Aussie Jeep Images - What do you think?

[wildturkey]

Hey guys,

The site is getting huge! That's great... but it raises a few issues that i need to act on to accommodate its current size along with making room for future growth. I'm in the process of addressing all that. Details of which i won't bore you with.

What i'm after is some feedback from those that use the site and also those that have used the site but don't anymore.

So please pass on your thoughts - positive, negative or whatever. Things like...


What don't you like about it or feel needs to be improved? (ie; speed)
Do you use other galleries and know of a feature that you wish jeep images had? (link me to an example)
If you used to use the site but don't anymore, why did you leave?
How you upload your pics (ie; do we need to change or add uploading methods)
Navigating through albums. (ie; what would be more user friendly)
Would it help if i added a section where you can quickly upload pics specifically for the purpose of linking to forum posts? This would be a separate thing and not linked to your user albums (ie; like say photobucket - no login required, you just upload your pic & copy a pre-formatted link)


They're just a some suggestions on type of feedback i'm after. Feel free to say anything - good, bad or ugly! as i'd really like to improve the site & keep it alive.

Cheers,
Muz.

P.s. The way it is now, the site was designed to run smoothly with around 10,000 pics & about 500 user albums. Where we are now is over 22,000 pics, 929 albums and bandwith usage of over 6gig per month!

[jeepnjules]

It would seem like most at some time or another have had troubles downloading pictures, me being one!!!, it seems complicated and try as i may i still have problems, i do admit i am not computor iliterate, so if at all possible some way of making this easier would be great!!!

[Bomber]

I used to use it. Gave up because it was waaay to slow to upload, haven't tried for 12-18 months though so if you've made speed improvements I don't know about them.

Almost all my photos were MJOC trips and when it got a (faster) Album I used it to the exclusion of all others, it broke and never got fixed but somehow I never tried AJI again.

There

[wildturkey]

Yep i agree speed is a big issue & #1 on my list of improvements that need to happen.

Confusion on how to upload is another. There are about 6 different ways to upload pics but in 5 of those cases, they're not very self explanitory or user friendly unless you're familiar with the Gallery software. And the 1 method that is easy, takes too long if you're uploading a bunch of images.

The original site owner did a great job but back then it was much smaller. It started off as Version 1 software and was upgraded to Version 2. That's fine for smaller galleries but it's since been discoverd that for something this size, a fresh install is needed with new databases etc.

I've also been researching alternative software that runs the show & if need be i'll buy it & change over.

Thanks. Keep it coming.

[ARB87U]

move hosting to oz..... run it on servers you control, on no less than a tier2 network with it's own AS. Dedicated db server, 2 applications servers and a squid server. should only cost about 1k a month :wall:

speed is the #1 issue...... i remain using it only because it adds content to the site and i like the concept, but the speed is a killer.

[hemijeepy]

I am not very good on these bloody machines any way but I do ahve huge prob using images, Its very hard to find your way around the site ie: simple things like veiwing what you've uploaded in a gallery causes me head aches.

My suggestion would be ( hope its not cause I don't know how to use the site and if its just me then sorry :( ) Have a page where all your pics are uploaded into and from there you can move them around like files, I think what im trying to say is have a "home page" for when you log in then from there a page where you can name files ect... Hope that makes sence!!

[hemijeepy]

Also once I put pictures up and then i didn't know how to delete them or add to them ?????

[wildturkey]

Hemi- thanks. That all helps in deciding how to go about the re-vamp.

ARB- is that all that's needed... excellent, problem solved!... Tho i might have to replace the Jeep pics with "other" types and take subscriptions :)
Seriously though, what you say is true. Been thinking about a dedicated box recently but knowing that the Gallery software needs overhaulin' i'll try that fix first.

Just looking through some of the albums, there are some awesome pics and i think it's a great resource to have... i mean who doesn't like looking at pics of others Jeeps, their mods, trips etc. Just needs to be easy to do & not slow.

[Cpage66]

I got mad when I lost everything in the big crash and Crispy couldn't get any of it back...although he tried his best which I can't fault him for. And haven't really used it in awhile. But always more speed!!!

[hemijeepy]

Hemi- thanks. That all helps in deciding how to go about the re-vamp.

ARB- is that all that's needed... excellent, problem solved!... Tho i might have to replace the Jeep pics with "other" types and take subscriptions :)
Seriously though, what you say is true. Been thinking about a dedicated box recently but knowing that the Gallery software needs overhaulin' i'll try that fix first.

Just looking through some of the albums, there are some awesome pics and i think it's a great resource to have... i mean who doesn't like looking at pics of others Jeeps, their mods, trips etc. Just needs to be easy to do & not slow.


No worries, hope what i said made scense?

Its a great site and if its idiot friendly it will Boom I reckon, I love looking at everyones rigs great for Ideas and Possing ;)

[ARB87U]

now the trick is to find someone that has access to a network like that with most of the upper level work taken care of (firewalls, squids/content accelerators and directors and stick a box or 2 under it all ;)

[Bomber]

LROCV have a great Gallery, very fast (at least to view images, never uploaded). Don't know if it's the server, the database software or the size of the database (no where near AIJ) that makes it fast though.

http://www.lrocv.com.au/gallery/

[Bomber]

now the trick is to find someone that has access to a network like that with most of the upper level work taken care of (firewalls, squids/content accelerators and directors and stick a box or 2 under it all ;)

If you go down that route, talk to me via PM, have contacts in that industry.

[wildturkey]

Hemi- yep makes sense. Thanks.

Chris- i remember that happening. Chances of losing everything is almost non-existant with the way i've set it up. Backups of all images and the database are automatically done (hourly, daily, weekly snapshots). Can at any time revert back. In non-geek speak it's kinda like the Windows restore you might be familiar with on your pc.

Bomber- Will check it out, thanks.

[CHEQUER-PLATE CHICK]

I use the site a lot and I love it. Thanks for the use of the facility.

[ARB87U]

If you go down that route, talk to me via PM, have contacts in that industry.

or me..... ;)

[sir_camel]

I used to use it lots. The last few uploads i have tried crashed or just didnt work. A more user friendly method of creating folders and then naming them etc would be cool.

One suggestion is to have a standard format for all new photos uploaded. 640x480 (or whatever it is) and the original size only. Keep the endless options that come up when creating a new album/folder down or cut them out completely. Standardization will inevitably simplify it. I hope that makes sense.

[Grant]

I used to use it al the time but found that most times I am on my own on trips so do not get many pix taken and tend to rely on others pix a lot so I browse AJI a lot

[wildturkey]

Thanks for the replies & PM's guys.

The site will be down for maint today/tomorrow.

[homedg]

Any idea when the site will be up again?:?:

[wildturkey]

Sorry i've ben crook with the flu. I've put it back up now.

Still have a fair way to go with changes etc.. There might be some wierd behaviour going on which i will sort in the next couple of days.

If i could ask people not to mess with the theme options that'd be great. Unfortunately the gallery software doesn't allow for theme options to be removed so i'm working on the code to make it the way i'd like.

Cheers.