Historic Hood River
Resolution
Notes
Here’s the detail views I promised from last Friday’s post.
I feel a little guilty that I get to see the museum’s wonderful collection at full scan resolution while I only share little glimpses with you. Pixelpost, the content management system which I use to manage the website, hasn’t seen any active development for several years. It was designed in an era with more limited bandwidth and lower display resolution (and it’s not mobile friendly). I’m toying with the idea of either coding some modifications to the Pixelpost addon I’m using, or biting the bullet and migrating to a more modern CMS. I know this isn’t usually “tech talk,” but if you have thoughts on how this website could be improved technically, please weigh in. I know adding a built-in zoom is first on the list. I’m thinking even a 2X zoom would be a big improvement.
Any new CMS will necessitate migrating all the existing content, including images, notes with embedded links, and comments. Fortunately Pixelpost stores its data in a mySQL database so while migration won’t be easy it’s not inconceivable. What’s your favorite CMS for image browsing? What features do you want to see?-
Of course, if anyone wants to volunteer to write a bit of Javascript to patch a zoom function into the existing website, let me know! I estimate a couple of hours to a couple of days to code a simple click-to-zoom feature, but I won’t be able to tackle this for a little while now.
Arlen Sheldrake
Wish I had that talent/knowledge Arthur…..higher resolution would be great.
I think we should label this enlargement……Christmas gritch
L.E.
Looks like someone got in trouble and is doing a major job of pouting. Imagine that! A little girl pouting! Some things in history do not change.
I am surprised at potted flowers in the cans, sitting on the rail. Looks to me like they could easily fall off and bonk someone on the head.
Thanks for zooming in for us Arthur.
I am the least tech savvy person around. For those who are as un-knowledgeable as I am….CMS stands for "Content Management System" and mySQL is a squirrel that runs around inside the computer writing and managing the content. It is all very confusing to those of us who like to just click on HHR and see a new history photo every morning.
I "kind of" started a history photo site for my local community. Because HHR is easy to use and I figured Arthur knew the best, I looked into Pixelpost and was surprised at the lack of updates and help.
I finally chose one, but it isn’t a great host site and not as easy to view or use as this website.
There does not seem to be many photo hosting/commenting websites out there to choose from. A great project for someone who knows how to be a squirrel inside of a computer building a website that is user friendly.
Buzz
Amazing resolution. Kind of comical that I/we are making comments and guessing about old photos that barely show up on my laptop compared to what you are seeing. Not knocking the website as I have enjoyed it, but reading your notes are like reading a book written in Latin-or maybe the college calculus course I flunked. Thanks for what you have been able to give us.
Charlott
Oh Buzz, that is because you went to high school where you did…………I understand perfectly…………
Jerry L
Arthur, I subscribe to another blog called "vintage Portland" that allows you to click for higher resolution images, and has a comment section, and I think does some of the things you’re looking for (and that we would appreciate). You can see it at https://vintageportland.wordpress.com/ and there are links to the blog owner who I’m sure would steer you to the domain owners if you want to pursue it as a possibility. I have no idea if there’s a cost associated with it, but it might be worth exploring.
Jerry L
With a little more exploring, I found the host site that steers you through setting up a blog. It’s at https://wordpress.com/
Jerry L
Arthur – I tried to email you with some additional info, but it bounced – the only address I have is your old city one. Please email me at larsen@jerryjan.com so I have your current address.
Arthur
Jerry, I like Vintage Portland but I’m not thrilled with WordPress. It’s not really targeted to photo collection management. I like the zoom feature, but beyond that it’s not much improvement beyond Pixelpost. I’m imagining something more like a cross between Flickr and Facebook: easily browseable thumbnails with a vibrant but spam-proof social environment.
Jill Stanfprd
I love that cross little girl!
nels
Is that a child seat on the bicycle or is
the close up making my eyes cross?
Marie Small McMillan
I believe this child is my mother, Sally Aldine Bartmess Small. The Sam Bartmess family lived above their furniture store on State St. in the early years before Sam became the city mortician. As the legend goes, when Sally Aldine was a young child she would lean over the second floor balcony and spit on people as they would walk along the sidewalk or enter their store. Imagine this was one of those times when she had been seriously reprimanded for doing this.
Marie Small McMillan
Correction on my above statement re: the Bartmess Furniture store. It was on Oak street, not State St.