Welcome to the new ZooChat
- Thread starter Simon Hampel
- Start date
I still have the problem where if I use the tool to show only threads for a specific zoo (in this instance San Diego) I get an error message "page not found." I thought before your temporary solution was to go to another thread on San Diego and then click on the words San Diego Zoo to get to their list. However now it will not let me click on the words (well I can click but nothing happens).
Actually I found out I can find the list through the workaround method, but it depends where I am. If I go to the thread from the new posts on right (as I tried previously), it will not work. But if I use the continent then country listing and find a current thread under United States, then it will work.
A quick question on image uploads: the upload form states "Images will be resized so they are no bigger than 1920px x 1080px" but uploaded media seems to be being downsized to a paltry 1080×720.
I realise that all the storage space images use is an issue, but a little more resolution would be welcome.
I realise that all the storage space images use is an issue, but a little more resolution would be welcome.
It's a portrait orientation thing - we have the maximum vertical resolution set to 1080px, so if you have a photo taken in portrait orientation, the horizontal resolution will be smaller.
While we could set the image resize to 1920x1920, there's no point doing 1920 vertical pixels when HD screens only have 1080px of height. Even my 27" screen is only 1440px high (2560x1440) - so portrait photos 1080px high still nearly fill the screen, while 1920px of vertical resolution would be wasted, even on this large high resolution monitor.
I guess if you use your tablet in portrait mode, you lose out a bit but images on my Galaxy S6 phone with its screen resolution of 1440x2560 fill the screen nicely with portrait photos.
If you have a compelling use case for higher vertical resolution, I'll consider changing it - but I think the majority of cases will just end up creating images that are too big for most users to make use of.
I think this has been (at least partly) brought up before, but I notice that comments on photos don't bump the photo to the top of that gallery which makes it difficult to know when comments have been made. Is that something which can be fixed (in due time, whenever)?
And more importantly, I don't seem to be getting email alerts for when comments are made on photos to which I have replied (e.g. the emperor tamarin enclosure at River Safari, Singapore). Is that just me - maybe a setting I need to change - or do photo comments not get email alerts?
And more importantly, I don't seem to be getting email alerts for when comments are made on photos to which I have replied (e.g. the emperor tamarin enclosure at River Safari, Singapore). Is that just me - maybe a setting I need to change - or do photo comments not get email alerts?
Yes, known issue - will try and develop a solution for this.
You may not have your preferences set to automatically "watch" media you upload or comment on.
Go here: https://www.zoochat.com/community/account/preferences
... and you can also watch media you haven't commented on by clicking on the "Watch Media" link above the photo:
thanks, I needed to tick the email box. Now all sorted 
Zygodactyl
Well-Known Member
Haven't been on in awhile, and part of the reason I stopped coming on was that the old forum kind of hurt my eyes. This looks a lot nicer, thank you!
I don't believe it's just a question of vertical resolution and how much of an image can be viewed at 1:1. The additional resolution, especially if it's available in an image can provide more detail.
Images that have a higher resolution than the native resolution of the screen can be scrolled accordingly when displayed at full-size - something I think most of us are used to doing.
Here's one quick example where more resolution would be clearly advantageous:
Sign on Flamingo Courtship | ZooChat
At full-size, the text on that banner is barely legible, but judging by the EXIF there was a lot more resolution in the original image.
In the original of this photo - Red-winged Starling - 11/11/2016 | ZooChat I can see my own reflection in the bird's eye. I am not, however, advocating uploading 50.6Mp images and file storage is a serious consideration, but restricting uploads to a maximum of 1080×1920px is like winding the clock back sixteen years and an age of 2.1Mp cameras. In fact, if I dug out my 2000 vintage Olympus C3030Z I'd still have to downsize the images!
Also worth noting that while 1080px is a common resolution, many screens are now much higher as we move to an age of 4K, so a bit of future-proofing would be a good idea too.
The screen shot showing how to set preferences is very helpful. Not only was I able to activate email notifications of media comments, I was also able to set ZooChat to display my local time zone! They even had my state listed separately from the rest of the Mountain Time Zone, since the other states change for DST (ridiculous IMO) and my state does not.
Sure. We could always just store the original photo in full resolution to get as much detail as you like.
But until more people start supporting the site financially, that's completely uneconomical - the disk usage would increase dramatically, as would the costs to host the site.
What's more, the more detail we provide, the slower the images load - many people are still on slower non-broadband or ADSL speeds and moving to much higher resolution images will slow things down for them dramatically. It also increases bandwidth usage significantly, which may become an issue for mobile users.
While 4K is becoming more common in televisions (despite the lack of content available still) - it is very much uncommon in computers still. Mostly because laptops far outweigh desktops and 4K resolutions on laptops are prohibitively expensive for the majority of users still.
You just have to see the screen resolutions being used to access this site:
... there's only 2 entries using a vertical resolution of more than 1080px ... and those are most likely both me! I have both a 2560x1440 and a 1920x1200 monitor attached to my desktop.
While it's a nice idea to show as much detail as possible - the reality is we need to balance things to make it cost effective and usable for as many people as possible.
Good stats, and according to the numbers and your rationale, for an average of 75% of visitors an image resolution of 992×802px would suffice, so why not go with that? To heck with seeing any detail, and who cares about all the Retina screens out there! 
I think improved resolution would clearly be beneficial, and hopefully my flamingo example highlighted that. I wasn't suggesting huge images, but as you say, sizes that offered a good balance.
I also mentioned file sizes in my previous post, and this is a clear commercial issue (more so due to file storage considerations than bandwidth, as only a small percentage of images would be viewed full size). One solution perhaps, would be to more carefully moderate image uploads and remove those that offer little or no value - of which there must be literally thousands.
I think improved resolution would clearly be beneficial, and hopefully my flamingo example highlighted that. I wasn't suggesting huge images, but as you say, sizes that offered a good balance.
I also mentioned file sizes in my previous post, and this is a clear commercial issue (more so due to file storage considerations than bandwidth, as only a small percentage of images would be viewed full size). One solution perhaps, would be to more carefully moderate image uploads and remove those that offer little or no value - of which there must be literally thousands.
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
I have just embedded a photograph in a post for the first time on the "new" Zoochat. This is vastly more straightforward than was previously the case, and the results are a great deal more pleasing - as in this example below:
...I like the ability to click on to any comments that have been posted about the picture, and the "further information" tab, from within the post in which the picture has been embedded. This is an excellent thing (but still doesn't quite make up for the loss of the much-lamented "new comments" option.....!).
...I like the ability to click on to any comments that have been posted about the picture, and the "further information" tab, from within the post in which the picture has been embedded. This is an excellent thing (but still doesn't quite make up for the loss of the much-lamented "new comments" option.....!).
Read the second through fourth words on the photo caption. I hope this new phrase goes viral and becomes a thing across the internet!I have just embedded a photograph in a post for the first time on the "new" Zoochat. This is vastly more straightforward than was previously the case, and the results are a great deal more pleasing - as in this example below:
...I like the ability to click on to any comments that have been posted about the picture, and the "further information" tab, from within the post in which the picture has been embedded. This is an excellent thing (but still doesn't quite make up for the loss of the much-lamented "new comments" option.....!).
A couple days ago my account was disabled "pending email verification." Another very popular user told me the same thing happened to him a few weeks ago. I was supposed to reply to an email I never received to authenticate my account. I clicked "resend email" and still received nothing. Since I could not post any messages on the forum the only way to address the problem was to use the "contact us" button on the bottom. I was sent a private email directly from Sim the Administrator and he has now reinstated my account, but it was an annoyance. Just a heads up in case that happens to anyone else.
Hi Arizona Docent - I had started writing you an email this morning, but then got distracted by something and only just sent it then.
There are two separate (but similar) issues happening here - yours was a little bit unique, but has happened occasionally before - coupled with a delay in sending emails to hotmail addresses which just made things more difficult to troubleshoot.
Most of the other members who have had problems recently are no longer having issues because of changes made at our email service provider end and changes I made to the forum software in how it deals with reports about blocked emails due to "poor MTA sending reputation" (which is not something we have control over).
Hopefully these issues will settle down a bit now, but if anyone has difficulty accessing the site or logging in, use the contact form or email support@zoochat.com
There are two separate (but similar) issues happening here - yours was a little bit unique, but has happened occasionally before - coupled with a delay in sending emails to hotmail addresses which just made things more difficult to troubleshoot.
Most of the other members who have had problems recently are no longer having issues because of changes made at our email service provider end and changes I made to the forum software in how it deals with reports about blocked emails due to "poor MTA sending reputation" (which is not something we have control over).
Hopefully these issues will settle down a bit now, but if anyone has difficulty accessing the site or logging in, use the contact form or email support@zoochat.com
I've noticed that I do not receive email notifications when an individual comments on one of my photos in the gallery. My personal information states that I will receive an alert for a variety of comments, posts, etc., and that works for threads but not photos. Whenever someone comments on a thread that I've previously posted in then I'm notified via email but for whatever reason I am not alerted in regards to photo comments. This week I've logged onto ZooChat and then found out on several occasions that there have been loads of comments on some of my old photos and I've been quite surprised!
yeah same for me. I set it so that I should get them (see a few posts up) but it seems to work only for occasional comments. I think it may not work for photos uploaded before the move to the new site perhaps? I have just recently taken to using the "alerts" at top right (which also show when someone "likes" a comment or photo of yours), but presumably that also only works for the newer photos and not the pre-move ones? I'm not really sure.
Anyway, I received notice of comments made on a couple of my newest photos (uploaded in the last week or two) but never on any others, including ones I uploaded only a couple of months ago.
Basically, if anyone comments on any of my photos don't take offence if I don't reply because I probably won't even know about it
Same here regarding comments on photos.