Photo Album User Tips

While many might find navigating within the Photo Album initially confusing, it will be a piece of cake once you understand how it works and I’m certain that its comprehensive and detailed search capability will be appreciated by you eventually, particularly as the image database increases.

With this system, you don’t have to go through the entire photo album if all you are after is a photo of an ‘Ian Gardener’ or a ‘Phan Dias’, or a factory, estate and so on. This system allows you to narrow your search down by offering you a variety of criteria that will enable you to zero in on your target effortlessly.

Below are some tips on how to view the photos. (I suggest that you open the Photo Album in another window so that you can visualise it in relation to the tips below).

Once you enter the Photo Album section, the first search component that you will come across is latest additions.

Now let us go through the comprehensive search sections and categories which will assist you to pinpoint your searches, without having to sift through numerous images to get to what you might be particularly looking for.

Basically, the search is divided into four sections:

      1. WORD search
      2. Search by SENT BY
      3. Search by PHOTOGRAPHER
      4. Search by CATEGORY (i.e. tea planter, factory, etc)

The WORD search is exactly that. Just type in any word and press enter i.e. type the word “factory” and all images that contain the word “factory” in their caption will appear. Note - this section searches for words contained only in the captions of photographs.

The remaining three sections operate on a “tick the box” system. You can tick as many boxes as you wish to, while ticking just one box narrows down a search which could be more specific to your requirement.

For example, in the SENT BY section, everyone who submits images will have their name appear with a ‘tick’ box next to it. One may envisage the probability of this section becoming rather over-crowded in time, but let us tackle that when the time comes – hopefully sooner rather than later because that will mean more photos!

It is the same with the PHOTOGRAPHER, though many in this section will remain in the “unknown” category for obvious reasons.

The remaining section has ten categories which can be used in your search criteria. Tick the box of whichever category you desire to narrow your search.

Some examples:

If you only tick the box “DavidCT” in SENT BY and press submit, all photos submitted by “DavidCT” only will appear as thumb nail images.

However, If you tick the box “DavidCT” in SENT BY as well as the “Planters” box in CATEGORIES and press submit, only the photos submitted by “DavidCT” that have been designated into the “Planters” category will appear as thumb nail images.

Some tips:

Always remember to hit the “Clear Selection” button (next to the submit button at the bottom of the page) before conducting a fresh search immediately after a previous search, otherwise you might not get the results you desire if selections from the previous search remain. This applies particularly to the WORD search which takes priority over the other sections if there is a word in it when you hit the submit button. Remember to clear it first if you subsequently resort to searches through the tick boxes.

Please feel free to add to this thread by way of more valuable tips which will help other users to enjoy a hassle-free tour of the Photo Album, particularly as the Photo Album grows.