Where have the picture numbers gone?

It is sometimes difficult to keep track of which picture shows what, when articles are split over several months. But when the illustrations are not numbered at all, it really becomes a nonsense. Is there a reason for this?

Tim Stevens

I had noticed this also, trying to follow the gearcutting article. I have not found this to be the easiest article to follow with the illustrations numbered - without numbering I gave up trying last night.

Proof reading oversight perhaps ?

Nigel B

I am pleased to read this, I had thought that I was loosing the plot. This morning I had an idea and checked for missing pages, all seem to be there. Maybe lost at printers ?

Every picture should have not just a number, but a caption beneath it explaining what it is, otherwise readers are bound to get confused.

Too much star gazing means not enough proof reading, I reckon.

And yule greetings to y'all.

Cheers, Tim

And every forum posting should have a number too.

Regards Ian.

Maybe the authors did not supply numbers and Neil played safe by leaving as is rather than risk putting the wrong number against a photo, can't proof read what is not there.

Circlip, every post does have a unique number, you just need to know where to look, this is post number 2099233 of thread number 122704. We have covered this before

Edited By JasonB on 01/12/2016 13:19:14

No, I just found the numbers here in an envelope

Sorry for the mistake - we have had a few errors over the last few issues as I get used to a different workflow with a new designer.

The gearcutter pictures are 27, 28 and 29 if anyone wants to write them in; not sure it was that hard to figure out which is which without the numbers.

Arduino starts with photo 9 and they follow in sequence.

In general terms, I try to number all photos and caption them where it makes sense to, but if an article is illustrated by several angles of the same item I won't put captions like 'yet another picture of it but from the left hand side this time'.

Many authors don't include captions, and if possible I get back to them and ask for a list, but if I don't get this in time I may have to make them up myself. Naturally author's own captions are better as they can highlight key points.

Sometimes I get articles without photo references; it can be a struggle to ensure they go in the right places.

Sometimes I get captions and references but the numbers don't match the photos - this is a bit like solving a jigsaw...

A few authors don't supply either captions or photo references - at this point I start losing hair...

Sometimes I get a very large number of photos without captions or references and a note 'I've sent you plenty of photos so you can choose the best ones to illustrate the article' - at this point I lose the will to live

Neil

I my local doctors waiting room there is a photocopy of an article about the practice that appeared in the local newspaper. The article was about how good the practice was, and one of the topics related to the difficulty patients experienced when trying to make appointments. The spokesperson for the practice put the problems down to people 'not asking the questions in the right way'!

Post number knowledge must fall into the same category, it might have been discussed previously on the forum but how does that help me see the numbers if I want to use them?

I suppose I could use this websites 'search' function but I would not know what question to ask.

Ian P

But why does it have to be a secret anyway

Edited By Ian Phillips on 01/12/2016 15:21:44

I'd sure like to see the post number right up there in the green stripe, plain and obvious!!

Pete

Am I missing something? I can see the advantage of numbering photographs when cross referred to in an article.

Will those who advocate cluttering up the posts with a forum number please explain the benefit to the majority of readers. Saying you want it is one thing but you have failed to make a case!

Having a number does make it easy if you want to refer someone back to a comment you made earlier in a thread or when linking to another thread you can link directly to a specific post. This is avalable on a lot of forums.

No secret Ian, as I said it was discussed earlier and you even took part in the discussion. I found it with 20seconds of using the site search function, "post number" seemed the obvious term to search for. Did not post a link earlier as needed to get back out to work but here it is again.

Edited By JasonB on 01/12/2016 16:31:31

Having a number does make it easy if you want to refer someone back to a comment you made earlier in a thread or when linking to another thread you can link directly to a specific post. This is avalable on a lot of forums.

Fair point Jason and point taken but as it will probably help only a minority of users on this site can it be kept discrete? I suppose hiding it is as it is now is discrete!

I searched on "Post Number" and it told me there were no exact matches.

Satchll

Edited By Circlip on 02/12/2016 10:05:54

Oh dear, and I thought the deadly underlap had been solved. Just shows how a better class of idiot can screw the system.

Regards Ian.

Circlip

Not sure what you mean about 'data hogging repetition', the fact that posts are date and time stamped (using 18 ascii characters) does not help anyone link to, refer to, or find particular post.

I cannot work out who wrote the text 'Thought ega made it abundantly clear Jason but since it needs repeating.' as the posting (in this thread at timed 12:17:02) has two green header bars!

In any event, whatever the useful information is, I don't think its actually been repeated so I'm still in the dark about where to find the post numbers.

I had three different attempts to use the forum search but none produced any results

Regards Ian.

PS I have just realised that there is no point in me knowing the post numbers if nobody actually uses them.

Circlip (who wrote that line) is making the very valid pont that on this site the numbering system is not really much use to anyone and very difficult to use if you wanted too.

Other sites have a # 1, #2, #3, etc somewhere along the top which would put it in our green header and it is easy to refer to or link to a particular post number.

As has been said previously it is unlikely to change any time soon.

J

I have opened this site in two programs, and in neither can I see any numbering of the Forum comments. There is a date and time in the green stripe, nothing else.

But I expect it is one of those odd features which the office can see but no-one else ...

Tim Stevens

Nerd Alert!

Line 287 of the source code starts:

<tr class="RowStyleHeading"><td width="100">
<a href="/members/public_profile.asp?c=133523">Tim Stevensa>td><td>
<a name="2099877">02/12/2016 18:33:17a>

Once a post number (emboldened above) is identified you can link to it. But not it seems from the same thread! Not much use I think.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 02/12/2016 19:42:01

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 02/12/2016 19:43:21

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 02/12/2016 19:45:02