DigitalScrapbook.com Blog Train Regulations (UPDATED 4/2018)

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DigitalScrapbook.com Blog Train Regulations (UPDATED 4/2018)

We have a very lively and creative blog train going! I thought it was time to collect everyone and clarify what's going on. Let me know if you think there's something I missed, or if you have an issue. I think most of these things are already going on, so it shouldn't be a surprise...

For Participating

The goal of the DigitalScrapbook.com Blog Train is to create a relaxed environment for designers of all levels to work together and share their creations with the community. Here's the general plan:

  1. Currently the DigitalScrapbook.com Blog Train happens every month, going live on the first.
  2. Usually we vote on a palette and theme in the middle of the month of a running blog train.
  3. You are welcome to participate in the blog train however you'd like. There is no requirement for participating, and no sign up. We do suggest that you keep your portion on the smaller size to make the finished product more manageable.
  4. A few days before the beginning of the month for the blog train I will post a sign-up thread where people can post their preview and link.

The only actual rule is that your contribution be free for the month of the blog train. After that month you are free to do with it what you want. You may ask that people sign up for your newsletter, follow your Facebook page, etc in order to download your freebie.

Things To Note In Your Preview
I've had several requests that the following be made clear on the preview:

  • DigitalScrapbook.com Blog Train Logo (please put this somewhere on the preview)
  • License for the freebie (Personal Use, Commercial Use, etc).
  • If it's a tagger kit (not full-resolution for printing), please note that as well.

A Few More Details

  • PLEASE ADD YOUR NAME TO THE FRONT OF THE FILE. (Caps-lock is generally not allowed, but this is very important.) example: I name my files "marisaL-paper34". If you do not name your files, assume that they are free for people to use in any manner they want. Or more likely, they may not use your files at all, as many people won't be comfortable not knowing where something came from.
  • Please put everything in a folder called "PSMar2015_YourName" (change the month/year accordingly). This makes it easier for people to keep all the blog train folders together.
  • Please see here for details about file hosting.

Resources

This post warms my OCD heart smiley smiley smiley

Thanks, I appreciate this. I don't like unzipping things and having things not in folders. I too like it neat and tidy and like to know who made what smiley

If I could make a suggestion, on something I've noticed: for instance "animal_kingdom" is long, and in file names to have the PSMar15, our initial and The name of the element/paper, it makes for long file names... could we be given, maybe along with the palette, a short name for the kit so that all filenames are very simliar? I noticed in Rustic Charm, some people using RC some using rusticharm some just using charm too I think, not that any is wrong but I like uniformity too! or just a reminder of ML_shortnameofkit_monthyear_elementpapername format with the "shortnameofkit" being dictated to us? (because I think it's not always obvious). Could make the life of downloaders a lot easier.

Maybe I'm a teeny bit OCD as well smiley

Just wanted to quickly reply with my thoughts on the proposed changes Marisa mentions above...

First, I LOVE the blog trains and especially viewing all the creative ways the designers took or used that month's chosen color palate. I haven't jumped into designing yet, but have played with numerous programs and if nothing else, doing so has allowed me to sincerely appreciate each participant's submission every month 'just a bit more than I had before';)

I sincerely enjoy viewing all the participant posts each month and definitely try to comment as well as thank them for participating. Many times, I bookmark the blog/site to come back to later, buy things from their stores that caught my eye once there and often sign-up for their personal newsletters or to follow them on social media channels.

The mentions you make in reference to participant files for download would indeed help those like myself tremendously who file/archive their 'stash' pretty much verbatim to the descriptives you've suggested.

Don't get me wrong, I would and will gladly take the time to sort and file each and every piece I chose to download because I think it's worth the time and effort. The level of enjoyment I receive to use and learn from using them at nothing but the opportunity cost of my time far surpasses in my opinion, the file titles and time spent organizing them.

I like the suggestion of minimizing the file names above as well. I usually use the month/year in numerical form versus lettered so they end up filing nicely in chronological order (re: ps0215bt_designer_cuorpu_nameoftraintitle), but that's just what works for me. What works best is probably going to be about as different as the personal filing systems in which these files get placed. It's not only how to best file them to me, but how one searches those files and of course, retrieves the items set out to find in the results of their search, but I could be wrong here lol

Just thought I'd throw in my two cents that these would indeed be great changes for the files, but also let all the talented participants of the Pixelscrapper Blog Trains know their submissions every month were and continue to be sincerely appreciated and enjoyed by members like myself.

Thank you again for the revisions! Am ecstatic to see the upcoming March train!

Thank you.... I am really happy to know this.

Big Hugs, Rosie

this is a big help. thank you.

I think I've been doing mine correctly with the exception of I use LMG (yeah, I know, all caps) instead of Lavender Mint Graphics (too long) since I don't use my real name.

If anyone has had an issue with mine, please let me know.

-Lisa

What about LavMintGr? something like that, Lisa?

It´s open to everyone who wanna enjoy Marisa? smiley

@Jenni - That's a thought! "LMG" are my initials and my logo has "lmg" as well, which is why I stuck with "LMG" for naming kits. I may switch to lower caps, though. Good thought, and if anyone else chimes in, I may switch to that. Thanks for the idea! smiley

-Lisa

That's an excellent idea. When I go to write credits for elements I've used, I often can't remember who the author is. A shortened version of the author's name or company is much more helpful than just the initials.

@Lisa... I think Marisa was saying she doesn't allow people to type their message in ALL CAPS... not that we can't put caps in the file names.... (I hope I got that right).
I do FS too, I use my initials, a lot of designers do that, and you get to know them by their designer initials... I don't think that's the issue (maybe I"m wrong?). I like to have all my stuff on my HDD titled very similarly smiley
also some designers use caps to differentiate themselves. I've seen AD and ad (two different designers), keeps things clean.

I like the idea of this however: ps0215bt_designer_cuorpu_nameoftraintitle but I'd do YYMM if that were the case, so it really sorts nicely, by year and then by month.

Also this utility looks pretty good http://www.snapfiles.com/get/denrenamer.html to rename files (for designers or for customers who want to add their touch to the way things are named) - disclaimer: I haven't tried it, found it on Studio Flerg's blog. smiley

France, I think your idea of a common shortened blog train title is really good!

And, yes, sorting by year then month is probably the best way to do that, too.

@Claudya: Yes, the blogtrain is open to anyone!

As far as how to abbreviate your name or design name goes, my feeling is that as long as your TOU file is named in the EXACT same way as your designs (e.g. PSMar2015_LGM_flower and PSMar2015_LGM_TOU) even if someone can't immediately tell who you are from the element name on that flower, they can do a quick search for "PSMar2015_LGM" which will lead them to the TOU you've enclosed with your blog train downloads. The TOU file will tell them your full design name as well as your specific license policies, if & how you want to be credited, etc. That's how I keep track of who's made what, at least. smiley

And a file name changer is a great suggestion, France. I use this one for Mac: http://mrrsoftware.com/namechanger/ and it's super easy to use. My final step before packaging everything up for upload is to rename every file (elements, papers, previews, TOUs) using the same prefix.

Violet, what a good idea about the TOU Naming! I named mine FranceStewart_Kitname_TOU but my elements/papers all say FS_kitname_TOU! Thank you!!

Lots of good thoughts and ideas!

@Violet - I'm going to check out that name change for my Mac at home!

I found this one for Windows that I might try for my PC here at work: Advanced Renamer.

@France - I'm the same, I like uniformity on my HDD, too! Which is why I need to settle on something before I get in too deep lol. But, the below is what I've seemed to settle on and it comes naturally when I'm naming things.

I need to get better at naming my TOU accordingly. Some I have, some not so much as I redid the way I do the TOU. At first, I created a small graphic (idea taken from Oklahoma Dawn) with the TOU. I've since switched to just a text file with the terms, my full design name, blog url, etc. But, as Violet pointed out, I didn't think to be sure to add the blog train name in my TOU.

For blog trains, I name my kits PSFeb15_LMG_BlogTrainName_elementorpaperdescription.

For kits I come up with, it's LMG_KitName_elementorpaperdescription.

I've noticed when I download some zip files from PS, they won't work because some of the file names are so long. I have to change them within the zip to get them to download. I think that, too, is another reason I went with LMG. I figure people will become familiar with names and initials for the most part.

I dunno .. I think I'm good?

-Lisa

Yes, that is what I mean smiley

Quote:
@Lisa... I think Marisa was saying she doesn't allow people to type their message in ALL CAPS... not that we can't put caps in the file names.... (I hope I got that right).

Violet is a genius:

Quote:
As far as how to abbreviate your name or design name goes, my feeling is that as long as your TOU file is named in the EXACT same way as your designs (e.g. PSMar2015_LGM_flower and PSMar2015_LGM_TOU) even if someone can't immediately tell who you are from the element name on that flower, they can do a quick search for "PSMar2015_LGM" which will lead them to the TOU you've enclosed with your blog train downloads. The TOU file will tell them your full design name as well as your specific license policies, if & how you want to be credited, etc. That's how I keep track of who's made what, at least. smiley

I just saw Tina's post in the comments about the train guidelines not being adhered to by everyone, and I'm guilty to have skipped a step of naming the folders! "PSMar2015_YourName"

I did "FS_PSMar15" so I'll definitely fix this next month and thanks Tina for your post that made me think to look!!! At least the PSMar15 part is there smiley but it'll be better next month!

For anyone who hasn't seen it, this thread is fantastic: Practical Pointers for Blog Train Success and the documentation linked is well worth a read. I've learnt heaps from that.

have a wonderful week, I'm happy as can be as it's a long weekend this weekend, no work on a Monday is a wonderful start to the week!

I'm just part of that OCD crowd! smiley Wasn't calling anyone out...there were a few, but it makes my heart happy to see more uniformity in this process, too!

It's just a learning curve... we've all been there France...

Thanks Shawna!
And Tina, I didn't think you were talking about me necessarily smiley I'm a bit OCD about certain things, and I completely understand!! And I'm thankful because without your comment I never would have realised I wasn't doing it right! But I was close enough to not feel toooooo bad, but I like when rules are followed... I'm one of "those" too! hehehe!!!

I'm so excited, I can't wait til the palette is decided on for March! it's been such a close race!!

Question.... so this way of naming your files, is this for the file as a whole, or for every single item within that folder? I'm assuming it's every item you have in the folder too. Although I didn't know these last few months to name my stuff in this exact manner, I did try to get my designer name as a suffix. My regulars noticed the difference and some were unable to open certain files because they appeared to have too long of file names. ??? So I renamed them shorter. I'll try to remember what Marisa suggested (ie. PSMar2015_YourName_element name)

^^Love it! Nothing like order!

Kris: every single item in the folder... and yes you are right if the designer name is too long with everything together it may end up too long... but I think now with Windows 7 and higher (at least) it can be 255 characters long, so that's pretty long even considering someones folder system that is long like mine. smiley

Quote:
Question.... so this way of naming your files, is this for the file as a whole, or for every single item within that folder?

255 characters isn't enough for me - I run into that issue, too. Plus, it depends on how people have their files organized on their computer, but I do love the more organized approach to the blog train!

Since Mersija's Majestic Design is to long,i'll normally write( MMD_ ) and then the name of the kit (Animal Kingdom_) and then the element name (paper5).

Your saying i should write "PSMar2015_Mersija's Majestic Design_Animal Kingdom" or "PSMar2015_MMD_AK Is this what you would like from us.Just making sure and if i do it this way for the folder itself,must i also name all of my elements in the folder as so?? ("PSMar2015_MMD_AK_paper5)
Just wanting a lil' clarity.

That's how I normally do it, too, Mersija. DesignerName_KitName_ElementName.

My first inclination for the train was to do DesignerName_Host-Month-Year-bt_ElementName. So for me, dcl_PSMar2015bt_solidpaper01. But should it have been PSMar2015_dcl_solidpaper01 instead?

This is a great little app for Macintosh: http://manytricks.com/namemangler/
I think I'm using a for-pay version, but you can download and try it for free. I believe it is available in a Windows version as well.

I'm considering putting something small together for this months blog train despite being brand new to all of this, including the software! I don't expect it to be perfect, and if no one is interested in it, I think I'll have fun trying anyway but I do have a couple questions!

I don't know what it means to have something be 'print quality' though and I was hoping someone could answer, or link me to another post perhaps? - Does this means papers are 3600x3600px? Elements would vary I'm guessing? And Journal cards would just be dimensionsx300dpi correct? (3x4 JC would be 900px x 1200px)

Also, one other question, is there a single term for all uses being okay? As I said, I can't imagine my first attempt being magical by any means, but as I learn and progress, and find freebies or kits I'm interested in purchasing, these are important things to know!

I know PU/CU but I'm unaware of what s4h and the others are. Maybe that's what I'm missing!

Thanks in advance!

Kayl, have you read Violet's wonderful thread Practical Pointers For Blog Train Success? She explains so many things in the initial post, including what the licencing abbreviations mean. If you haven't come across it yet, I strongly recommend that you read it through - it's really helped me!

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