Hi. I posted these questions on Friday and didn't get a response and I am not sure what I should do. My free trial ends tomorrow night and if I can't figure these things out, I will probably leave because they are important to me. I would rather not leave but I don't know what else to do. If anyone can even help me solve one of the questions, please just reply. I would be forever grateful if you could help.

1. I created a header and it shows up on my "main" page, bio page, purchase page, etc. But it does not show up on the individual gallery pages. Why would this be? The header code is located under control panel >customize> header html. I swear this used to work until a few days ago and now suddenly it is gone....

2. On the "main" page, I would like my "galleries" or "categories" photos to be bigger. What code should I use? I tried this code: .miniBox { height: 250px; } as suggested on the forum but for some reason it just made the spaces inbetween the photos bigger and not the actual photos.

3. On the "main" page, I would like to choose which picture always comes up for the "gallery" that is located there. Right now, the picture that comes up is randomly chosen. I would like to be the one who chooses this.

4. Frequently when I am editing my site OR when I am not logged into my site and I am just looking around it, it tells me "The site contains secure and non-secure items. Do you want to show the non-secure items?" This bothers me because people who come to the site will be turned off by it. For the life of me, I can't figure out what would be non-secure there. Anyone have any thoughts?

5. I am unable to get any tables to work. I know how to type them in html and these exact html tables work on geocities but not here. Anyone have suggestions on why the difference would be? For example, my 2 tables (background white table and purchasing prices table) at geocities are here: http://www.geocities.com/rainforestspirit/purchase.html

6. I would like an "opening" site if it is at all possible. For example, my "opening" site on geocities is http://www.geocities.com/rainforestspirit
I would love to do this if it would be at all possible! ....or at least have this be located somewhere on the "main" page but not as a header because I wouldn't want it on every page. If someone could just let me know if it is possible, that would be enough for me to stay. I can figure out the how later.

I would GREATLY appreciate any help anyone has for me!
Thank you so much!!!!
~Carly
My site is rainforestreflections.smugmug.com if it helps to see it.

Thanks to a nice member who emailed me I was able to figure this one out. I am still stuck on the others if anyone can help. Thank you!

Originally Posted by rainforestreflections 1. I created a header and it shows up on my "main" page, bio page, purchase page, etc. But it does not show up on the individual gallery pages. Why would this be? The header code is located under control panel >customize> header html. I swear this used to work until a few days ago and now suddenly it is gone....

I am ignorant about a lot of this stuff, but...

3) If you feature a photo in your gallery, I believe it will always be the thumbnail that represents the gallery.

Originally Posted by GREAPER I am ignorant about a lot of this stuff, but... 3) If you feature a photo in your gallery, I believe it will always be the thumbnail that represents the gallery.

WAHOO! Thank you so much!!! It worked! If I knew you better I would give you a huge hug right now! 1 and 3 accomplished.

Anyone know how to solve any of the other problems?

I would think that 6 has to be possible. Look at http://www.moonriverphotography.com/ and you'll notice the home page has the moon and water/hillsides. These are not on subsequent pages.

4. Frequently when I am editing my site OR when I am not logged into my site and I am just looking around it, it tells me "The site contains secure and non-secure items. Do you want to show the non-secure items?" This bothers me because people who come to the site will be turned off by it. For the life of me, I can't figure out what would be non-secure there. Anyone have any thoughts?

I do not think your visitors will ever see that message because they are never logged in as you. Try this: Open your browser's cookies manager and delete all smugmug cookies, don't log in, and go to your site. My guess is the message won't appear. I don't work for smugmug so I can't say for sure but I wonder if that message has to do with an interaction between http elements, https elements, the path, and cookies that remember that you were logged in.

For example, there is the issue where if you are
[FONT=Courier New]http://username.smugmug.com[/FONT]

and you log in, you find yourself at
[FONT=Courier New]https://www.smugmug.com/index.mg?NickName=username[/FONT]

with your home page cobranding mysteriously gone, until you return to
[FONT=Courier New]http://username.smugmug.com[/FONT]

I wonder if the message you see might be a similar kind of thing. Does it still happen if you blow away your cookies and you start from
[FONT=Courier New]http://username.smugmug.com[/FONT]
?

I tend to test on a different browser that has its smugmug cookies removed periodically and where I don't log in, so it can act like a true visitor.

As for what on the page is non-secure, everything is non-secure unless it's sent via https.

Originally Posted by pat.kane I would think that 6 has to be possible. Look at http://www.moonriverphotography.com/ and you'll notice the home page has the moon and water/hillsides. These are not on subsequent pages.

Good point. Also, markjay has a great site opening page at: http://www.choicephotos.net/ Now, how in the world can we do this?

Originally Posted by rainforestreflections Good point. Also, markjay has a great site opening page at: http://www.choicephotos.net/ Now, how in the world can we do this?

This is no easy task for most of us. If you care to look in the 'support'..'smugmug customization' section of the forum... im sure you find many answers.

Gus

Originally Posted by colourbox I do not think your visitors will ever see that message because they are never logged in as you. Try this: Open your browser's cookies manager and delete all smugmug cookies, don't log in, and go to your site. My guess is the message won't appear. .

Thanks! Yep, it did work! It is good to know that this is the reason and it is not an actual problem. Whew!

Originally Posted by colourbox As for what on the page is non-secure, everything is non-secure unless it's sent via https.

Okay, okay, stupid question of mine. But what I intended to imply is that when someone comes to a site and they are told there is non-secure info, do they want to continue? - a lot of people actually say no because they are worried about someone somehow taking their personal info. And then you miss visitors.

Originally Posted by rainforestreflections Good point. Also, markjay has a great site opening page at: http://www.choicephotos.net/ Now, how in the world can we do this?

You can stuff the Bio section with all kinds of customized HTML/CSS and make it most of the page. Which requires some knowledge of HTML/CSS, and I'm still learning. That's the first part. The second part is scouring the forum threads for the ways to suppress everything you don't want to display. Haven't quite got that far myself.

Originally Posted by rainforestreflections 2. On the "main" page, I would like my "galleries" or "categories" photos to be bigger. What code should I use? I tried this code: .miniBox { height: 250px; } as suggested on the forum but for some reason it just made the spaces inbetween the photos bigger and not the actual photos.

unfortunately, you cant do anything to change the size of the actual photo's themselves. they are pre-sized when the page is generated.

Originally Posted by rainforestreflections 5. I am unable to get any tables to work. I know how to type them in html and these exact html tables work on geocities but not here. Anyone have suggestions on why the difference would be? For example, my 2 tables (background white table and purchasing prices table) at geocities are here: http://www.geocities.com/rainforestspirit/purchase.html

you need to put any html code inside of <html></html> tags. for example: <html><table>blah table code</table></html>

Originally Posted by rainforestreflections 6. I would like an "opening" site if it is at all possible. For example, my "opening" site on geocities is http://www.geocities.com/rainforestspirit I would love to do this if it would be at all possible! ....or at least have this be located somewhere on the "main" page but not as a header because I wouldn't want it on every page. If someone could just let me know if it is possible, that would be enough for me to stay. I can figure out the how later.

I'm not 100% sure, but i think you either need to have a pro account for this or host it on a separate host. someone w/a pro account would be able to confirm or deny.

rainforest,

looks like you made some great headway on your site. awfully sorry your first post on friday got "lost in the sauce" but it sure appears that you've been getting some great help...that's what the forum is all about.

regarding the opening "splashpage" it can be done - markjay, paid for a designer to do his page (see the work done by the excellent mike lane). you can probably get some ideas by viewing the source of that page, if you've a mind to do it yourself... otherwise, i'd suggest giving bigwebguy, or mike lane a shout and engage their services - which we happily endorse. btw you can have your customhostname directed to your smugmug site, as i've done with www.moonriverphotography.com ... it's all in the help section of smugmug on the pro list of things.

hth

Originally Posted by rainforestreflections Hi. I posted these questions on Friday and didn't get a response and I am not sure what I should do. My free trial ends tomorrow night and if I can't figure these things out, I will probably leave because they are important to me. I would rather not leave but I don't know what else to do. If anyone can even help me solve one of the questions, please just reply. I would be forever grateful if you could help.

Busy times in the lane household...

Originally Posted by rainforestreflections 1. I created a header and it shows up on my "main" page, bio page, purchase page, etc. But it does not show up on the individual gallery pages. Why would this be? The header code is located under control panel >customize> header html. I swear this used to work until a few days ago and now suddenly it is gone....

Did you get this resolved? I see your header on all your gallery pages. Nice shots by the way.

Originally Posted by rainforestreflections 2. On the "main" page, I would like my "galleries" or "categories" photos to be bigger. What code should I use? I tried this code: .miniBox { height: 250px; } as suggested on the forum but for some reason it just made the spaces inbetween the photos bigger and not the actual photos.

No can do. These are set by Smugmug. However if you put your images in a gallery category when you view that category you will see larger thumbnails. Like this for example.

Originally Posted by rainforestreflections 3. On the "main" page, I would like to choose which picture always comes up for the "gallery" that is located there. Right now, the picture that comes up is randomly chosen. I would like to be the one who chooses this.

Looks like this one got solved for you.

Originally Posted by rainforestreflections 4. Frequently when I am editing my site OR when I am not logged into my site and I am just looking around it, it tells me "The site contains secure and non-secure items. Do you want to show the non-secure items?" This bothers me because people who come to the site will be turned off by it. For the life of me, I can't figure out what would be non-secure there. Anyone have any thoughts?

The only time I've dealt with this on a smugmug page is when someone is not using a CNAME record or an A-Record to do the forwarding to their page. If someone's external host or name server is using frames to forward their site (popular with godaddy apparently) then the frame itself will be unsecure and the site will be secure. I don't know the specifics of your setup so I can't really diagnose. Care to be more specific?

Originally Posted by rainforestreflections 5. I am unable to get any tables to work. I know how to type them in html and these exact html tables work on geocities but not here. Anyone have suggestions on why the difference would be? For example, my 2 tables (background white table and purchasing prices table) at geocities are here: http://www.geocities.com/rainforestspirit/purchase.html

bigwebguy solved this one for you.

Originally Posted by rainforestreflections 6. I would like an "opening" site if it is at all possible. For example, my "opening" site on geocities is http://www.geocities.com/rainforestspirit I would love to do this if it would be at all possible! ....or at least have this be located somewhere on the "main" page but not as a header because I wouldn't want it on every page. If someone could just let me know if it is possible, that would be enough for me to stay. I can figure out the how later.

It's most definitely possible. I did it on www.choicephotos.net. You can style your home page (in fact every different kind of page) independently of all the other pages. So you can create a custom cobranding (like you've done) and then create an extra header in your cobranding header. Then you simply hide all of your normal cobranding on the home page and only display that extra header (which is now your splash screen) and then you hide the splash screen and display everything else normally on every other page.

Originally Posted by bigwebguy unfortunately, you cant do anything to change the size of the actual photo's themselves. they are pre-sized when the page is generated.

That sucks. grr. maybe someday they will change this.

Originally Posted by bigwebguy you need to put any html code inside of <html></html> tags. for example: <html><table>blah table code</table></html>

WHAOOO!!! I was able to get this to work. In actuality, I ended up putting this table in the "description" part of the site instead of as a caption to the photo. For some reason it wasn't working as the caption but by going to customize then description, it worked! While I had put in <table></table>, I didn't think to put <html></html> in because when you write html on other pages you only need this code once, not everytime you have a table. Thanks a bunch, I would never have figured that out.

Originally Posted by rainforestreflections That sucks. grr. maybe someday they will change this. WHAOOO!!! I was able to get this to work. In actuality, I ended up putting this table in the "description" part of the site instead of as a caption to the photo. For some reason it wasn't working as the caption but by going to customize then description, it worked! While I had put in <table></table>, I didn't think to put <html></html> in because when you write html on other pages you only need this code once, not everytime you have a table. Thanks a bunch, I would never have figured that out.

so glad you got everything worked out! so, you're staying?

Originally Posted by Mike Lane Did you get this resolved? I see your header on all your gallery pages. Nice shots by the way.

Yep, it is resolved. Thanks for the shots complement. Yours are great too btw.

Originally Posted by Mike Lane No can do. These are set by Smugmug. However if you put your images in a gallery category when you view that category you will see larger thumbnails. Like this for example.

Darn it! But thanks for letting me know that the subsequent ones can be bigger. Okay, this is not enough to make me switch because I love smugmug - it will just forever annoy me until they can change it.

Originally Posted by Mike Lane The only time I've dealt with this on a smugmug page is when someone is not using a CNAME record or an A-Record to do the forwarding to their page. If someone's external host or name server is using frames to forward their site (popular with godaddy apparently) then the frame itself will be unsecure and the site will be secure. I don't know the specifics of your setup so I can't really diagnose. Care to be more specific?

Ohhh, maybe this is the problem! Right now my registrar is namecheap.com I know, not the best one to use but I didn't know it at the time and....well it is a long story. I couldn't figure out how to use a CNAME with them. And yes, I am not stupid and I read smugmug's help on this. I also sent an email to smugmug about the problem and haven't heard back yet. So, the best that can be done right now is that www.rainforestreflections.com is a forwarded URL to rainforestreflections.smugmug.com Could this be a problem? Would you at all know how to do CNAMEs at namecheap? I could email namecheap but they never reply...

Originally Posted by Mike Lane It's most definitely possible. I did it on www.choicephotos.net. You can style your home page (in fact every different kind of page) independently of all the other pages. So you can create a custom cobranding (like you've done) and then create an extra header in your cobranding header. Then you simply hide all of your normal cobranding on the home page and only display that extra header (which is now your splash screen) and then you hide the splash screen and display everything else normally on every other page.

Yep, in reading other posts, I figured out that you did it for www.choicephotos.net which looks absolutely amazing by the way!!! Wonderful! So thanks for giving me some tips. Some of the above makes sense and some of it doesn't. I have to go to class right now (I'm a grad student) but aftewards I will look at the source code and try to figure out what you are saying. I got lost after the hiding all the normal cobranding on the homepage...it makes sense to me but I don't know the code. I feel bad asking though because I know it is work for you and you should get paid for it but I'm a poor grad student so I will try to figure this out on my own...and then possibly ask more questions.


THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR ALL THE HELP!!! You have been wonderful! Big and hugs to all of you!

Originally Posted by andy so glad you got everything worked out! so, you're staying?

Yep, yep.

And just hope that I can figure out the "splashpage" thing with a tiny bit of help...and if not maybe I can ask Mike what his rates are hopefully can afford something. Any possible discounts for students? hehe.

Thanks for your help too Andy!