The core of the new Beyond Second remains true to its roots -- we wanted to keep this site a free, online photo community focused on Harrisburg. But the Web has changed a lot since we built the site back in 2003, as have our faithful users' expectations. Not to mention, the volume of photography posted here exploded far beyond our dreams. A redesign was long over due -- we hope these new features bring you renewed enjoyment of Beyond Second!
New Design
We flipped the sites's colors from light to dark because we felt it makes the photos look more vibrant and colorful. They layout has been widened to 1024 pixels wide to make better use of your screen. And for my fellow geeks out there, the code is built entirely with XHTML/CSS, which means faster page-loads and better compatibility.
Larger Photo Sizes
From this moment on, all uploaded photos will be resized to 480 pixels by its greatest dimension (wide or tall) -- a 20% increase from old site's 400 pixels.
Forums
We've added a place for all registered Beyond Second users to converse. We can take a hint!
RSS Feeds
Now you can stay up-to-date with photo submissions posted to Beyond Second -- plus forum topics and events -- without visiting the site! (although we hope you will anyway). Just click the orange RSS icon in your browser's address bar on any page for the RSS feed respective to the system. Alternatively, you can plug the following URLs into any RSS reader application that supports RSS 2.0:
Tags allow you to add your own keywords to describe any photo on this site. It's a great way to find photographs with common themes and contribute to the "folksonomy" (collaborative categorization) of Beyond Second.
Photo Sets
Photo Sets allow you to categorize your own photos into a series. Unlike tags, sets are for your own photographs and controlled by you.
Community-Policing
Gone are the days when you uploaded a photo and waited for it to be manually approved by one of us. Sometimes we'd get too busy and your photos sat in a queue for days. Now, your photos appear instantly on the site. Amazing, huh?
Well then, how do the rules stay in effect? We leave it up to our faithful users to help enforce them! If you spot a photograph that isn't in Harrisburg, or contains some offensive content, you can report that photo via the "Flag Ineligble" button on every page. This notifies the administrators to review the photo and take action, if necessary.
Password Retrieval
Forget your password? You can set yourself a new one by clicking the link on the Login page and following the process. No more self-humiliating emails to the administrators, creating a dozen different accounts for yourself, or (worst of all) abandoning Beyond Second altogether!
Improved Photo Uploading
We've made a number of improvements to the photo-uploading process. First, you can preview your photo and thumbnails before entering information about it. A built in EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) will attempt to identify your camera for the "equipment" text field. We've raised the filesize limit from 500K to 2Mb, with better validation scripts to help ensure fewer errors while uploading.
Photo Deleting
You can now remove your own photos from the website, without having request it. Still got mushy photos of your ex in your gallery? No problem!
However, in the spirit of this site, we hope you use this feature as little as possible, allowing old photos to collect comments even if you feel it isn't your finest work. Deleting a photo is a permanent action -- we can't "undo" it for you -- so use it with care!
Share Your Events
We've opened up News & Events via our forum. All are encouraged to post any art/photography exhibits or events in the greater Harrisburg area. If you have a gallery show coming up, this is a great way to let people know! And since it is in the forum, you can add updates or answer questions.
dave writes,
The core of the new Beyond Second remains true to its roots -- we wanted to keep this site a free, online photo community focused on Harrisburg. But the Web has changed a lot since we built the site back in 2003, as have our faithful users' expectations. Not to mention, the volume of photography posted here exploded far beyond our dreams. A redesign was long over due -- we hope these new features bring you renewed enjoyment of Beyond Second!
New Design
We flipped the sites's colors from light to dark because we felt it makes the photos look more vibrant and colorful. They layout has been widened to 1024 pixels wide to make better use of your screen. And for my fellow geeks out there, the code is built entirely with XHTML/CSS, which means faster page-loads and better compatibility.
Larger Photo Sizes
From this moment on, all uploaded photos will be resized to 480 pixels by its greatest dimension (wide or tall) -- a 20% increase from old site's 400 pixels.
Forums
We've added a place for all registered Beyond Second users to converse. We can take a hint!
RSS Feeds
Now you can stay up-to-date with photo submissions posted to Beyond Second -- plus forum topics and events -- without visiting the site! (although we hope you will anyway). Just click the orange RSS icon in your browser's address bar on any page for the RSS feed respective to the system. Alternatively, you can plug the following URLs into any RSS reader application that supports RSS 2.0:
Tags
Tags allow you to add your own keywords to describe any photo on this site. It's a great way to find photographs with common themes and contribute to the "folksonomy" (collaborative categorization) of Beyond Second.
Photo Sets
Photo Sets allow you to categorize your own photos into a series. Unlike tags, sets are for your own photographs and controlled by you.
Community-Policing
Gone are the days when you uploaded a photo and waited for it to be manually approved by one of us. Sometimes we'd get too busy and your photos sat in a queue for days. Now, your photos appear instantly on the site. Amazing, huh?
Well then, how do the rules stay in effect? We leave it up to our faithful users to help enforce them! If you spot a photograph that isn't in Harrisburg, or contains some offensive content, you can report that photo via the "Flag Ineligble" button on every page. This notifies the administrators to review the photo and take action, if necessary.
Password Retrieval
Forget your password? You can set yourself a new one by clicking the link on the Login page and following the process. No more self-humiliating emails to the administrators, creating a dozen different accounts for yourself, or (worst of all) abandoning Beyond Second altogether!
Improved Photo Uploading
We've made a number of improvements to the photo-uploading process. First, you can preview your photo and thumbnails before entering information about it. A built in EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) will attempt to identify your camera for the "equipment" text field. We've raised the filesize limit from 500K to 2Mb, with better validation scripts to help ensure fewer errors while uploading.
Photo Deleting
You can now remove your own photos from the website, without having request it. Still got mushy photos of your ex in your gallery? No problem!
However, in the spirit of this site, we hope you use this feature as little as possible, allowing old photos to collect comments even if you feel it isn't your finest work. Deleting a photo is a permanent action -- we can't "undo" it for you -- so use it with care!
Share Your Events
We've opened up News & Events via our forum. All are encouraged to post any art/photography exhibits or events in the greater Harrisburg area. If you have a gallery show coming up, this is a great way to let people know! And since it is in the forum, you can add updates or answer questions.
Enjoy!
Jeffrey Stoner writes,
Fantastic redesign!
Nate Kresge writes,
Love the new site! Thanks for all you guys do!
James Wheeler writes,
I really like the new layout! Looking great!
Jamie Zimmerman writes,
This is the way it should be done. You guys did a great job. I love everything about the site.
Larry Usselman writes,
I liked the old design, but this takes it up to an entire new level...Excellent job!
Mike Donovan writes,
Very cool. Thanks for all the hard work. The site looks very professional and it will encourage us to take a step up as well.
John K. Robinson writes,
Thank you very much for providing this site! It's so easy to use. What a pleasure to view the work of so many good photographers.