The photo transition to Zooomr is going well. It’s a simple process to get the photos uploaded then linked and embedded in the blog post. However, it’s going to take some time to get all of the photos moved. That’s because there are just so many of them. Out of 60 pages of picture entries (that’s about 600 posts, give or take what the images are), I’ve only converted slightly less than 14 pages—and that equates to more than 360 photographs. Wow! Who knew I was that obsessive about pictures…
Luckily not all of the photos will be moved. As I’ve said previously, anything I don’t own will remain on this server. That includes public domain images and the like. While that’s a minority of posts, it does reduce the overall size of the migration. Also, there are fewer pictures as I move backward through the blog chronology. That’s because the original site had a standalone gallery. When I transitioned to using inline images instead, I worked slowly through the gallery collection and posted a few images here and there. That means I expect to gain speed the further back I go as there will be less content to process. Then again, maybe that’s just wishful thinking.
It would be simple if all I had to do was upload the originals and link to them, but things are never that simple. I degraded many of the images here to keep bandwidth consumption under control. That was accomplished through lossy compression and size reduction. Because using Zooomr means I no longer have to worry about the bandwidth, I’m actually manhandling each photo all over again so better versions are used. It’s sort of a clean-up and upgrade project within the migration project.
That means it’ll take time to get all of the photos moved. I think it’s worth it, though, and not just because it resolves the massive bandwidth drain caused by hosting the photos myself. It also gives me a chance to offer better versions that are bigger and of higher resolutions. Although I’m not posting photo-quality images in order to maintain control over my property, I’m still posting better versions so you don’t have to squint at small and/or low-quality pictures.
And that brings me to size…something any respectable size queen would want to discuss, right?
Okay, gay jokes aside, I’m talking about image sizes.
Not all of the original images are large (e.g., those taken many years ago with film cameras that have since been scanned), so I can’t always make available larger versions of the pictures.&nsbp; Doing so would just degrade the already poor quality of those items. But for those taken with the digital camera, I’m basing the Zooomr image size on the quality and content of the original file. Most images will be uploaded at no less than 800×600 resolution and no more than 1152×864.
There are and will continue to be exceptions. For example, the pelican image in this post is only as large as you see it here. That’s because, as I explained, that was a lucky shot with no preparation. The camera had a zero zoom on it when I captured that, so the image you see is actually a crop out of the middle of the original. Posting anything else would offer a lot of empty space with a tiny white dot in the middle of it. I thought I’d spare you that agony. But the point is that some of the photos won’t be any larger than seen here simply because the original doesn’t offer that level of flexibility. That’s better than nothing, though.
When you click on an image and find yourself at the Zooomr site, there’s a link above the photo that says “All sizes” or something like that. When you click on it, you’ll be able to select from a number of generated derivatives ranging from thumbnail size to the original. Hopefully that offers a better way to enjoy the photos if you want to see the finer details or appreciate my amateurish skillz.
And that brings me to a Zooomr update.
No, I mean a literal update to the Zooomr service. It’s a major upgrade taking place right now. That means there will be no new photos for the next day or two. [insert collective sigh here] It also means the migration project is on hold until the change is complete. I’m not fretting about it, however, since the new version has a litany of new functionality, services, and offerings that make Zooomr much better than it was—and it was damn fine the way it was.
The upgrade won’t impact embedded photos already posted. They’ll continue to show just as they have been. What won’t work is clicking on them to see the larger versions. If you do, you’ll see an upgrade notice from Zooomr instead. Don’t worry. The process should only last a few days at most. I think the trade-offs are worth a temporary hiccup in availability.
When it comes to Zooomr and my image collection there, I’ve decided I won’t be setting up any subset galleries on that service. It’s not that it wouldn’t help if you’re looking through the entire collection (especially considering how large it will ultimately be); it’s that I don’t want Zooomr to take the place of this blog when it comes to the images. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a hosting service to augment this site…not a standalone gallery.
But enough talk of images. Let’s talk about other site stuff.
Server-based trackbacks will continue to be supported here for the foreseeable future. They can be used by any blogging service that can use XMLRPC for such things. Increasingly, this kind of trackback is giving way to Technorati tracking. That doesn’t require submitting a link to this site and doesn’t require that someone hunt down the trackback URI in order to use it. For Technorati to track them, all they have to do is include the link in their post and Technorati will find it and index it automatically. That’s much easier.
Because of this slow and not necessarily official migration away from server-based trackbacks toward Technorati link tracking, I’m playing with a small update to this theme that will include a new link to show Technorati trackbacks. It’s not difficult to implement; it just needs to be formatted and fitted in the right place. This will allow you to use their service to see if anyone has linked to a specific post here.
Seeing as I’m not a link whore and don’t really pay much attention to who’s linking to me when and why, I’m only adding this so it’s easier to find inbound links if you’re so inclined. As has always been the case with me and blogging, I do this for me, not for ranking or numbers or any other external reason. I therefore don’t look at Technorati very often, just as I don’t look at the TTLB ecosystem very often, and adding this function won’t change that. People too concerned with their ranking in such schemes are blogging for all the wrong reasons.
Finally (and you thought that word would never arrive!), I’ve completed most of the tweaks to the new theme. With visual updates pretty much done lest I stumble upon a little something here or there that I want to change, I’m now going to address some of the content changes I’ve been thinking about. These have more to do with the categories than anything else (general categories, images, and videos). I’m not particularly happy with the current architecture in that regard. I don’t know what changes I want to make there; I do know I want to make changes. Keep this in mind if you see those areas being modified. Some of the old categories might go away. New entries undoubtedly will appear. The overall structure will be cleaned up in some as yet unknown way. Maybe there’s more. The point is I’m now ready to delve into that to see if I can make it better—or at least more agreeable with me.