Frequently Asked Questions.

  • What is photocritiq.com?
  • Contacting another photocritiq member:
    • How to contact other photocritiq members
      Email addresses of photocritiq members are not available, however, you can reach another member by contacting them about one of their photos. In the Info area of any photo, there is the photographer's name and to the right of this name is an email symbol mailto.gif. A form will come up asking you to fill in your name and your email address. This is the email address the other member can reply to. When you click the "Send this message" button, the server will find the other member's email address and send this message to that member. The other member will see your name and your email address to respond to you.
  • Managing your Photos
    • Uploading photos
      To upload a photo, first go to your Profile page. In the left column you will see a link for your portfolio. Click on the link to bring up the portfolio manager. In the left hand side, there is a default folder called "portfolio". Click on that folder name. Now you will have an empty folder with a "Upload" button on the right. Simply click on this button, and select the file you want to upload.

      While this upload is happening, you can start uploading more photos. When the photo has been uploaded, a thumbnail will show up. You may want to click on the Info button and add information about this photo.

    • Adding a description to your photo
      You can add information to your photo by clicking on the "info" button that appears when you place your mouse over your photo in your folder. Most of the  information you can enter for your photo is entered automatically as soon as you finish typing in the input area. You do not have to "submit" or "post" the  information, it is saved automatically.
    • Submitting a photo to a Critiq Circle
      Photos can be submitted to any number of critiq circles. When viewing the info about a photo (click on the info button) you can specify which circle(s) this photo should be in. The input box labeled "Critiq Circle" allows you to type the name of a circle. If that circle does not exist, it will be created. When you type the first letter, a drop down list will appear with completions offered for all existing circles starting with that letter. Selecting a critiq circle from this drop down list will help prevent misspellings or having your photo appear in a different circle than expected. Enter a "," to add another circle name if desired.
    • Moving your photo to a different folder or collection
      When you are looking at the photos within a folder, you should see a "Move" button appear over each photo when the cursor is over that photo. This button, along with the "Delete" and "Info" button show up when you have your mouse/cursor over the photo.

      When you slide your mouse/cursor over the "Move" button, a drop down list of all your other folders shows up. If you select one of these folders, that photo will be moved to the selected folder.

    • Selecting the photo to represent your folder
      When viewing your portfolio, currently one photo from each folder is displayed to represent that folder. You can determine which photo this is by making that photo be the first one in the folder. See "Reordering the photos within a folder" for a description of how to make this photo the first one.
    • Reordering the photos within a folder
      When viewing your folder, there is a button on the top left labeled "reorder". Clicking this will bring up a window of all the thumbnails in your folder. You can drag and drop these photos into any order you want.  The photo order is saved automatically when you move each photo. There is no need to explicitly "save" your work.
    • Deleting your photo
      When viewing your folder a "delete" button will appear at the top left of your photo when you place your mouse over the photo. Clicking this and then confirming will delete this photo and immediately remove it from the view. Any comments associated with this photo will be lost.
    • Replacing your photo (keeping the comments)
      You can replace your photo and keep all comments, information, circles etc associated with the original photo by using the "Replace photo" option on the "info" page. Simplay Browse on your computer to find the replacment photo and your current photo will be replaced.
  • Managing your folders (or collections) of photos
    • Creating a new folder or collection for your photos
      New folders can be created (or added) from your Portfolio Management page (Portfolio - on your Profile page).

      On the left most column, there is a set of buttons. Click the add.gif button to create a new folder. A new input box will appear. Type in a name. When you move the mouse outside of this input area, your folder will be created.

    • Deleting your folder
      Folders can be deleted on your Portfolio Management page (Portfolio - on your Profile page).

      On the left most column, there is a set of buttons. Click the delete.gif button to get a list of your folders. Select the folder you want to delete.

    • Reordering the list of folders
      Folders can be reordered on your Portfolio Management page (Portfolio - on your Profile page).

      On the left most column, there is a set of buttons. Click the reorder.gif button to begin reordering your folders. Then, drag and drop the folder names in the list into the order you want them to be. When you are done rearranging your folder list, click the reorderactive.gif button.

    • Moving photos from one folder to another
      When you are looking at the photos within a folder, you should see a "Move" button appear over each photo when the cursor is over that photo. This button, along with the "Delete" and "Info" button show up when you have your mouse/cursor over the photo.

      When you slide your mouse/cursor over the "Move" button, a drop down list of all your other folders shows up. If you select one of these folders, that photo will be moved to the selected folder.

    • Selecting the photo to represent your folder
      When viewing your portfolio, currently one photo from each folder is displayed to represent that folder. You can determine which photo this is by making that photo be the first one in the folder. See "Reordering the photos within a folder" for a description of how to make this photo the first one.
  • Critiq Circles
    • Placing a photo into a critiq circle
      Photos can be submitted to any number of critiq circles. When viewing the info about a photo (clicking on the info button, you can specify which circle(s) this photo should be in. The input box labeled "Critiq Circle" allows you to type the name of a circle. If that circle does not exist, it will be created.

      When you type the first letter, a drop down list will appear with completions offered for all existing circles starting with that letter. Selecting a critiq circle from this drop down list will help prevent misspellings or having your photo appear different circle than expected.

      You can enter this photo into multiple circles by adding an ',' between each circle name.

      When you have the circle name or list of circles names, click the + button to add this photo to the circles.

    • Viewing all photos in a particular circle
      If you are looking at the info page for a photo (clicked on info you will see a list of Critiq Circles that photo has been submitted to. You can click on these names to see a gallery of all the photos submitted to this circle. Once you are viewing this gallery, you can click on the circle name at the top of the page to see a thumbnail and list of comments for each photo organized by most recent comment.

      Also, you can go to the "Critiq Circle" board and click on any thumbnail on the page. This will show a gallery of all the photos in this circle.

      Another way is to click on one of the circle names in the tag cloud on the home page when selecting "Critiq circle (by name)".

    • Remove your photo from a critique circle
      To remove your photo from a critique circle, click on the photo info button. The bottom right has a "remove from circle" box. Start typing the first letter of the circle you want to remove from. A list of all circles this photos is currently in will appear. Select the circle you want to remove the photo from. Then, click the - button to remove this photo from this circle.
  • Interesting photos
    • Marking other photos as interesting
      To mark a photo interesting, click on the silver star above the photo. The star will turn gold (yellow?) indicating that this photo is now marked as one of your interesting photos. This star appears when you place your mouse over a photo in the gallery or it appears at the bottom of the page (in the control bar) when viewing a large image.
    • Viewing all the photos you marked as interesting
      When you go to your Profile, you can click on the "Photos I marked interesting" link (on the right) to see a gallery of all the photos you marked interesting. When in this gallery, or anywhere else, if you click on the gold star, it will turn silver, removing this photo from your interesting photos. Although right now it doesn't remove it from this gallery view until you refresh the view.
    • Viewing all your photos that other people have marked as interesting
      To see who marked your photos as interesting go to your Profile, click on the "My photos marked interesting" link. It will show you a gallery of your photos that have been marked interesting. When you put your mouse over a photo, a button appears "Marked By". If you put your mouse over this, a list will show up with the names of whoever marked that photo interesting. You can click on the name to see their profile.
  • Changing or Adding Personal information
    • Change password
      Personal information is managed on your Preferences page (preferences on your Profile page). To change your password, click on the "Change password" link.
    • Add an avatar
      Personal information is managed on your Preferences page (preferences on your Profile page). To change or add an avatar, click on the Select avatar link.
    • Change or add your personal website URL
      Personal information is managed on your Preferences page (preferences on your Profile page). To change or add your personal website URL, type in the URL. Click ok to save it.
    • Change default display options
      Personal information is managed on your Preferences page (preferences on your Profile page). To change any display options just check the box or enter a new number. It will be saved automatically as soon as you check the box.
  • What are these icons for?
    • permalink.gif Permalink icon
      This is a "permanent link" to the current page or photo. You can copy this and paste it as a shortcut on your desktop, or into an email message, or onto another web page. It is the correct url to return to this page or photo whether you are logged in or not.
    • mailto.gif Mail to
      This icon allows you to email the current permanent link to anyone. When the person who recieves this email clicks on this link, they will be brought to this page or photo.
    • feedIconSmall.png RSS feed (most likely shown in location bar of your browser)
      This is a RSS feed indicator or some browsers (Firefox) call it "live bookmarks". Most browsers display this at the end of the url in the location bar. If you click on it, you can subscribe to a "news feed" of posts for the current board. This means that you will receive email in your RSS reader for every new post to the board you subscribe to. Firefox browsers show these live bookmarks under "Bookmarks". Other RSS readers incorporate the feeds into your email-like interface.

      You can subscribe to a particular board such as "Photo Discussions", or "Feedback", or a specific critique circle. When you are viewing any of these discussions boards, you click on that icon (usually in your location bar at the top of your browser). From there, each browser is different. You want to "subscribe" to this RSS feed (IE), or "add active bookmarks" (Firefox). This will send you an email-like message for every post on this board.
  • Error messages - what do they mean
    • "Please use only numbers, letters, spaces, and the following...."
      The plus button next to the "Add to Critiq Circle" input is only for adding a photo to a circle. When you have finished typing the name of a circle (or selecting it from a drop down list after typing the first letter), you then click the plus sign to add this photo to the circle.

      When you are entering other photo information, the information is entered as soon as you leave that input box. AJAX is used to send the information to the server without changing the page. So, for example, when you enter the title then click or move your mouse to another area, the title has been entered. You do not have to click on a plus button or anywhere else.

  • Maximum Sizes
    • Maximum file size for uploading photos - 2Meg
      Currently the maximum size file you can upload is 2Meg
    • Maximum file size for attaching a file - 256K
      Currently, the maximum size for file attachments is 256K
  • Site navigation
    • overview
      Any thumbnail on any page can be clicked on to bring up a gallery of photos related to that thumbnail. Once in the gallery format, if you click on the photo then it will enter "light box mode" allowing you to cycle through the large version of all photos in this group.
      • If you click on a photo in the "Galleries" view, since it is already in "gallery view format" a "light box mode" view will appear allowing you to cycle through the last uploaded photo for each gallery.
      • If you click on a thumbnail in a Critiq Circle board, all photos submitted to that circle will be presented in a "gallery" format.
      • If you click on a thumbnail in the "Photo Discussion" thread, a gallery of the folder which this photo belongs in will be displayed. IE, a gallery of the folder belonging to the user who submitted this photo.
      • If you click on a thumbnail in the outer circle on the front page, the 9 recent uploads from the photographer (name under thumbnail) will be displayed. If you click on the middle photo on the home page, the gallery that photo belongs in will be displayed.
  • Navigating in "Light box mode"
  • Misc or uncategorized
    • How do photos get into the "Photo Discussion" board?
      Whenever a comment is written for a photo, the photo will automatically show up in the "Photo Discussion" board. This comment could have been added from a Critiq Circle, or when someone was viewing your gallery.
    • Odd back button behavior
      When you click on an image in the gallery, you are not actually leaving the gallery page, you are getting the image overlayed on top of the page. You can see the gallery page through the gray background. If you click on the gray background, it will remove the overlayed image and you will be at the gallery page.

      So, the recommendation is to click on the gray background, or the x at the bottom to emove the overlay and be at the gallery page again. Clicking the back button will return you to the page you were at previously (before the gallery page).

      This is a typical issue with Web 2.0 functionality (like google map) and we can do something to make the backbutton do what people have come to expect, but not all browsers support it.

  • ...
    • ...
      ...