Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

Looks like Phil has set up the front door, well done!
I was thinking of adding a simple three or four sentence greeting on that page from myself and the assistant managers. Unless any of you object, I'm planning on putting in your full names. As for the two doctors in the house, I think proper etiquette is to put "MD" after your names, correct?

Yes, quick reply done as well. Still ironing some things out re. the front page at the minute. If you can post here the text you want I'll put it up when it's ready.

Okay thanks Phil, give me ten minutes and I'll have a brief welcome message for you.

Great. A photo or two would be nice as well.

Phil can you insert the following welcome message for now. It's real basic at this point, but we can add more later, like the Parker endorsement, etc. If you or any of the other assistant managers have any additional language you want add to the welcome message, please feel free to make recommendations.

Welcome to the new home of Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts! Our world-wide community has existed since 2000, and has been the home of thousands of lively and insightful discussions about the great wines of Bordeaux, as well as most other wine regions from around the globe. The discussions here are friendly and respectful, filled with humor and good will. Please take a minute to register and join in on the fun!

Sincerely,

Jim Howaniec, Manager
J. Scott Cardone, M.D., Assistant Manager
David Glasser, M.D., Assistant Manager
Phil Reeve, Assistant Manager
Michael Case, Assistant Manager
Alex R_____________, Assistant Manager

I'm looking for the correct spelling of Alex's last name, Phil, if you have it can you insert it. Meantime, I'll keep looking.

Okay give me a minute to dig out a picture or two from Bordeaux.

Okay I'm going to post four or five pictures here Phil, pick two or three of them that we can use at least temporarily.

OK got that Jim. I've put Alex's surname in. One small thing, I think "good will" should not have a space. I'll change it for now but if I'm wrong please let me know.

You are correct Phil, goodwill is one word.

Hmm I can't seem to find the attachment thingy for the pictures.

I see something called "Img" but I'm not sure what to do with it.

There are some pictures of Chateau Latour, Palmer, Gazin, some pictures of wine barrels at Mouton, grapes, etc., in the "Pics from Bdx" album on page ten of the pictures section on the current BWE, I was thinking we could paste two or three of those pictures onto the home page here, at least temporarily. I'm not sure how to copy those pictures here though.

OK I'll get some off MSN. The Img button is for displaying an image from another website (you put the URL of the image between the [img] tags) - you want to attach the images then put them inline with the text... I'm guessing you're using the quick reply box which doesn't have an attachments bit on it.

Ah ok I see.

To attach a photo, you need to go to "Post a Reply" - the Quick Reply box wont work.

Then click on the "Upload Attachment" tab at the bottom of the page.

Browse to the file you wish to upload, add a comment/caption if you wish (this will stay with the pic when posted online, or you can add comments separately in the Post a Reply" box), and then hit "Add the file" button.

The file you've chosen to upload will then appear in the "Posted Attachments" box, between the "Post a Reply" box and the "Upload Attachment" box. Click on the "Place inline" box and the pic will get posted into the "Post a Reply" box.

Then you can add more commentary in teh "Post a Reply" box.

Here are a few you might consider for the front door. Some of these are large - you can resize as needed. I think the system will allow me to post large files since I have Moderator privileges.

Here's a pic of the town of Bdx from our 2005 trip. Welcome to Bordeaux! And here's the BWE gang in front of Chateau D'Issan, again in '05: And here's a pic of Cos d'Estournel

Those look good, Phil, why dont you post that one with the group in France, let's see how it looks on the homepage.

Here's another bunch of pics from the 2005 BWE trip to Bdx.

Those are all great as well, I'll go with whatever you guys like best, I say we pick three or four of them.

Phil, is it possible to make the text on the homepage, including the names of the managers, a notch or two bigger/bolder?

As for the group photos, I vote for the first one in front of d'Issan, it looks like there are more BWEers in that picture.

Can't resist - here are some more...

Definitely the one on the steps of Margaux, although the pictures appear oversized in your attachments David.

...although the d'Issan one is good too because it has more of the building in the picture.

Yes, I didn't get around to re-sizing them. I just wanted to get them up here quickly so you could see them.

I think Phil can easily resize them when he posts them to the front page. If not, just have him e-mail me and I can repost the pics in a smaller size.

Regular users will be limited in the size of the files they can post so we wont be dealing with these mega-pics on a regular basis.

I think you should pick whichever 3 or 4 you like best. At least 1 or 2 should have a lot of BWEers in them - we're about people, not just places or things.

I agree, I like the ones with the people in them best.
My two favorites are the pictures of the whole group in front of d'Issan and Margaux.
I like the d'Issan picture because you can see more of the building, but I like the Margaux picture because you can see the faces better. We should pick one of those two.

I kind of like the group shot at d'Issan, the long shot of Margaux (with the staff awaiting our arrival at the gates), the group lunch in St. Emilion, and the close-up of the glass of Yquem with the empty bottle. The shot on the steps of Margaux with Corinned Mentzelopoulos with the group is nice too.

I leave it up to you, BD.

I can't decide, they're all good.
Okay, I hereby decree you pick four pictures David.

I count four in your last post.
Let me check the long shot picture at Margaux for a second.

That's Corinne between you and Geeman, right?

OK one more to consider:

Yup - that's Corinne between me and Gee-man at Margaux.

Great picture.
What do you think of the text on the homepage David?
At first I thought we might need to make it more bold but I'm thinking I might like the basicness of it.

Corinne was unbelievably gracious in both large and small ways. Large - well, the whole evening and dinner. Small - my camera batteries were running low just prior to this shot and as I was grabbing a new pair from my jacket pocket she was already calling for one of her staff to fetch some fresh ones...

A larger font on the front page would be OK, but I agree that simple and uncluttered is best.

I wonder how the layout would look with one pic to the right of the text, then two below the text, then a final pic or two below that, with a little space between the pics so they don't run into each other.

Gotta go get some work done - will check back later.

I can't believe I missed that trip.

Phil has posted some pictures on the homepage, I like what he's doing there.
Phil, can you post larger versions of the group at d'Issan and the one on the steps at Margaux? I think we should go with at least one of those two.
Also, perhaps we can post another picture or two with people in it.

Ooh I just saw the photo gallery on the home page!

I like it!!

I like the way you've got it right now, with the text to the left and the photo gallery to the right.
Can you put more pictures in the photo gallery?

Also, I don't think we need to make the text bolder, I think I like it the way it is.

What do the rest of you guys think?

Excellent, I'm quite pleased with it myself.

I've just got those four images in there at the moment, which others should I add in?

I've got one or two of my own I might like to include.


Agree re. the text size, I think it goes well with the photo gallery at that size

I'm off for an hour or so, been working on this for a few hours now - the eyes need a break!

I think it looks outstanding, Phil, great work!

I say put whatever pictures you want in there, like David said above, it'll be good to get some pictures in there that have some people in it.

It looks great!

Okay thanks for all the hard work!