I realize this issue has been discussed to death in many different threads on Caedes but I decided to design a system that I think will work from a user as well as a programming standpoint. Where applicable I created artificial screenshots to demonstrate what I mean.
A number of people have asked about desktop images for widescreen and dual monitors. There are several reasons I can think of why there are still none on the site:
1. They do not follow the current aspect ratio requirements and so demand additional programming for uploading.
2. The demand for these images is relatively low and does not necessarily warrant the creation of a whole new section for the site.
3. The image previews will not fit into the current display layouts since they are a different shape.
4. They do not display properly on most monitors with 4:3 aspect ratios and therefore would probably receive discouragingly low votes.
The system I've come up with (while I have time off from my new job due to the hurricane) I believe solves all of these problems with the minimum possible programming required.
Under this system, anyone wishing to upload a widescreen or dual monitor image would first have to upload a normal 4:3 version of it. This can be created either by cropping a portion of the image (probably the middle) or by adding black borders to the top and bottom of the image. This way the Caedes upload system still receives a 1600x1200 or similarly shaped image to display in all previews and on the voting page (the artist can decide whether a cropped representation or the full image with borders will look better in the voting booth for each image).
Once the image has been approved by the mods (as normal) the artist will have access to the edit screen for the image, either from the control panel or the image discussion page. Here is where the first visible change to the site comes in. In that image I circled the two new input fields and the new button which says 'Submit' instead of the previous 'Edit' (a personal preference). The two new fields allow an artist to upload a widescreen and/or dual monitor version of the image.
This upload would be independently approved by the mods to prevent abuse, and then attached to the original 4:3 image but not displayed anywhere on the site. To download the new resolution a user would click on [widescreen] or [dual monitor] on the image discussion page to bring up a full-screen view (again I have circled this on the screenshot).
I advocate only uploading (and storing on the server) the largest 8:3 or 8:5 image the artist has, since windows can reduce it to fit the desktop in question or most anyone can at least resize it with basic software. Caedes can determine the maximum upload dimensions but I presume it would still be a height of 1200 pixels. The submission method for these images seems like it would be able to basically steal the programming from the current submission system with the exception that instead of adding the image to any gallery it just links it to its parent image in the database.
That just leaves the question of how people will find the widescreen and dual monitor images, since they will still only be able to search and browse 4:3 images after-all. Since I think these images (and their parent images) should live in all the regular galleries (as opposed to special widescreen galleries), this third and final picture shows my proposal for how people can find them. By default they would be included in all sorting configurations, the difference being that the bottom two options on the pull-down menu would exclude all images that don't have an attached widescreen or dual monitor image respectively from the display.
Down the road their could be a selectable option in the wallpaper search but currently their isn't even a selectable gallery option and I don't think it's necessary for implementation of this system.
As a side benefit of doing the system this way, the new resolution images could also be attached to any images currently on Caedes by using the same edit menu as described above since it would exist for all images, not just new ones. That way if anyone has or wants to make a widescreen version of one of their current images they can add it easily. It would be up to the mods to decide whether the new resolution image is enough like the original image to warrant attaching it in this way.
I do not have a widescreen monitor and have not used dual monitors for a year or two now, but I would like to make my images available to those who do when possible. I have experience with website design, perl programming, and database construction, and I would be willing to lend my time to help in any way possible if you (Mr. Caedes) would want such assistance.
Thanks for taking the time to read this novel. Does anyone see any problems with this system or have additional input of any kind?
A number of people have asked about desktop images for widescreen and dual monitors. There are several reasons I can think of why there are still none on the site:
1. They do not follow the current aspect ratio requirements and so demand additional programming for uploading.
2. The demand for these images is relatively low and does not necessarily warrant the creation of a whole new section for the site.
3. The image previews will not fit into the current display layouts since they are a different shape.
4. They do not display properly on most monitors with 4:3 aspect ratios and therefore would probably receive discouragingly low votes.
The system I've come up with (while I have time off from my new job due to the hurricane) I believe solves all of these problems with the minimum possible programming required.
Under this system, anyone wishing to upload a widescreen or dual monitor image would first have to upload a normal 4:3 version of it. This can be created either by cropping a portion of the image (probably the middle) or by adding black borders to the top and bottom of the image. This way the Caedes upload system still receives a 1600x1200 or similarly shaped image to display in all previews and on the voting page (the artist can decide whether a cropped representation or the full image with borders will look better in the voting booth for each image).
Once the image has been approved by the mods (as normal) the artist will have access to the edit screen for the image, either from the control panel or the image discussion page. Here is where the first visible change to the site comes in. In that image I circled the two new input fields and the new button which says 'Submit' instead of the previous 'Edit' (a personal preference). The two new fields allow an artist to upload a widescreen and/or dual monitor version of the image.
This upload would be independently approved by the mods to prevent abuse, and then attached to the original 4:3 image but not displayed anywhere on the site. To download the new resolution a user would click on [widescreen] or [dual monitor] on the image discussion page to bring up a full-screen view (again I have circled this on the screenshot).
I advocate only uploading (and storing on the server) the largest 8:3 or 8:5 image the artist has, since windows can reduce it to fit the desktop in question or most anyone can at least resize it with basic software. Caedes can determine the maximum upload dimensions but I presume it would still be a height of 1200 pixels. The submission method for these images seems like it would be able to basically steal the programming from the current submission system with the exception that instead of adding the image to any gallery it just links it to its parent image in the database.
That just leaves the question of how people will find the widescreen and dual monitor images, since they will still only be able to search and browse 4:3 images after-all. Since I think these images (and their parent images) should live in all the regular galleries (as opposed to special widescreen galleries), this third and final picture shows my proposal for how people can find them. By default they would be included in all sorting configurations, the difference being that the bottom two options on the pull-down menu would exclude all images that don't have an attached widescreen or dual monitor image respectively from the display.
Down the road their could be a selectable option in the wallpaper search but currently their isn't even a selectable gallery option and I don't think it's necessary for implementation of this system.
As a side benefit of doing the system this way, the new resolution images could also be attached to any images currently on Caedes by using the same edit menu as described above since it would exist for all images, not just new ones. That way if anyone has or wants to make a widescreen version of one of their current images they can add it easily. It would be up to the mods to decide whether the new resolution image is enough like the original image to warrant attaching it in this way.
I do not have a widescreen monitor and have not used dual monitors for a year or two now, but I would like to make my images available to those who do when possible. I have experience with website design, perl programming, and database construction, and I would be willing to lend my time to help in any way possible if you (Mr. Caedes) would want such assistance.
Thanks for taking the time to read this novel. Does anyone see any problems with this system or have additional input of any kind?