How to use "showcase" -- SHOWCASE NEWBIE

[Mmathis]

I have 2 questions/issues...... (I've never before used the "showcase" section)

1) I started a "showcase," and saved it to "draft." Now I can't find it.

2) Also, aren't you supposed to be able to write information [explanations] to accompany the pics? When I try to put the cursor in so I can type, it blips away, like it's a non-allowable function or something. I'm on an iPad Air, if that makes a difference.

Obviously I didn't read the directions well enough......HELP!

 

[Ian]

Really pleased to hear that you're making a showcase entry!

I think you can view the draft versions by clicking on "your items" at the top of the showcase menu: https://www.gardenpondforum.com/showcase/member/mmathis.3238/ in your case. I think it's in the column on the right hand side once you are on that page.

If that doesn't work, let me know and I'll find out why it's not working .

The showcase works by having different tabbed sections for the text you can enter, for example "overview", "planning and construction", etc... the tabs are at the top of the editor. The pics are uploaded to their own gallery which appears on the main showcase page at the very bottom, but once you've uploaded them you can copy/paste the "Insert Full Image BB Code" text from the attachments and insert it in to the text editor so that the images appears wherever you'd like. It's a bit more difficult than a forum post, but the only way we can get the system working at the moment. If you're using an iPad it may be more difficult to move the images around than it would be on a PC.

 

[Mmathis]

Really pleased to hear that you're making a showcase entry!

I think you can view the draft versions by clicking on "your items" at the top of the showcase menu: https://www.gardenpondforum.com/showcase/member/mmathis.3238/ in your case. I think it's in the column on the right hand side once you are on that page.

If that doesn't work, let me know and I'll find out why it's not working .

The showcase works by having different tabbed sections for the text you can enter, for example "overview", "planning and construction", etc... the tabs are at the top of the editor. The pics are uploaded to their own gallery which appears on the main showcase page at the very bottom, but once you've uploaded them you can copy/paste the "Insert Full Image BB Code" text from the attachments and insert it in to the text editor so that the images appears wherever you'd like. It's a bit more difficult than a forum post, but the only way we can get the system working at the moment. If you're using an iPad it may be more difficult to move the images around than it would be on a PC.

Give me a bit, and I'll give it a try -- thanks!

 

[Mmathis]

@Ian OK, I found my showcase and am able to access it -- thank you!

I was able to type something -- which I couldn't do before. But I'm still not able to "paste" my pix code info into the text editor. Again, the cursor "blips" away when I try.

Of note, I am close to my data limit on the iPad -- don't know if that matters or not. I just completed a purge, but it didn't change anything [darn!]. Also, having occas. issuse with the iPad and Hubby says that means it's time for a new iPad [yes!]. Again, don't know if any of this relates, but thought I'd mention it.

 

[Mmathis]

@Ian Still no luck getting the photos to show in text editor. I have a series of pix downloaded, and that went OK [like the regular posts]. But still, the cursor blips away and/or sometimes the word "paste" will be there briefly, but it ghosts as well.

I tried to manually copy & paste from the codes.

I tried to enter via the text editor icons [the little icon of a landscape] and -- -- showed up.

I'm not actually an Apple user [except for my iPad & iPhone] so not familiar with Apple shortcuts, but I did recall that there are shortcut keys [I have an add-on keyboard]. When I selected the "copy & paste" key, all that showed up was the code. No image -- not even in preview.

What puzzles me is that I don't have any trouble posting pix on regular posts or PM's, so what is different here that the SHOWCASE and my iPad aren't on speaking terms? GRRRRRR!

 

[Ian]

Sorry for the slow reply, I've been away this weekend at a wedding.

I'm not sure why the showcase isn't working on the iPad, but unfortunately I don't have one anymore so that I can test it out and try to help. Has anyone else here got an iPad and had any luck?

What you could do, is add some placeholder text for the photos in the meantime (based on filename or ID) and I can manually add them for you on my PC? That may be a workaround until I can see what's causing the problem?

 

[Mmathis]

@Ian Thanks! I'm not in a hurry. My husband is using my laptop temporarily, but once he gets his back and I have full-time access to mine, I'll devote some time to seeing what I can do with that.

 

[Ian]

Thanks . Hopefully the laptop will make things work again, but I'll do some digging in the meantime in case we have some iPad-only users.

 

[Mmathis]

Thanks . Hopefully the laptop will make things work again, but I'll do some digging in the meantime in case we have some iPad-only users.

I just posted a thread asking for help from iPad users.

 

[Mmathis]

@Ian My husband wonders if this has anything to do with it?

 

[Ian]

I've had a look at the options and the "0" setting is for unlimited attachments, although it's confusing nomenclature! All users have the same upload constraints, so if it works for one it should work for all, so I suspect the problem is an incompatibility. If it doesn't work when you try the laptop, then it could be a deeper problem, but I think it'll work ok when you get a chance to try on there .

Are you able to borrow it back for a few mins to give it a whirl?

 

[Mmathis]

I've had a look at the options and the "0" setting is for unlimited attachments, although it's confusing nomenclature! All users have the same upload constraints, so if it works for one it should work for all, so I suspect the problem is an incompatibility. If it doesn't work when you try the laptop, then it could be a deeper problem, but I think it'll work ok when you get a chance to try on there .

Are you able to borrow it back for a few mins to give it a whirl?

Not yet.

 

[Mmathis]

@Ian Yea! Finally got my laptop back last night -- hubby's had to be sent off for repairs. (He is a physician, so he needed access to mine and it wasn't always practical for me to get access.)

I started playing around with the SHOWCASE on the laptop (which is not an Apple product), and so far it seems to be working and the pix are showing up! So I shall sally forth!

Will let you know if I have other issues, but hoping I can figure everything out. Thanks for your help!

Oh, and if you CAN find out why this wouldn't work on my iPad, I'd still like to know why and if there is a fix. I spend more time on the iPad Air, and it would be nice if I didn't have to shuffle betweed devices.

 

[Ian]

Oh that's good news

I'm glad it's working now on the laptop, although I agree that it would be ideal if it worked on an iPad too. There's a new version of the showcase software out now, but it's quite a major overhaul so I'll need to get coding to make sure that the customisations from our version will work on the new one. I hope that the iPad bug will be fixed in that verson.