.

However I do find img_popper very crowded and kind of overwhelming, but it does offer a ton of functionality. I would love to re-do the interface in a more manageable way.

I was also thinking of splitting the upm_image tags into it’s own plugin. They offer a lot of functionality that the built in image tags lack and I think it would be nice to be able to use it without rquiring img_popper, img_popper would of course still be able to tap into them. This would also make the plugina little easier to manage. Right now its very, very large, and I have a lot of ideas I’d like to incorporate into the image tags which would just make it larger.

Please no one take this as any comment on the quality of Mary’s work. It’s just become such an essential tool that I would love to really grow it well. If you have any thoughts on potential approaches please let me know.

I have a minor update to it that I plan on posting in the next day or so that fixes some DOM issues that makes the link not always show up and corrects a couple very minor potential problems.

Last edited by hakjoon (2006-01-16 23:03:43)

squaredeye · 2006-01-17 00:12:14

Hakjoon,
I am glad you found this post :)

good to know Mary’s plugin is in good hands!

The major additions/revisions to this plugin as I see it are these:
(note: some may be pipe dreams :)

#The upload function from the “write” tab.
#if 1. then change “insert images” to “insert/upload images”
#enable visible/invisible options for “insert” functions. (to help the less tech savvy find their way around)
- this could be kept in the extensions tab?
#possibly an option to rename the “insert” function link? (example: “custom” would become “insert image”)
- this might be a stretch because of the backend functions?

I like your idea of simplifying the plugin and seperating the upm_img tags from the popper tags.

Just ideas. I would love to help you beta test if you’re interested.
Thanks for all your hard work.

Matthew

hakjoon · 2006-01-17 02:37:42

Thanks for the suggestions and support. I am very excited to continue Mary’s great work. I only hope I can be half as responsive as she was. She set the bar pretty high.

I wrap up a big project at work this week which should free up time (and brain power) to tackle really digesting Mary’s code and moving forward.

squaredeye · 2006-01-17 02:40:38

Hakjoon,
Sounds great.
Again, let me know how I can help (if you need it)
By the way, my in laws live in c’ville. Where do you work there?

M

hakjoon · 2006-01-17 13:19:54

I work at the UVa Hospital. They have an internally built CMS I help maintain.

Last edited by hakjoon (2006-01-17 13:20:27)

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#1 2005-08-19 18:05:22

image upload from write tab (for end users)

#2 2006-01-12 23:13:56

Re: image upload from write tab (for end users)

#3 2006-01-16 18:32:57

Re: image upload from write tab (for end users)

#4 2006-01-16 18:48:06

Re: image upload from write tab (for end users)

#5 2006-01-16 19:35:03

Re: image upload from write tab (for end users)

#6 2006-01-16 22:10:42

Re: image upload from write tab (for end users)

#7 2006-01-16 22:16:38

Re: image upload from write tab (for end users)

#8 2006-01-16 23:02:22

Re: image upload from write tab (for end users)

#9 2006-01-17 00:12:14

Re: image upload from write tab (for end users)

#10 2006-01-17 02:37:42

Re: image upload from write tab (for end users)

#11 2006-01-17 02:40:38

Re: image upload from write tab (for end users)

#12 2006-01-17 13:19:54

Re: image upload from write tab (for end users)

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