Apology
This is the first time I've used PHP, Javascript, and SQL to such a large extent to build a web site. The only tester has been me, on only one PC and on only two browsers (Firefox 1.5 and Internet Explorer 6).
There are probably plenty of ways of breaking the site that haven't occurred to me, so I'd be grateful if you could let me know if you have any problems. It's the only way I'll learn!
(And please make sure you keep copies of your photos on your own computers!)
Outline
The purple area on the main page is for adding your 'latest news'. Photos and text can be added here.
Sending photos
Click the Browse... button to choose a file on your PC to upload.
Then click the Send image button to upload it to the site. The image should appear above the Browse... box.
You may upload more than one photo to the 'latest news' area.
Image format
If possible, convert images to JPEG format before uploading.
(Some digital cameras take photographs in TIFF format, which some browsers find difficult to display.)
Image size
If possible, try to optimize photographs before upload, to a maximum size of 800x600 pixels.
This makes the image files quicker to upload (and to download when viewing), and the 'full size' view is more likely to fit on the reader's screen.
Writing news
Enter your news into the white text box. Click the Save text button to save it to the database. The saved text then appears in a grey box that replaces the white text input box.
Text in the news boxes can be formatted into headings, lists, and paragraphs. Text can also be made bold or italic.
Paragraphs
By default, each new line of text will be formatted as a new paragraph.
Headings
To format a line as a heading, begin the line with the characters "---+" followed by a space, followed by the heading.
For example:
---+ My heading
Lists
To format a line as a (bulletted) list item, begin the line with three spaces, followed by a "*" character, followed by a space, followed by the text.
For example:
* first item * second item
Bold/italic text
To format one or more words as bold, put the whole string between a pair of asterisks. For italics, use a pair of underscore characters ("_") instead.
For example:
The last word of this sentence will be *bold* The last word of this sentence will be _italic_
Deleting items
I've put a Delete item button in each item, so if you upload the wrong photo by mistake you can get rid of the evidence.
You can't delete the main upload panel, so you may need to refresh the page first. What you have just added will then become the first item below the panel, which can be deleted.
Please don't delete other people's items! (One day I'll try and make the delete button work only for the user who added the item.)