Orpington Astronomical Society

Society => Announcements, Meetings, Events => Topic started by: doug on May 12, 2020, 10:05:14

Title: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: doug on May 12, 2020, 10:05:14
     Hi all. Because of the lockdown, I obviously cannot give you my Observing reports so am sending them into Klitos for inclusion on the website. I have just sent my May report; it has a lot of members images so please have a look when it is put on the website; it`s well worth it.

     Stay safe, and really looking forward when we can all get together again.

     Doug.
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: ApophisAstros on May 12, 2020, 10:18:06
Thanks Doug , looking forward to it.
Roger
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: Carole on May 12, 2020, 11:29:31
Wouldn't it be easier to add it as an attachment?

Carole
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: Hugh on May 12, 2020, 12:01:54
Hi Carole

Adding as an attachment would be useful for the Forum users only.  Many members don't use the Forum and putting it on the website has the double action of showing that we are still operating as a society (for members and outside viewers) even if not meeting.

Best as always

Hugh
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: Roberto on May 12, 2020, 13:17:49
Doug, Hugh

Thank you for posting the observing reports!  I am looking at March and April's now.
Can I make a suggestion if I may?  Can these reports be uploaded to the website as PDF documents instead of PowerPoint (PPT) presentations?  PowerPoint allows for exporting or saving the presentations in PDF format so this can be achieved from the editing program already.  Also, PDF files, as their name suggests are portable documents which anyone can open using a browser and most devices come equipped with PDF readers.  Opening a PPT file may not be possible for everyone.  The quality of the graphics and images should not suffer when exporting to PDF but the size of the file reduces enormously - for example the April presentation goes from 75MB to 6.4MB  by changing the format.

Roberto
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: Hugh on May 12, 2020, 16:36:31
Hi Roberto

Thanks for the advice.  I have no direct input to Doug's report (other than reading it) but I'm sure that perhaps he could liaise with Roy to see the best way to achieve publishing for the ease of access to all.

Best

Hugh
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: ApophisAstros on May 12, 2020, 17:03:55
Quote from: Roberto on May 12, 2020, 13:17:49
Doug, Hugh

Thank you for posting the observing reports!  I am looking at March and April's now.
Can I make a suggestion if I may?  Can these reports be uploaded to the website as PDF documents instead of PowerPoint (PPT) presentations?  PowerPoint allows for exporting or saving the presentations in PDF format so this can be achieved from the editing program already.  Also, PDF files, as their name suggests are portable documents which anyone can open using a browser and most devices come equipped with PDF readers.  Opening a PPT file may not be possible for everyone.  The quality of the graphics and images should not suffer when exporting to PDF but the size of the file reduces enormously - for example the April presentation goes from 75MB to 6.4MB  by changing the format.

Roberto
I was hoping for this aswell , as PDF will open in chrome web browser.
Roger
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: Carole on May 12, 2020, 21:55:11
I have a feeling Doug has limited software to be able to do this. 

Carole
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: doug on May 13, 2020, 09:34:09
     Yes, I have limited software, but as I have never done the report in that medium, I wouldn`t know where to start... I know nothing...

     Doug.
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: ApophisAstros on May 13, 2020, 09:58:48
I thought it went to Klitos for posting it is easy to convert and save as a PDF.
Roger
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: Hugh on May 13, 2020, 11:43:19
Hi All

Just to advise that I have spoken with Roy and he agrees that a PDF would be better.

He will liaise with Doug and arrangements will be made to assist Doug provide the easier to download PDF for the website.

Thanks for pointing out the problem.

Clear skies

Hugh
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: ApophisAstros on May 13, 2020, 12:34:19
Cushty :brolly:
Roger
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: Carole on May 13, 2020, 13:58:55
Personally I would like it added as an attachment in the forum as well, took me ages to find the last 2 reports this morning, especially as I also had to hunt for my website login (as opposed to forum login).

Carole
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: Rick on May 13, 2020, 20:45:42
Links for the three most recent reports are in the bottom right corner of the home page, and you shouldn't need to login to read them.
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: NoelC on May 14, 2020, 15:17:42
I must be doing something wrong Rick; all I can see is March and April's.
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: Rick on May 14, 2020, 17:43:33
That'll be because May's hasn't been posted yet.
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: ApophisAstros on May 14, 2020, 18:15:33
Think he is including that "meteor" thingy at bottom,
Roger
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: Rick on May 14, 2020, 21:35:03
Indeed. I was using "reports" to meen "reports" rather than specifically "obs officer's reports". Usually we only keep the two most recent obs reports on the website, partly because they tend to take a lot of webspace, and partly because the observing information in them is only good for the month anyway.
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: Klitos on May 15, 2020, 11:30:58
Hi,

I've just uploaded May's report to the website.

Apologies for having only the two latest reports. That was from a time when we were running out of disk space on our web server and I thought the two latest reports would be sufficient. Next month, I'll try to remember not to delete April's report when I add June's.

I will have a go at converting Doug's report to PDF when I get to my Windows laptop (I'm currently using my Linux laptop which doesn't have PowerPoint).

Klitos
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: Carole on May 15, 2020, 12:27:39
Nice report Doug, just as a point of note, some of the images in particular some of the solar images have no credit on them as to who took the images.

Carole
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: ApophisAstros on May 15, 2020, 18:12:20
I dont have powerpoint, so cant open it , any suggestions for a free program so i can read it.
Windows 10 Pro,
Roger
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: Carole on May 15, 2020, 18:25:44
Try Open office, I think that is free and have a compatible Powerpoint software.

Carole
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: NoelC on May 16, 2020, 10:28:12
Very nice report thanks Doug!
I could almost hear your dulcet tones introducing it.

Here's a pdf of the report:-
https://dropfiles.org/XLcXmL0j (https://dropfiles.org/XLcXmL0j) (2MB)
Not sure how long it will stay there (Roger your link returned 'Not here' when I tried it).

Noel
PS. Doug; in PowerPoint:- Save As/select PDF or XPS, drop down PDF and select 'Minimum Size (publishing online).
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: doug on May 16, 2020, 10:33:09
     Carole... panes 10, 11 and 12 of the Sun at Lockdown and the two others were imaged by Roberto and they are signed at the bottom of each of the images by him. I admit the signatures are small and perhaps difficult to read, but having called back my original report, they are on there.

     Doug.
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: Rick on May 16, 2020, 13:18:18
Quote from: NoelC on May 16, 2020, 10:28:12
Here's a pdf of the report:-
https://dropfiles.org/XLcXmL0j (https://dropfiles.org/XLcXmL0j) (2MB)
Not sure how long it will stay there (Roger your link returned 'Not here' when I tried it).
Thanks Noel. Much easier to read than the ppt.

Quote from: doug on May 16, 2020, 10:33:09the signatures are small and perhaps difficult to read
They're visible, but you have to look for them, and it would probably be better just to put the same style of image credit on each image, whether or not there's a signature in the file. That way it's clear where credit is due.
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: Carole on May 16, 2020, 16:29:47
I had to import the file into Powerpoint and blow up the images before I could see the names, and even then they were too faint to see what they were.

Carole
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: GeorgeC on May 28, 2020, 15:04:52
Hi
You don't need extra software to get a pdf version. In powerpoint, if you go to 'Save as' , give the file a name and underneath the name you will see 'Powerpoint Presentation(*pptx)'. Click on the down arrow to the right of the 'Powerpoint Presentation(*pptx)' and select 'PDF (*pdf)' then Save it. You have your pdf version.
George
Title: Re: Obs Offrs report for May 2020
Post by: ApophisAstros on May 28, 2020, 17:45:25
Dont have powerpoint no point as never need it for anything else,
Roger