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    Julyvee94Julyvee94 Posts: 6,694 Member
    I'm currently converting and resizing all my images with the photoshop image processor. It's going to take forever to reupload and replace them in the chapters, but the new files are about 20% of the size of the old files :o this is amazing! it's going to load so much faster :) and I can't really see any quality changes.
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    lisabee2lisabee2 Posts: 3,708 Member
    @Julyvee94 I used plain old paint to resize mine and resaved as jpeg .. it was pretty quick .. well it took a day but still now I am done and so glad.
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    LisabeeSims
    New readers can visit here first: In-a-NUTSHELL
    #EAgamechanger
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    Jes2GJes2G Posts: 13,032 Member
    Good morning, and happy F.I.S.H. Friday to ya!

    River has been doing well about being at home, but Melody still has questions. Will he be able to convince her that everything is fine this time? Enjoy.

    http://www.jes2gstories.com/2-9-not-holding-breath/
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    Read Delicious Dishes & Dreams and more Stories By Jes2G!
    Origin ID: Jes2G | Forum Thread | Twitter | Tumblr
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    ValoisFulcanelliValoisFulcanelli Posts: 672 Member
    edited April 2016
    Multi-quoted reply post incomiiiiiing! *jumps on @everyone with tacklehugs*
    @ValoisFulcanelli Your sims are so beautiful... *hugs*
    Awww, thank you so much! Elsanine is as beautiful as all the Fae are (they're not nicknamed the Fair Folk for nothing, after all) and I've always referred to Arcturus as that "handsome fangy fella". Well, Valois probably has another nickname for him—affectionate, rude, and in their shared French language!—but that's what I call him ;)
    @ValoisFulcanelli : I get updates for Tumblr stories automatically though, via the Tumblr dashboard (just like I use Wordpress Reader or Blogger Reading List for automatic updates from those hosts).
    Thing is, I post a lot of non-story updates over on Tumblr, so if you were following me just for those, you'd still need to dig through all of my other stuff just to find them! It's still about 99% Sims content (a lot of building, random pictures of my boys, and the like; oh, and the occasional bit of NSFW, which I always tag with 'Sims NSFW') but the side-arcs are not always marked as such, or distinguishable from other things (case in point: my recent Sunnyview Retirement Home guide with Dame Edith. It's written in a manner akin to a first person dialogue, but it's not a story at all).

    Then there's the fact that my tagging, er, leaves a bit to be desired over there :mrgreen: I have two fairly long-running Tumblr-only side-arcs (The Rocker - very NSFW! and The Knight's Tale) and if you were to read the tagged posts in order, you'd see not only the story posts but—in the case of The Knight's Tale—some random building posts (because I can't resist showing off my gorgeous cc'd-to-the-hilt medieval builds!) and—for The Rocker—a lot of 'photoshoot' posts. For me, that takes them out of the 'story' category and more into a 'general enjoyment with a bit of story added' category. Plus neither of those have been updated for months! I tend to play those saves when I feel like it.

    What I'll probably do is put together one Tumblr page that links to all of my side-arcs and point people at that. TMoMG is still my main story, so my focus (when I have any!) is on that. I may add the new Elsanine/Arcturus story to the index if it grows enough legs to become a serious story in its own right *g*
    lisabee2 wrote: »
    @ValoisFulcanelli .. I am ecstatic! I re-posted all my blogs with the optimized pics and I went from 11 percent to 1.3 percent. Thank You! Thank you!! Thank you! It was a lot of work (took me all day) but now that it is done I am all smiles!!
    That's fantastic news! You've really made my day with that. I think I saw that you were only five chapters into your story so far, so if you look at those amounts you'll see that—before the changes—you would have got 50 chapters done (of that story or that and any other story) before running out of space but now you could get 500 done!
    Julyvee94 wrote: »
    I'm currently converting and resizing all my images with the photoshop image processor. It's going to take forever to reupload and replace them in the chapters, but the new files are about 20% of the size of the old files :o this is amazing! it's going to load so much faster :) and I can't really see any quality changes.
    Great news! Well done on tackling it and getting all of that work done. It really does make a difference, and I can only hope that some Simmers see this and make those two little changes (resizing to fit the blog's theme and saving as JPG) before they begin posting their stories, thereby saving themselves a lot of work when they realise they're 30 chapters in and almost out of storage space.

    Between this, and some lovely feedback for The Madness of Mr Goth on my wall from @VexiVee (who I don't think has been into this thread, but welcome anyway if you pop your head in - lots more fantastic stories to be found in this area of the forum!) I has a happy today :)
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    lisabee2lisabee2 Posts: 3,708 Member
    Ugh...Gikuyu and Moombi have some hopelessly unattractive children. The two eldest, Ratri and Fanus, have aged up into Teens and they are just hopeless. Ratri has a Cro-Magnon brow going on and her brother has lips that pretty much stretch as wide as his face. There are two more children left to put my hopes in, Parvati and Gula. This generation is not going to be one of the best, looks-wise. I truly fear there is no hope for any of them.

    :)@fayshinomori I always hate that .. you have two gorgeous parents and you get goggly children from the mix .. lol that is the Sims for ya! That is where my adept skills in cheating come into play! (I am not a big cheat player but I know how when the time is right LOL)
    SebEwnF.jpg
    LisabeeSims
    New readers can visit here first: In-a-NUTSHELL
    #EAgamechanger
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    lisabee2lisabee2 Posts: 3,708 Member
    @FayeShinomori Any way we could see them?

    @FayeShinomori .. agree with @SilentWolf101 :)
    SebEwnF.jpg
    LisabeeSims
    New readers can visit here first: In-a-NUTSHELL
    #EAgamechanger
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    mastressalitamastressalita Posts: 2,874 Member
    @ValoisFulcanelli : I have managed to better handle the Tumblr stuff using the dashboard extention kits that let me highly customize the layout of my dash and blacklist certain tags so now I'm mostly just getting "only the story posts" for the Simblrs I'm following. Took a little while to figure all that stuff out (that was all new ground for me!) but was well worth it once I did and things are pretty efficient for me on that front now. (Thank gawd for XKit and whatever script I found that hides the reblogs and sponsored posts!)

    I have lots of stories in the Index that are Simblr stories that are the style of "just an image with a small text caption." (I do exclude CAS posts, build posts, heir polls, news/opinions/editorials, things of that nature, but otherwise, have always been quite open and accepting on the format of a "story"). I think people are too set in their own personal defintion of "story." They think it must be something grand, with lots of text and dialogue and plot arcs -- and certainly there are many submissions like that in the Index -- but I have never made that a requirement. I've found so many people don't submit because they don't think of their own work as a "story." And really, I just go off the good ol' definition of "an account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment." Many simple images with a small caption that are sharing the life of a Sim for the entertainment of others... that's a story to me. As are YouTube Let's Plays and video challenges. The authors themselves seem to be far more strict in their own perceptions; even when I invite them (an indication "your work is perfectly acceptable and welcome here!") they are the ones that tell me it isn't! I've always found this phenomena quite fascinating.

    @lisabee2 : That is excellent news! More onsite storage space means more worry-free stories to tell! That is always a wonderful thing!

    @JulyVee94 : Good luck with your own image conversion project!

    @FayeShinomori : Aww, don't just judge your Sim kiddies based on their looks! As a bonafied big-girl myself, it is a shining personality and the enjoyment they bring you as you play that should be key. ^_^ I prefer lots of diversity among my Sims, myself!
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    Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
    Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
    My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
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    lisabee2lisabee2 Posts: 3,708 Member
    @ValoisFulcanelli : I have managed to better handle the Tumblr stuff using the dashboard extention kits that let me highly customize the layout of my dash and blacklist certain tags so now I'm mostly just getting "only the story posts" for the Simblrs I'm following. Took a little while to figure all that stuff out (that was all new ground for me!) but was well worth it once I did and things are pretty efficient for me on that front now. (Thank gawd for XKit and whatever script I found that hides the reblogs and sponsored posts!)

    I have lots of stories in the Index that are Simblr stories that are the style of "just an image with a small text caption." (I do exclude CAS posts, build posts, heir polls, news/opinions/editorials, things of that nature, but otherwise, have always been quite open and accepting on the format of a "story"). I think people are too set in their own personal defintion of "story." They think it must be something grand, with lots of text and dialogue and plot arcs -- and certainly there are many submissions like that in the Index -- but I have never made that a requirement. I've found so many people don't submit because they don't think of their own work as a "story." And really, I just go off the good ol' definition of "an account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment." Many simple images with a small caption that are sharing the life of a Sim for the entertainment of others... that's a story to me. As are YouTube Let's Plays and video challenges. The authors themselves seem to be far more strict in their own perceptions; even when I invite them (an indication "your work is perfectly acceptable and welcome here!") they are the ones that tell me it isn't! I've always found this phenomena quite fascinating.

    @lisabee2 : That is excellent news! More onsite storage space means more worry-free stories to tell! That is always a wonderful thing!

    @JulyVee94 : Good luck with your own image conversion project!

    @FayeShinomori : Aww, don't just judge your Sim kiddies based on their looks! As a bonafied big-girl myself, it is a shining personality and the enjoyment they bring you as you play that should be key. ^_^ I prefer lots of diversity among my Sims, myself!

    @mastressalita .. I am still happy dancing today :)
    [img][/img]happy-friday-chicken-dance-1298723_zpsivlolxme.jpg
    SebEwnF.jpg
    LisabeeSims
    New readers can visit here first: In-a-NUTSHELL
    #EAgamechanger
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    VexiVeeVexiVee Posts: 68 Member
    @ValoisFulcanelli You're right, I haven't been in here before, but I'm fixing that now! I have to say, I almost read all the available chapters of Madness. I had to stop or I was going to end up with an exploded bladder and a stomach eating my intestines :D But I really enjoy reading it, and now that I've discovered this section, I'll be sure to look at some more of the stories!
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    mastressalitamastressalita Posts: 2,874 Member
    @VexiVee : Welcome to our cozy little hangout in the Stories and Legacies section! Feel free to pull up a seat, grab a cuppa and plumbob cookies, join in on any conversations, and make yourself at home. You can even put your feet on the furniture; it's cool. ^_~

    @everyone : So is anyone else having ZOMG TGIF right now and counting down the hours until they get off work/school/other forced engagements as well? Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... Longest. Friday. Ever.
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    Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
    Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
    My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
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    RipuAncestorRipuAncestor Posts: 2,332 Member
    edited April 2016
    Hi! Here's a new chapter for The Chrysanthemum Tango! I hope you enjoy!

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    Chapter 10: Clear Waters

    After the events of Bridgeport, a moment of calm is more than welcome for Amelia. As is a friendly ear and some more explanations about just what is going on around her.
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    My Sims stories:
    The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE)
    The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE)
    Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
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    RipuAncestorRipuAncestor Posts: 2,332 Member
    edited April 2016
    Also I guess I'll finally say something to the optimising conversation... first of all, your posts have been super helpful, @ValoisFulcanelli ! I'm actually kind of ashamed to admit that I knew about the image optimising-stuff and the importance of it, but it was just something I kept putting off because I was afraid I'd lose the quality because I'm not that used to working with GIMP yet (and I'm too poor for Photoshop, which I'm more familiar with thanks to my former school) and also because it was something I was being lazy about... I'll just, um... walk away into a corner now... shame on me.

    However, this conversation did spark my interest in finding my balance for my images and after some trying and failing (or more like, reuploading a few chapters' images and only then really deciding the pics were a bit poorer in quality than I'd have liked and then being too tired to fix them) and retrying I found my balance between file size and quality (my pics should be around 80-200 kb now and they should still look decent)! I reuploaded some chapters' images but after the failures of the beginning I sort of gave up and decided to just be a better person from now on! I just moved to storing my pics in Imgur so the Wordpress space isn't an issue to me anymore. So all the more reason to be nice about the pics and optimising them. I mean, I don't want to not suffer because of my own laziness when others might. So no more laziness from me in this regard! I do feel better about the most recent chapters of both of my stories when I know my pics are taking up less space and hopefully being more user-friendly.

    Sorry about the kind of pointless, rambly post. Just felt like sharing. :) Carry on.

    Except wait! I guess I'll share this too: I've been checking my blogs on other computers to test out how they look and I realised that my own computer must show colours more muted than some other ones because my story pics look super bright on some other computers. Like, distractingly so to me. But it's not really like I can do much about it except try to somehow take that to account when I'm editing my pics. So sorry about possibly bleeding eyes because of overly-bright pics! I'm not sure how widespread a thing that is. I mean, of course all computers and different settings will be, well... different, and show things a bit differently, but, eh... it's interesting.
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    My Sims stories:
    The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE)
    The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE)
    Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
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    VexiVeeVexiVee Posts: 68 Member
    @mastressalita Why, thank you! I will most certainly not turn down coffee and cookies! You target my weaknesses! *stretches out on the furniture happily*

    @RipuAncestor I've actually experienced that with images as well -the difference in brightness. These days I just check it on my two different screens (one which tends to show muted colours and one that appears quite a bit brighter) and strive to achieve some kind of balance XD
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    RipuAncestorRipuAncestor Posts: 2,332 Member
    @VexiVee That two screens sounds like a good plan! I don't have access to multiple screens at this point in my life, but I guess I'll just stick to guesswork and try to pretend it's enough. :neutral:
    doublebannerpic.jpg?w=676
    My Sims stories:
    The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE)
    The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE)
    Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
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    mastressalitamastressalita Posts: 2,874 Member
    @RipuAncestor : Well, you'll never have to worry about that on any of my devices; due to my Chronic Daily Headache syndrome, I tend to keep the screens on all my personal devices (desktop monitor, tablet, Kindle, DS) slightly dimmer than what most people consider "the norm." Since bright light can aggrevate the symptoms I have all the windows of my apartment blacked out with garbage bags and I've become very "dark-acclimated" (my coworkers give me weird looks every time they walk into the break room to see me reading a book "in the dark" since I never turn a light on, heh).

    I never really worry much about such things, since brightness/contrast is something pretty easy for an end-user to simply adjust to their liking, just like font size. But I suppose some monitors do have variance, just based on their age/type/brand, as well. I sometimes feel like I'm one of the last people alive that is still using a 4:3 aspect ratio sized monitor instead of a "wide-screen" one.
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    Have a Sim story site? Please submit your link to the Stories and Legacies Index!
    Check out my Simlit at Sim Stories: Hijinks from the World of Sims 3!
    My Simlit Discussion/Updates | The Fringe | Short Story Challenges
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    RipuAncestorRipuAncestor Posts: 2,332 Member
    @mastressalita I guess you're right about me not needing to worry about it much. I usually just don't like causing extra work or problems to other people.

    I also don't want to keep my screen overly bright because I suffer from migraines, and I think the "eco mode" in my computer is also dimming it a bit.
    doublebannerpic.jpg?w=676
    My Sims stories:
    The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE)
    The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE)
    Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
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    InfraGreenInfraGreen Posts: 6,693 Member
    @VexiVee: I've been seeing you around other threads too. Welcome!

    @mastressalita: My university is phasing out the last of our laptops and monitors with a 4:3 aspect ratio (necessary but for different reasons, because those machines are definitely dying in droves), so...yes you are. ;) I do keep tablets, phones, and laptops rather dim, but my desktop monitor is on full brightness. Things don't look quite right otherwise.

    ---

    Also dropping this off:

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    April 2016: "Green Man"
    A thousand bared teeth, a thousand bowed heads

    outrun / blog / tunglr
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    EmmaBarbieEmmaBarbie Posts: 5,836 Member
    Hey guys. I'm trying to put together a challenge for myself this NaNoWriMo, MAYBE. Like. doing a bunch of short stories or something.
    How're you all? :)
    You're too late.
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    RipuAncestorRipuAncestor Posts: 2,332 Member
    @EmmaBarbie Hi! I'm doing fine! The weather is nice and spring-like and I managed to visit home in-between my studies. Ooh, I love NaNo challenges! Last year I challenged myself by doing a sequel to one of my previous NaNos. and the year before that I tried to write a romantic subplot, which in my book (heh... book...) is one of the most difficult challenges I could have come up with for myself. :smiley: And the year before I wrote in a style where the narrator changed from first person POV to a third person one for the story's many flashbacks, and I also used past tense in the flashbacks and present tense in the "present" scenes. Not sure what my challenge will be this year. Maybe another sequel. I've also thought about the short story -collection idea. I'd love to do that some time and make them somehow come together in the end. That would be difficult but awesome to pull off. I'm also going to stop by the NaNo forum's Dares-thread like always and get something out of there if it fits just because it's fun.
    doublebannerpic.jpg?w=676
    My Sims stories:
    The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE)
    The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE)
    Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
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    lisabee2lisabee2 Posts: 3,708 Member

    Just doing a quick stop to say hi and happy Sunday to you all .... hope your day is glorious :)

    [img][/img]Screenshot-336_zpsxq6sql3z.jpg
    SebEwnF.jpg
    LisabeeSims
    New readers can visit here first: In-a-NUTSHELL
    #EAgamechanger
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    VexiVeeVexiVee Posts: 68 Member
    @InfraGreen Yea, I've been skulking around XD Still trying to learn the ropes - there's so much to see and do here! It's a little overwhelming, to tell you the truth.

    Both my screens are widescreen, one a little larger than the other. I'm hoping to add a larger screen (television HD) to the duo. I have so many tabs and things open at any one time, I need the space just to be able to see everything!
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    SilentWolf101SilentWolf101 Posts: 3,898 Member
    Hey guys! I think today is the last day that I'll be MIA for now... I had a huge English project to finish this weekend, and I still have math hw to do... Otherwise, I'll be here. :)

    @lisabee2 *HUGGLES!*
    @ValoisFulcanelli XD Awwwwwwwwwww, that's awesome! ^-^
    @VexiVee Hello, and welcome! I don't believe I've seen you here before...
    ~Open your mind before your mouth~
    Yes, I'm still working on my stories. But I am restarting them (again). Links will come when they're up. :)
    Come Join The Mafia! | Monthly Simlit Story Challenges
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    FayeShinomoriFayeShinomori Posts: 3,523 Member
    Hello everyone! Sorry I've been absent for the past few days. Since I have severe chronic insomnia, I usually go days with no sleep all in a row and then I crash for two days straight after breaking through the insomnia, and that usually leads to me sleeping nearly 24 hours before I finally get enough sleep. I haven't played Sims at all these past few days because I've been so out of it and worn out, but as soon as I get back into my game again, I will post pictures of Gikuyu and Moombi's unfortunately unattractive children lol
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    SilentWolf101SilentWolf101 Posts: 3,898 Member
    @FayeShinomori *hugs* Hopefully you're feeling better now. ^-^ But I'm sorry you have to go through that.
    ~Open your mind before your mouth~
    Yes, I'm still working on my stories. But I am restarting them (again). Links will come when they're up. :)
    Come Join The Mafia! | Monthly Simlit Story Challenges
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    Spacey72659Spacey72659 Posts: 1,479 Member
    lisabee2 wrote: »
    Just doing a quick stop to say hi and happy Sunday to you all .... hope your day is glorious :)

    [img][/img]Screenshot-336_zpsxq6sql3z.jpg

    Ooooo pretty!
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