Okay, first my depression reared its ugly head again and then the back and hip pain I’ve been suffering from got a LOT worse. I’m sensing a connection here, but dammit, I’m bored with all this lying around in bed!
Anyway, I’ve been thinking about WordPress’ new mosaic feature and wondering if I could use it to reproduce the look of those great “photosets” I see on Tumblr all the time. I’ve actually had many of them bookmarked just for when I finally figured out how. And when I saw Timethief’s Multiple Galleries on a Page or Post post, I thought I could somehow combine two of those sets into one WordPress post!
Unfortunately, even though “1” is an option for the gallery “columns” setting, the damned thing simply refused to do to less than two columns for the first photoset. That led me to just insert the two images directly, which resulted in the ugly extra white space between the two images (you’ll see the difference if you go to the linked-to post). I tried to resolve that by placing the images in a border-less two-row table, but it didn’t help at all.
Now I could have gone searching for the HTML code to change the default row spacing for tables, but by then a quick and dirty “proof of concept” post had turned into a back-breaking chore and I decided to leave well enough alone…
 |
 |
Images via One Summer’s Day.
REO Speedwagon, from Live: You Get What You Play For
Images via One Summer’s Day.
BTW, the musical interlude was intended to express my frustration from the depression, from the pain, and from not getting what I wanted here, as well as to inspire some thought for the upcoming elections…
Oh yeah, if anyone has any thoughts on the image display issues, please send them along…
I want ice water.
More from the Visual Treats volume
I Want Ice Water! 
Oh man backpain and HTML crap going on, not a good thing… Am watching this on my phone but will have a look when i get home to old crusty back home… Anyway great video. Love reo…
LikeLike
Thanks man. Of course you know that when I think of image formatting I think of you. Oddly enough though, I think a gallery mosaic feature on Tumblr would work much better for reblogging you there than their photoset thing does!
LikeLike
I dunno, I think WordPress just needs to stop tinkering with stuff for a while. Reading the forums, it seems as if new features never work uniformly the way they’re supposed to across the broad array of themes. Lately I’m getting weird white border-y stripes on some of my B&W images, but only down one edge. (ALSO they should bring back Off Topic and Showcase, but I won’t start ranting here…)
Hope you’re feeling better soon.
LikeLike
Thanks Luddy. I have mixed feeling when it comes to WordPress changes. On the one hand, it’s very annoying to discover they’ve “fixed” something that I’ve been fixing myself, in code, for a while. I shudder to think of how many posts now look weird because of it. On the other hand, it’s nice to finally be able to do something easily that it took a lot of coding to do in the past. In the end, I guess it’s the not being “in the loop” on what’s going on that really bugs me…
LikeLike
How’d you get the gif’s all equal size and spacing?
LikeLike
The images were equally sized and spaced in the original Tumblr posts Michelle. WordPress’ gallery mosaic feature is what translated the effect here for me. What’s amazing to me is how it also re-sized them to fit my theme so well too. I don’t even know how to make animated GIFs, let alone re-size them!
Pied Type’s WordPress adds ‘mosaic’ option to image galleries post is where I first leaned about the new feature. Timethief’s post (at the top) is where I learned how to do multiple galleries in a single post…
LikeLike
I’ve been using the mosaic – which is totally awesome. But normally the images are a variation of sizes. Not all the same size as in here, so I was confused. Actually, animated gif’s often do not “work” (animate) if they are embedded a different size than what they’re uploaded. So maybe the mosaic “knew” not to change the size on gif’s?? Sounds good to me!
LikeLike
But it did change their sizes for this post Michelle, at least for the second set. The originals are all 245 x 135, but they are substantially larger in the mosaic! 😀
LikeLike
Hmmmm… interesting. Well, whatever and however, it looks sharp!
LikeLike
😀
LikeLike
Did you re-size the gifs before you uploaded them into WordPress?
LikeLike
No. When I’m talking about having problems is if I have uploaded an animated gif and I use it as a thumbnail. Or even reduce the size somewhat. They don’t work then. Occasionally I will resize them prior to uploading, but not that often. I have photoshop, but I actually prefer using GIMP for the animated gifs. It’s so easy with that software.
LikeLike
No I didn’t TT. WordPress did it for me.
LikeLike
Animated gifs will work provided you size them to fit before uploading them. If you crop them after you upload them the animation is gone. Hence I think your are right about the software being savvy enough not to change the sizes.
LikeLike
I’ve not had much luck with resizing animated GIFs on my own TT. I guess I assumed you had to break them up and resize the individual frames. As for WordPress doing it for me, it may have worked here but it was only partially successful when I tried the mosaic with my Animated Debates post. That’s why I went with the ugly slideshow instead…
LikeLike
Sorry to hear about the back and the hip. The suck. But that image work is pretty cool, especially with the animations. It’s fun getting computers to do what you want even if frustrating at times.
LikeLike
Thanks my friend. The alignment issues arising from a displaced hip are, quite literally, a pain in the ass (as well as many other places). And it irks me to know end to know that the injury traces back to an incident during “physical therapy” for my “mental health” issues!
As for the “fun” of working with computers, I’d have stopped messing around with this long ago, out of frustration with the pain and just sheer boredom, if it wasn’t for that! 😀
LikeLike
Thanks for the heads up on Mosaic. More importantly, let’s hope for an improving hip. 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks Frank. Having something “new” to play with helps keep me interested. As for the hip, I just don’t know… 😕
LikeLike
You are just want hugs from Down Under, I know. Hope you are feeling a lot more dapper today 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks Loon. I’m sure it’s all downhill from here!
LikeLike
Thanks for linking to my post. I’ve been making mosaics on my personal blog and in case you want to check them out it’s here http://thistimethisspace.com
P.S. I really sympathize with your back issue. I just went through a major bout of pain with cervical vertebrae. Back injuries take so long to heal. I hope your physio is as good as mine is.
LikeLike
You are most welcome TT, and I’ll have to make time to browse those posts!
As for my back and hip, the only access to healthcare I have right now is through the VA and they haven’t really been of much help…
LikeLike
Pingback: And Speaking Of Mayhem… | I Want Ice Water