Welcome to the new server

Submitted by Admin on Tue, 09/30/2014 - 21:35

Introduction

Welcome to the upgraded website. There is still a long list of items to work on, but the main features of the site are working.

If you find any problems eg information or features missing, links that don't work, etc., please leave a comment below with a link to the problem page, and details of the problem.

If you want to check how a page used to look, you can still see the pre-upgrade website at: http://old.gwulo.com/

Regards, David

Work done

27 Nov Updates:

  • I've made some changes to improve the performance on two of the big pages on the website: http://gwulo.com/place-map-search-OL and http://gwulo.com/list-of-person. You should find these load more quickly.
  • If you find any pages that are very slow to load, please let me know in the comments and I'll see what can be done to improve them.

20 Nov Updates:

  • Timelines are back for Places, so you can see older and newer buildings on a site. Please let me know if any aren't working properly.
  • I've made some changes to the way uploaded photos are handled, which hopefully will stop the errors we've seen. Please let me know if you run in to any problems when uploading photos.

7 Nov Updates:

6 Nov Updates:

  • The first of the overlaid scanned maps is working again: http://gwulo.com/1924-map-hong-kong-western
  • I've hidden the "My Recent Posts" list from users who are logged out, as the list only makes sense if the website knows which user is viewing it. Thanks to Sean for pointing this out.

4 Nov Updates:

  • Moddsey pointed out the the "Places shown" gallery often showed the same photo twice and sometimes even three or four times! I can't work out what is causing the problem, so I've changed it to just show the first three (ie oldest three) photos, plus a link to the page that shows all the photos of this Place. That single-page view doesn't have the problem of showing duplicates.
  • I've also used this changed it to move any undated photos to the bottom of the list. Pre-upgrade they used to appear at the top.

30 Oct Updates:

  • Added "Navigate gallery" option on photo pages, to make it easier to flip through photos in a gallery.

29 Oct Updates:

  • Repaired various problems with the photo galleries that were introduced with the upgrade.

22 Oct Updates:

21 Oct Updates:

  • The Image-Atom pages now show links to add comments.
  • You can now edit your Image-Atom after saving it.
  • I've taken the "Add new comment" forms off the bottom of the page, in preparation for inserting media into text. Click the "Add new comment" or "Reply" links to access the form where you can enter a comment.

20 Oct Updates:

  • I've upgraded the zoomify viewer to the new version. A couple of improvements:
     - It now works on browsers that don't support Flash. This includes a lot of mobile phones and tablets, eg iPad, iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, etc.
     - The navigation window that used to cover the top-left corner of the image can now be hidden. eg view an image, http://gwulo.com/atom/19655. The navigation window is shown. Move your mouse pointer over the image then move it away. The navigation window disappears. Move your mouse over the image again and the navigation window re-appears.

16 Oct Updates:

  • Image Galleries are working again <Click to view>. They are more flexible than the previous version giving you the option to view all images in a gallery and its sub-galleries, or just those in the sub-gallery.
  • Images that were inserted into text are now linked to their pages again. Click the image to visit its page.

14 Oct Updates:

  • Tidied up layout of Person page, and formatting of dates.
  • Note that the "What links here" feature isn't accurate yet, as the site is still re-building the lists of links. It should be finished re-building by the end of this wek.
  • Tidied up layout of photos on front page.

13 Oct Updates:

  • Photos that were inserted into text should now be displayed correctly. If you find any pages or comments that are missing the photo, or show a code instead of the photo, please let me know in the comments below. (The code would look something like [ img_assist|nid=15026|title=View from St George's Court, looking down Kadoorie Ave.|desc=|link=node|align=center|width=320|height=213 ]). 

12 Oct Updates:

  • Photos on Places are working again, so you can see small copies on the main page (eg http://new.gwulo.com/node/2371) and large copies if you click the Place's "photos" tab (eg http://new.gwulo.com/node/2371/photos).
  • When you upload photos you now have the option to upload several files at once, then fill in their details (title, date, etc), instead of having to upload them one by one.
  • When Flickr photos are added to Gwulo, we now automatically record any tags from the Flickr photo, and also record the Flickr author so you can use them when searching.
  • I've used the upgrade as a chance to get the Harrison Forman photos displaying again.

11 Oct Updates:

  • It should now be possible to create a photo, please see the "Create" link in the block to the left. You have the option to upload a file or paste in a link to a photo on Flickr. Please could you try it and let me know if anything is confusing or doesn't work as expected? 
  • The Search Index is now 100% complete.

9 Oct Updates:

  • Today has been spent working on getting "upload a photo" to work. Making progress, but not quite there yet.
  • The Search Index is now 62% complete.

8 Oct Updates:

  • Photos & videos reappear in their new form. For reasons unknown, the new software describes them as 'atoms'. The big improvement is that they are all handled in a very similar way, regardless of whether they are an uploaded JPEG file, a photo on Flickr, a video on Youtube, etc. So when you're editing a page or a comment, you'll be able to insert any photo/video atom into your text.
  • The Search Index is now 49% complete.

7 Oct Updates:

  • Not much visible progress today - a day spent chasing bugs. 
  • The Search Index is now 40% complete.

6 Oct Updates:

  • You can view & create Diaries and their pages, see links in the Directory block on the left. 
  • The Search Index is now 35% complete.

5 Oct Updates:

  • You can view & create People, see links in the Directory block on the left. 
  • The Search Index is now 31% complete.

4 Oct Updates:

  • You can view & create Places, see links in the Directory block on the left. On the map of Places you can now choose from any of the Google maps: Physical, Normal, Hybrid, or Satellite
  • I've just deleted the first piece of spam from the new site - they didn't take long to find us!

3 Oct Updates:

  • You can view & create forum topics, see links in the Directory block on the left.

2 Oct Updates:

  • Enabled compression on downloaded content, which will help pages load faster in the browser.

1 Oct: Updates:

  • The layout of the page now adjusts to better fit the screen you're using. The biggest change is for smartphones with small screens. On these the sidebars are moved to the bottom of the page, below the main content. That pushes the "What's new" link to the bottom of the screen, so I've added a "What's new" link to the menu at the top of every page.
  • The ability to draw & embed maps is working again, eg see /comment/13956#comment-13956

30 Sep:

  • There is still a lot to do before the upgrade is finished, but here's an early look.
  • You won't be able to create new pages yet (image / person/ place/ etc), though you should be able to leave comments on existing pages.

 

Comments

...if we find content that hasn't made it across. Should it be reported, or is it expected behavior that some stuff is missing, and it simply hasn't made the transition yet?

For example, I can't find the following through search on the new subdomain:
http://gwulo.com/node/9386

I was going to add a reply noting that the University of Hong Kong Museum Society have also used the same image as being a 1900s historical shot:
http://www.hkums.com/document/newsletter/May2009_newsletter_newId.pdf

Hi Ian, I like that too - you never know what will pop up!

The features from the old site will be added back over time in roughly this order:

  1. The main page types (Forum Post, Person, Place, etc)
  2. Media (photos & videos)
  3. Page features (Random photo, search, etc)
  4. Individual pages that have special features (eg Views along the tram line in the 1950s)

Then there are several new features to add. 

Regards, David

Hi,

A heads up that search isn't working fully yet as the search index is being rebuilt.

If you know the url of a page on gwulo.com, just add "new." on the front and you'll go to the page you want, eg

http://new.gwulo.com/node/9386

Regards, David

PS If you look carefully, you'll notice that in this case the page you actually see on the new site is 

http://new.gwulo.com/atom/14810

That is a url from the new system for handling photos.

Yes, the robots are blocked from indexing this site. The "new.gwulo.com" address will only be in use for a few weeks, then this site will be renamed to Gwulo.com.

In the meantime just use Google on Gwulo.com as usual. If you find a page there you want to comment on or edit, just add "new." to the front of the url.

Regards, David

Norice a lot of new comments which are not new attributed to my personal posts. Alson clunky to move around between sections. Sometimes get a freze and have to reboot site.

Sean

Hi Sean, If this is just a short-term problem, we'll just put it down to the website waking up from its upgrade feeling a bit confused. Ignore anything from before today and just look at anything declared "new" from now on.

If it continues to be a problem where things are marked new that you don't think should be, please email me a screenshot of your  "My Recent Posts" page, and let me know which items you think are wrong.

Regards, David

If it happens, please can you let me know:

  1. What time it happened (so I can match it with the error in the log file)
  2. What you'd just clicked when it happened (to see if I can repeat the problem)

I've also seen the site freeze since it has been upgraded, but I made some changes earlier and I haven't seen any errors logged in the last 10 hours. They're probably not all fixed yet, but should be much less frequent.

Regards, David

I think you're asking about being able to edit your comments.

I've just updated the settings so that users can now edit their comments.

Regards, David

PS I hope that also answers the "How do i delete a photo I just added?" question, but if it is about something else just let me know.

Hello David,

This is the first time I am trying to use this Website, and I am already having a problem. I have a question/comment of a photograph but couldn't find a space to add my comment.

I also want to submit a general query to your readers about another place in Kowloon, but don't know where to start this dialogue.

Maybe my problem is computer illiteracy. I don't even see a "send" button for this query, except a "save" button. Help.

Bob

Would any of your readers know of the above subject. I believe it was in operation sometime in the early 1930s and was located in Homantin near the Kowloon Hills. It was also popular for people who could rent horses to go hunting for wild boars in the surrounding hills. I would appreciate any information.

Bob 

Hi Bob,

It's not your problem, the website is still in a bit of a muddle after the upgrade, and several things aren't working or aren't clear. I'm working on them, but there are several more weeks' work yet. On to your questions:

Q. I have a question/comment of a photograph but couldn't find a space to add my comment.

There should be a link under the photo that says "Login or register to post comments", but it isn't there yet. I've been working on it over the weekend, but it isn't finished yet. In the meantime, please log in (visit http://gwulo.com/user/login, or use the "User login" menu in the blue bar on the left). Once you're logged in, you'll see an "Add new comment" box below the photo, where you can type your comment.

(That will also change in a few days time, and instead of the box you'll see a link to "Add a new comment".)

Q. I also want to submit a general query to your readers about another place in Kowloon, but don't know where to start this dialogue.

If it is a new question, the best way to ask it is to create a new forum topic: http://gwulo.com/node/add/forum/2

Or if it is continuing an existing conversation, just add a comment to that page. eg I found an earlier page where you've asked about the Victoria Riding School at http://gwulo.com/node/13682.

Q. I don't even see a "send" button for this query, except a "save" button.

Yes, it's a bit different from email where you're sending a messge to an individual. Here you're saving the page to the website, so it is visible for all to see.

Sorry for these difficulties. The website will get easier to use as the post-upgrade to-do list gets shorter. But if you run into any more problems, please let me know.

Regards, David

Q. Sean asks why he is asked to log in so often, whereas before the upgrade he was only asked to log in "now and again."

A. As I'm making changes to the site, either fixing bugs or adding features, I often need to clear out the web-server's records so that the changes take effect. Unfortunately this means the web server also forgets you are already logged in, and so the next time you visit Gwulo.com you need to login again. This will carry on a while longer (my post-upgrade "to-do" list still has over 100 items on!), but should get less frequent.

Permalink
Submitted by
C
on
Sun, 10/26/2014 - 19:15

Hi David,

I just noticed that the "Shop" section is not working.  There is no button to select to buy photographs, and clicking the link to buy the book results in a "Page not found" error page.

That's good to hear, thank you.

One of the benefits of the upgrade is to make the site easier to use on tablets and mobile phones. One improvement is that photos now display ok on the iPad, and the zoom viewer works. The second is that the layout adjusts itself - hold the iPad in landscape orientation, and the menus are shown on the side of the page. Turn the iPad to portrait and the menus drop down to the bottom of the page, so the main content stays visible.

To see the why that's important, here are the % of sessions connecting to Gwulo that come from an iPad or iPhone:

2010 - 1.9%

2011 - 5.2%

2012 - 11.2%

2013 - 14.9%

2014 - 18.3%

Permalink
Submitted by
C
on
Sun, 11/09/2014 - 11:53

Hi David,

Just for your information...  I noticed that sometimes I get error messages about undefined index and/or undefined variable at the top of the web page.  For example, when I clicked the link for this page: http://gwulo.com/atom/19827, the following appeared:

    Notice: Undefined index: und in scald_flickr_scald_fetch() (line 80 of /var/www/vhosts/h6hh-7xml.accessdomain.com/batgung.com/drupal7/sites/all/modules/scald_flickr/scald_flickr.module).
    Notice: Undefined variable: image in next_prev() (line 70 of /var/www/vhosts/h6hh-7xml.accessdomain.com/batgung.com/drupal7/modules/php/php.module(80) : eval()'d code).

 

Thanks C, I think I've found the cause of this and stopped the error messages, but please let me know if you see any other pages showing error messages.

Regards, David

PS The underlying problem is that we have some Flickr images created where the Flickr owner does not permit downloads, so we don't have any image file to show. The quick solution is that in the "Navigate" block on the right column, now you'll occasionally see the text "Missing image" where the thumbnail is supposed to appear. Long-term I'll need to clean out these images, or ask if the owner is willing to allow download.

Trying to view gwulo.com/atom/19853 and getting the follow lines at the top of the page:

  • Warning: array_flip(): Can only flip STRING and INTEGER values! in DrupalDefaultEntityController->load() (line 175 of /var/www/vhosts/h6hh-7xml.accessdomain.com/batgung.com/drupal7/includes/entity.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in scald_image_scald_fetch() (line 190 of /var/www/vhosts/h6hh-7xml.accessdomain.com/batgung.com/drupal7/sites/all/modules/scald/modules/providers/scald_image/scald_image.module).
  • Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in scald_image_scald_fetch() (line 191 of /var/www/vhosts/h6hh-7xml.accessdomain.com/batgung.com/drupal7/sites/all/modules/scald/modules/providers/scald_image/scald_image.module).
  • Warning: array_flip(): Can only flip STRING and INTEGER values! in DrupalDefaultEntityController->load() (line 175 of /var/www/vhosts/h6hh-7xml.accessdomain.com/batgung.com/drupal7/includes/entity.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in scald_image_scald_fetch() (line 190 of /var/www/vhosts/h6hh-7xml.accessdomain.com/batgung.com/drupal7/sites/all/modules/scald/modules/providers/scald_image/scald_image.module).
  • Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in scald_image_scald_fetch() (line 191 of /var/www/vhosts/h6hh-7xml.accessdomain.com/batgung.com/drupal7/sites/all/modules/scald/modules/providers/scald_image/scald_image.module).

Hi Sean,

I'm not seeing the problem on my account, so I haven't been able to look into this one.

Here's how it is supposed to work:

1. Visibility

You can only access the "My Recent Posts" page, http://gwulo.com/tracker/my-recent-posts, if you are logged in.

2. It shows a list of pages. What should appear on the list ?

One line for each page that you created, or that you've left a comment on.

3. When does the red "new" or "updated" text appear on the line for a page ?

When someone adds a new comment, or makes a change to the page or its comments.

4. When does the red "new" or "updated" text disappear on the line for a page ?

If you are logged in, and you view that page, the server records that you have seen the latest version of that page and its comments. Next time you check the  "My Recent Posts" page, the red "new" or "updated" text is not shown.

So the steps are:

If that isn't working, please let me know which line is causing the problem and I'll look at your account.

regards, David

The "Add" button on the toolbar is working now:

New Toolbar (Details)

Let's say you're writing a comment, and you want to add a new photo to the text. Previously you'd have to save the comment, upload the photo, then return to the comment and edit it again. Now you can upload the photo without leaving the comment page.

To upload a photo, click the photo icon under the "+" (it looks like a sun and mountains). The Source, Add, and Options screens are the same as the ones described at: http://gwulo.com/node/2076

Please give it a try, and let me know if you have any questions.

Regards, David

The next new feature lets you have Gwulo send you an e-mail notification whenever someone comments on something you've written. It works in two different ways:

1. Comments on a page you've commented on

Next time you write a comment, just above the "Save" button you'll see a checkbox:

[  ] Notify me when new comments are posted

If you tick the box, the next time someone adds a comment to that page, you'll be sent an email.

You can turn this on or off for individual pages.

2. Comments on a page you've created

If you've made a new page (a Person, a Place, a Forum Topic, etc) you can be sent an email whenever someone adds a comment to that page.

This is an all-or-nothing setting, that you can change at http://gwulo.com/user : 

  • Click the "Edit" button
  • Scroll down to "Comment follow-up notification settings"
  • Tick "Receive content follow-up notification e-mails" to turn on these email notifications 
  • Go to the bottom of the page and click "Save"

If you visit Gwulo regularly, you probably won't use this feature. Too many emails will be annoying and you can just visit the "What's new" page to see what's been added since your last visit.

This feature will be most useful for someone who creates a page, doesn't return to Gwulo often, but would like to know if someone replies with a comment. eg They create a Person page about one of their ancestors, and asks some questions. They would like to be notified whenever anyone posts an answer.

If you have any questions, or if it doesn't work as expected, please let me know in the comments below.

Regards, David

Hi David

More of a wish than a bug, I feel, but it would be good if, when I clicked on the "1 new" comment link at the end of a thread title (when I go to 'What's New') the page took me to the actual comment(s). I noticed on the pagoda thread, which has now spread over 2 pages, that even when I clicked on the new comment link I was still taken to the top of the first page.

It's just that...I'm a bit lazy ;-)

Cheers

Phil

Hi Phil,

I agree, the current way it works is annoying.

It only happens with photos, other types of page work the way you'd like them to. Getting comments onto photos has relied on that tried & tested technical solution - "a bit of a bodge". I'm not sure how to get the new comments links working on them yet, but when inspiration strikes I'll duct tape them into submission.

Cheers, David

Not sure if it is connected with the latest upgrade. Images created e.g. 1936 Ping Shan is superimposed with the original image of the thread for a small period of time before image stability sets in. Cheers.

David

How do we now find the gwulo.com/node number that used to appear at the top of each post? It's useful to be able to refer back to them, or to refer other people to them, as above. I may be afflicted with "screen blindness" - forgive me if so.

Jill

Hi Jill,

Look up the page to the top of your web browser, and it should show the address (url) of the current web page. So if you do that now, you should see the url of this page:

http://gwulo.com/node/21873

It used to be good enough to just note the number, 21873. After the upgrade there are two different sets of numbers in use, one for photos (eg http://gwulo.com/atom/12345) and one for any other type of page (eg http://gwulo.com/node/12345). So to be sure you reach the correct page, make a note of the whole url, not just the number.

If you want to refer someone else to a page on Gwulo, just type the page's url on its own line like this:

http://gwulo.com/atom/17712

Then when you click "save", it will automatically turn into a web link that other readers can click.

I hope that makes sense, but let me know if anything isn't clear.

Regards, David