Pattern Library

[Travis]

First off, I'd like to thank all of the wonderful pattern designers out there sharing their talents with the rest of us. It is a wonderful thing where we can all gather and share patterns with each other. I think that's really cool. And best of all, there is never a shortage of something to cut.

 

 

In the past, I have allowed folks to keep copies of their patterns in their personal User Gallery. Unfortunately, this is starting to get a bit confusing. There are nearly 1200 files to keep track of and that number is growing exponentially. It is too difficult to know if a pattern is a duplicate, if they'd rather keep it in their User Gallery, or if it was accidentally put in the wrong place. So in the spirit of organization and efficiency, patterns will no longer be allowed in the User Gallery. I will be going through the 1200+ pix at the end of this week and moving all patterns to the Pattern Library. This will make patterns much easier to find and will streamline the management considerably.

 

 

I've also seen a number of really wonderful patterns posted in the New Patterns Announcements forum that should have made it to the Pattern Library. Unless these are moved to the Pattern Library, they'll probably get buried in the forums and never cut, which is much too tragic. Good patterns need to be seen and need to be cut. So in effort to get these patterns the exposure they need, we'll be combing through the New Pattern Announcements forums later this week and next week and uploading patterns that didn't make it to the Pattern Library (only the patterns attached to a post will be added. Patterns from 3rd party hosting services will not be added).

 

We'll be using a generic account for this and the name under the pattern will bare the name of a generic admin account. Credit will be given to the pattern designer in the pattern designer field. However, it is better for the designer to upload them themselves so you can get credit in both places (under the picture and in the pattern designer field). So if you have a pattern in the New Pattern Announcements that didn't make it to the Pattern Library, please lend us a hand and upload your patterns.

 

 

What patterns should be uploaded Pattern Library?

Patterns that have a wide appeal really should be posted in the Pattern Library. Use the BB Code to link to your new patterns in the New Pattern Announcements forum (you can find a tutorial on using BB Code here). Custom patterns with narrow appeal (ie, a pattern of Uncle Joe) should be attached to a post using the forum attach function.

 

 

What can you do to help?

This 'transition' is going to take a ton of work. But the way I see it, it is better to get this project done now, than before it gets too big to manage. There is a few things you can do to help;

 

- When you're uploading a pattern (of wide appeal), please upload it to the Pattern Library first, then use the BB Code to link to it in the forums rather than uploading it as an attachment. That way we automatically know if the pattern has been uploaded to the Pattern Library.

- When uploading a pattern (of wide appeal), be sure to put it into the New Patterns folder and not in one of your user albums.

- If you have patterns in your User Gallery, please move them to the New Patterns folder by clicking the Edit File Information button and choosing New Patterns.

- If you have any patterns that have not made it to the Pattern Library, please move it for us. That way you get credit for the pattern in two places (under the thumbnail picture and in the Pattern Designer field). Plus it saves us from moving it for you.

 

 

Thanks for your help, everybody! Hopefully we'll make it much easier to find the patterns you are looking for!

[Travis]

We've gone through the User Galleries and moved all patterns to the Pattern Library and deleted duplicate files. We're in the process of going through the New Pattern Announcement forum and downloading attached patterns and re-uploading them to the Pattern Library.

 

Normally, patterns stay in the New Patterns album for about 30 days before being categorized. But since the process of cleaning up the gallery system is a daunting task, we found it easier to categorize everything to date so we can look for duplicate files. Once we get everything completely organized once again, we'll revert back to our "30 days in the New Patterns album" system.

 

Thanks for your help, everybody!