OK, this has been explained to me before and I forget and I cant find the instructions on this site although I think they are here. First, I'm gonna have to find out how to get it from my smart phone and save it as a file? on my computer. Once I do that, then what do I do? Or, if I send it to myself via email and save it on my desktop (which I did) can I then upload it here or do I need to upload it on picaso first? I also wonder if I could just do it directly on my smartphone since AW has mobile AW?

Just to provide a response until someone more knowledgeable weighs in . . .
Since I know nothing of the interface and capabilites for cell phone (etc) access of AW . . .

IF you have the photo ANYPLACE on your home computer, you can upload it to AW.
You DO NOT need to have it on Picaso or any other online location.

1) Log on to the AW site.
2) Top right corner of the screen should show "My Account". The 'pull-down' should show "Manage Photos". Click that.
3) The resulting page should show any/all photos that you 'own' (I.E., that you have already uploaded to AW0, along with buttons allowing you to edit or remove them. At the very bottom of that page should be a button to "Add Photo/Video". Click that and you should get the upload facility, where you specify where the photo is (on your harddrive) and fill out as much info as you can (including the state and river/reach it represents). Once that info is all filled in, press the "Upload Photo/Video" button, and the deed is done!

The instructions are online at [www.americanwhitewater.org]

Again, someone else may weigh in on if (or how) one can go direct from phone to upload.

There is a photo upload page for mobile users here:
[www.americanwhitewater.org]

I don't know how easy it is to use on a mobile device as I do not have one. Nor do I know the file structure on your mobile device, so I can't advice you where your photo will be when you click on browse button to upload a photo from you mobile device.
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Since you have already emailed the photo from your phone to your computer and saved the photo on your desktop, it will be easy to upload it from there to AW. Go to the photo upload page here:
[www.americanwhitewater.org]

Click on the first "browse" button and use the file requestor to find your desktop and the photo file on your desktop. Click on the photo. Click "Open" and the photo is ready to be uploaded.

The photo is a digital file since it is digital, so you don't have to do anything to make it a "file". Almost all digital cameras put out jpg files so you don't have to worry about any instructions to make sure the file is jpg or gif.

Once you have selected the correct photo for uploading, please take the time to write helpful information about the photo. Write a few sentances describing the situation.

Use the drop down menu to link it with the correct river reach. Start typing in the reach name or river name and the drop down menu will list choices matching what you type. Click on the correct choice and the photo will be linked to the correct river reach.

List the flow and the date as best you can. etc.

Hope this helps. Please ask more questions as they arise and give us feedback on how it goes.

Paul

Uploads via mobile phone are not as easy as they could be (ideally you'd send the picture via SMS to the site. We don't support that). iPhone and Windows Mobile users should be able to upload photos by taking them and uploading them via the website interface, but we don't *officially* support content administration (photos, comments, uploads, etc...) via a mobile phone. You can browse the photo database, etc... as much as you want with a mobile device.

Ryan

Over the last few months I can not get drop down menus to work on:
Photos
Gauges
Adding streamkeepers.

Once again, I'm on dial up. An old fashioned luddite here. But the drop down menu's consistently do not work accross the board for me on IE 7.0 or safari.

Now ya know.

Seems like we should have a streamlined, text only interface where knowledgeable users can input, ID numbers or names without hassling with the drop down menus. How about even a comma delimited format so users could upload the data in one chunk without having to bother with multiple input boxes. We are just dealing with a database.

Quote:

Seems like we should have a streamlined, text only interface where knowledgeable users can input, ID numbers or names without hassling with the drop down menus. How about even a comma delimited format so users could upload the data in one chunk without having to bother with multiple input boxes. We are just dealing with a database.

I heartily concur. As a dialup user, I often find the system locking up when loading the ST editing interface. I often have to try multiple times to get it to a point where it will take my edits. I completely understand Brad's frustration!

Ahh, yes, that is the quandry. Developers and users with the latest and greatest hardware and software want all the bells and whistles to knock their socks off. Meanwhile, there are others who just want a minimum of stuff getting in the way of getting the basic information and having it download as swiftly as possible. So, does one design and program for what is currently 'cutting edge' (or at least, relatively so), knowing that sooner or later everyone will decide/be-forced to upgrade to hardware/software which will handle those things with ease? Or, should one program to the 'least common denominator', to ensure that everything on the site is available and works flawlessly and efficiently for all users? Or should one try to figure out where the 'middle ground' lies? No matter what choice is made, some users will be frustrated or upset!

WYSIWYG editors (such as have been implemented on the edit page for the river description, gauge description, and direcitons/shuttle info sections) make it simple for the total neophyte to contribute, needing no knowledge of HTML. However, they often frustrate savvy users, as the automatically generated code often gets bungled in it's own undies, creating sloppy HTML, and (especially if a user does any cut-and-paste) can lead to bizarre unexpected results. (My experience is that what I see (in WYSIWYG) is not always what I get (when I save and view the page!)

Similarly, the drop-down menus (for photos, gauges, etc) are supposed to make it easier for 'one-stop shopping' when you are doing edits on river pages. That is, in theory, (if they work correctly) you should not need to first go to a listing of all the river gauges or listing of photos, take note of the otherwise meaningless id-number, then go to the edit/update page to enter that number. Instead, you (in theory) just pull up the edit page and start typing the gauge name or photo caption and (little by little) the drop-down list narrows things down to the one that you want to select. Unfortunately, neither gauge names nor photo titles are anything close to unique, nor are either really standardized, so narrowing things down on the drop-down lists can be very hit-or-miss. And that is completely aside from the concern about the download/processing 'overhead' problem they represent to those on dial-up or other less-than-state-of-the-art technology.

So, in theory, all these bells and whistles are supposed to make life easier for the greater number of users. In practice, it's just awfully hard to please all the people all the time, and make sure the features work seamlessly on all platforms, browsers, and connection speeds. There is not likely to be a 'one size fits all' solution, because it is all subject to different perceptions, priorities, and platforms.