Winter Draw(er)s on!

[backman]

Thanks for reminding me why it hadn't been happened before! For those that know me, my main f ailing ( I do have others) is my acute laziness and low threshold for boredom ( definitely a drawback in an NHS career). I certainly am very grateful that there are others to counterbalance my traits with enthusiasm and persistence.

[wilfb]

Hi.

And look I did! And did. And did... And then there it was, not quite a gold mine, not even a silver mine - but a 'Coppermine'...  Still within the broad realms of a precious metal and with so many abilities it would make one's head spin.  It certainly looked like what I was looking for. As long as one had sufficient space on my ISP it would certainly do the job.

And there I was (at last) with the three main components of the site -  Main site (searchable) with those 1600 or so hospitals covering all 447 plus schools of nursing within the 1974 timeline; a bulletin board (also searchable) for the use of members and availability to all (excepting the 'dining room'; and the final component - the photograph gallery (actually several searchable galleries) and loads of space - capable of handling everything anyone could throw at it without hesitation. With good security and free to all users.... Magic!

But oh' dear, the best laid plans.  I had the three main components, but like a jig-saw with pieces from different pictures, they did not work together as one big picture. I had the three components but no site!!

Ring God again I thought, surely he will be back by now....

Will.

[wilfb]

So 8),

Having no answer from on high - I put my first son on the line!  (Adrian - our technical Admin).  Surely that will work... And it did!!

Looking a little bored he agreed to do the 'stitching' - sewing the main site; the forum; and the galleries together and making the whole work together and be searchable 'After dinner' he declared... And so it was, all done before my very eyes in short-time 'After dinner'.

So we now had a whole (integrated) site which could go on-line whenever I was ready. Well, I was more than ready, so being a little impetuous, I declared 'Now'... And without further debate that is precisely what happened....

The 'site' was online - it was November 2007 almost 11 years ago... Available to all (galleries and the forum 'Dining room' members only), for free! There was - isn't there always - just one snag... The site was basically 'empty' - oh' the individual schools  were all there, but there were no entries (topics) in the forum and no areas of the galleries marked out for visitors to upload to....

Our able technical administrators comment was simple - 'I thought that I had better leave that to you, you being the expert'!

Who me? Dear god, please help I prayed (once again) under my breath.  I hadn't even thought about sections for comments and, more importantly, for the galleries.  Now what had I done?! I had a complete site online with no indication for visitors of what to do with it...

Where was I to find the 'Better at no cost' now? I could already hear the devil sniggering - 'he who digs the hole deepest hath further to fall' - did he, I wondered, mean me?!

Will.

[wilfb]

Previously - 'I could already hear the devil sniggering - 'he who digs the hole deepest hath further to fall' - did he, I wondered, mean me?!'

Well, he couldn't mean anyone else really – so once again I did the only thing I could and 'got on with it' - after all, I couldn't fall further than my own six foot one – unless that pit the devil kept stoking really was a bottomless!

First the main site. Easy peasy! (I thought).  The three months or so form design and entry was in the past - all 1600 plus hospitals involved in nurse training.  The 'home' page done. The search engine was live; and the main links to each section established:-
 
(Home Schools Region  Forum  Collecting  Galleries History  Bibliography  News Archive  Contact)

There was of course just a little more to each than that, but just try them on he main site and you will have an idea of just how much content there really is.

Second the forum.  Again no sweat, the design was all done by 'Simple Machines' – all one had to do was name a topic and start talking! And simple machine had thoughtfully kicked off with a 'Welcome' topic. All it needed now was for users to register and add more topics.

We had a  'go'....

Third the photograph galleries. There are today the same four main categories in the galleries. 'User galleries';  and three 'Nursing History' galleries – 'Photographs';  Uniforms; and 'Badge' galleries.

Sounded easy enough before I had thought it out fully, but when you realise that those four categories have grown to contain 6,006 items you will also come to realise that there must also be several sub-categories rather than just the four originally conceived.

There certainly were, but to design an acceptable 'cover all' was to mean a terrific amount of work and time, and yes 'sweat'...

Was the Devil still there sniggering - 'he who digs the hole deepest hath further to fall' - did he, I wondered, still mean me?!'

How much sweat - mine - I wondered, would it take to put out the fire?!

The answer was to be 'An awful lot'.....

Will.

[wilfb]

Hi,

So without further ado I started sweating and, in order to confuse the said gentleman I started where I left off – at the end.  I figured that would confuse the digger of bottomless fire pits, and if the worst came to the worst and he tried to throw me in – I would go 'up' rather than 'down'.

The photo galleries :-

USER GALLERIES.  Schoolsofnursing  Forum Member Photograph Collections.
This was simple – I only needed to create the means to have space for every user to place their own photos in their own named gallery and the option to keep their space private or share with everyone else and job done.  There were only a couple of snags – how many 'users' would there be?  And how many photographs? And how do I create a public gallery for those who decided to share?  Better do that immediately!  Better do all immediately....So I did!

Next!!

NURSING HISTORY - Photographs  - People; Ephemera; Buildings.
Again enough space for all. But the nagging question, how much would be enough? How long (and convoluted) is a piece of string?  Worry later.

Onward.

NURSING HISTORY - Uniforms  - Civilian & Military.
Just two sections.  Enough space for all. But the nagging question remaind, how much would be enough? How long (and convoluted) is a piece of string?  Worry later. Becoming a habit....

Further....

NURSING HISTORY - Badges -  Nursing and Hospital Badges.
Now life was getting more complicated. Every geographical area would need a separate section. England; Scotland; Southern Ireland; Northern Ireland; Wales.  Add a section for Midwifery badges (call the latter 'All Areas'); a section for Military & International Badges; and a final section for Allied professions and Organisatios; and I would have every badge combination possible. In only eight sections..

And adding a 'Test Albumn' was easy –plus 'Coppermine' thoughtfully added a 'Random' and 'Last additions'  files.
14 Albumns (plus 21 user albumns to date) and two added by 'Coppermine'.  31 Albumns total.  Magic!

Done It !

Phew – not a lot of sweat there.  Beat that I thought. Provocation indeed! But the nagging question remained, how much would be enough? How long (and convoluted) is a piece of string?  Worry later. Becoming serious a habit....

Will.

[wilfb]

Hi.

But all was going swimmingly – as long as I stayed in the water there would be no danger from the bottomless-pitter!!

The serious problem was that recurring question of the length of a piece of (convoluted) string? Get the answer to that wrong and the site could be down almost before it had gone up...

The imponderables were simply the number of members x the weight of the material (call it the amount) they would contribute.  The space (weight) available I already knew, it belonging to my (commercial - paid for - sites). Since money was not a bottomless pit - my reputation as a provider of "Better at no cost' nursing history websites was once again on the line...

There was only one option – guess it ! The free space I had was much greater than the previous MS site used – though this new  site – schoolsofnursing.co.uk – was bigger and more complex (and a quantifiably unknown user contribution size). A case of 'Suck it and see'!

The key seemed to lie in the photographs - they consumed a lot of space.  So I 'guestimated' 100 users and limited the size of any photographs uploaded to a maximum of 650 pixels square. For the worst case scenario that meant 100 users x 700 photographs (make that 1000) would make that 70,000 photographs worth ! (Make that 100,000 for luck) !

I thought at the time that I was going to need it – by the bucketful!....

But, still working backwards - today, November 19 2018 :- 

1) The website galleries have 6,092 files in 45 albums and 5 categories with 703 comments viewed 196,715 times!

1) The Forum has 5728 Posts in 977 Topics by 696 Members.....

2) And the main site has 700 hospitals directly involved in nurse training (possessing a nursing school facility) -  spread across 24 geographical regions of the UK National Health Service. 15 regions in  England - plus 9 regions covering the Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Not bad figures from a standing start....
 
These figures are, by any stretch of the imagination, but the tip of the iceberg - below the water is the main bulk of schoolsofnursing.co.uk!

And, in answer to that 'how long is a piece of (convoluted) string?  Well, I will only say, in the light of experience, 'Long Enough'.

Next time I will try to elaborate further the structure of the site and point out some of the deeper features, secure in the knowledge that the iceberg is deep and heavy enough to keep the devil well and truly cooled!  Watch this space.

Will.

[wilfb]

Hi.

"1) The website galleries have 6,092 files in 45 albums and 5 categories with 703 comments viewed 196,715 times!"

Well, the numbers have risen a little since then, But have a look at the layout below (Clicking the image with your mouse will enlarge it) to show 8 albumns - on one page - the correct order is given below in the attatchment:-

English; Scottish; Southern Irish; Midwifery; Welsh; Northern Irish; Military & International; and Allied Professions and Organisations;  Nursing Badges.

In each case the number of files; date of last access; and number of viewings is given.  The number of times an individual badge is viewed if far and away greater.

The 'Delete'; 'Properties'; and 'Edit Files'; buttons are in this case for Administrator use.

For now the overall number of nursing badges covering all areas is, to date, 5055.... Topics arising such as 'which was the first' and 'which was the last' are best dealt with within other sections of the bulletin board.

Hope this was a useful start. More next time...

Remember - Clicking the image below with your mouse will enlarge it.

Will.

[wilfb]

13 June 2019

So, dealing with the first, placed (above), here is second gallery.....

"2) The website galleries now have 6,160 files in 45 albums and 5 categories with 716 comments viewed 198,439 times!"

The numbers have risen a little more since then, But have a look at the layout below (Clicking the image with your mouse will enlarge it) to show 5 albumns - on one page.
Nursing History Photographs – People(85 files); Ephemera (174 files); buildings (334 files). Plus Nursing History – civilian nurses (148 files); and Military Nurses (26 files).

In each case the number of files; date of last access; and number of viewings is given.  The number of times an individual badge is viewed if far and away greater.  *The 'live' site also allows the individual photographs to be viewed at leisure.

The 'User galleries' link allows individual members who chose to do so to keep their own files there – not generally accessible but individuals can chose to open their galleries to all users – in which case the files go online in an open gallery.  Note: Only members can view these files.

For now the overall number of nursing badges covering all areas is, excluding member galleries, 6150....  General board topics arising such as 'which was the first' and 'which was the last' are best dealt with within other sections of the bulletin board.

This is a little more explanation. Hope it was a useful. More next time...

Remember - Clicking the image below with  your mouse will enlarge it.