Help with: Auto Login, Posting photos and Albums

[Steve Lindsay]

How to not have to keep logging in manually every time you visit the forum.

In order for the forum to recognize you as a member, and allow a return to the forum without logging in every time, click on the box that says "remember me". This sets a cookies on your hard drive to allow automatic log in. When you are inactive on the forum for five to ten minutes, the forum automatically logs you out. The only reason to log out manually is if you share a computer with another person, such as a public computer in a library.

If you check the "remember me" box and it does not work for logging in, your browser did not let the forum software store the cookie. Look at the bottom of your browser window for a red circle with a line through it. This tells you that the site was trying to set or read a cookie but your browser stopped it. Double click on the circle and a box will pop up. Select "accept cookie from site".

There is help about cookies in the forum's FAQ.
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Cookies
What is 'Automatic Login'?

When you register (and also when you login using the form at the top
of the screen), you will be given the option to 'Remember Me'. This will
store your identity securely in a cookie on your computer. If you are using
a shared computer, such as in a library, school or internet cafe, or if you
have reason to not trust any other users that might use this computer, we
recommend you do not enable this.

[Steve Lindsay]

If you’d like to view the forum anonymously, there is a setting for this in User CP. In the upper left corner of the forum click on “User CP” and then click on “Edit Options”. Once there click the box that says “Use Invisible Mode”.

This is information from the forum FAQ about what "invisible mode" does.
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Login & Privacy: set your

• 'Invisible Mode' - sets whether or not other members can see if you are online and what page you are viewing

[Steve Lindsay]

How to attach a file (photo) to a post. (This is probably the easiest method to add a photo to a post, by attaching the file to the post)

To attach a file to your post, you need to be using the main 'New Post' or 'New Thread' page and not 'Quick Reply'. To use the main 'New Post' page, click the 'Post Reply' button in the relevant thread.

On this page, below the message box, you will find a button labelled 'Manage Attachments'. Clicking this button will open a new window for uploading attachments. You can upload an attachment either from your computer or from another URL by using the appropriate box on this page. Alternatively you can click the Attachment Icon to open this page.

To upload a file from your computer, click the 'Browse' button and locate the file. To upload a file from another URL, enter the full URL for the file in the second box on this page. Once you have completed one of the boxes, click 'Upload'.

Once the upload is completed the file name will appear below the input boxes in this window. You can then close the window to return to the new post screen.

What files types can I use? How large can attachments be?
In the attachment window you will find a list of the allowed file types and their maximum sizes. Files that are larger than these sizes will be rejected. There may also be an overall quota limit to the number of attachments you can post to the board.

How do I add an image to a post?
If you have uploaded an image as an attachment, you can click the arrow next to the 'Attachment Icon' and select it from the list. This will be inserted into your post and can be located where you want it displayed.
To include an image that is not uploaded as an attachment and is located on another website, you can do so by copying the full URL to the image, (not the page on which the image is located), and either pressing the 'Insert Image' icon or by typing [img] before the URL and [/img] after it, ensuring that you do not have any spaces before or after the URL of the image. You can insert pictures from your albums in this way too.


Photo Albums... what are they and how to use them.
To view recently updated members photo albums do this:
In the upper pull-down menu click on "Community" and then "Pictures & Albums". Click here for a link directly to them.

Everyone start filling up your photo albums!

As a member, you can create Albums of images that are linked to your public profile. Albums can be created by visiting the User Control Panel, and clicking on the 'Pictures & Albums' link, and then clicking on 'Add Album'.
Each album can have a title ('Joe's Holiday to Nepal'), a description ('A bunch of photos from my recent adventure') and can be of three different types: Public, Private or Profile.

• Public albums can be viewed by anyone
• Private albums can only be viewed by site staff (moderators, administrators) and your Friends and Contacts
• Profile albums are viewable only by you. However, you can use the images to customize your public profile

How do I upload pictures?
Once you've created an album you can upload images to it. Simply view the album and click on 'Upload Pictures'.
You'll have the option to give each picture a caption, and to set one image as the Album cover, which will be displayed on the public profile. To delete an album or edit the title, description or album type, click on 'Edit Album'. To delete an image, or to edit a caption or change the album cover, click on 'Edit Pictures'.

All members who have access to your album images can comment on them, in a similar way to Visitor Messages. You can delete any image comments from your albums, and report inappropriate messages to moderators.
When you have uploaded a picture, you can place it in your posts by using the BB code text that is displayed below the image when you view it at full size.

[pwr]

This is actually a problem I'm having with the forum. If I just point my browser at the forum web site, it signs me on automatically as you describe. cookies are fully enabled on my machine, so it's working. The problem is with the nice emails you send me, noting current activities. If I click the links in those emails, it launches the web browser (Firefox), and instead of the site then recognizing me, it wants me to register or sign in. Annoying. Especially since it seems that from the forum main page, it's not always obvious where to find those threads you mention in the email without a bunch of searching and fumbling around. Any clues what's happening? thanks.

[Steve Lindsay]

Hi Pwr, There are two domain names to the forum. www.engravingforum.com and www.handengravingforum.com It could be you are logged into one but the email links I send are the other and that is why it is asking you to sign in again. Try signing into both and having cookies accepted for both. Once you're signed in and have a cookie set for both it shouldn't ask you to sign again in either one.

[jools]

Clear and informative. Just what I needed. Brilliant.