Turn on your speakers!
The waiting is now over and the new sound clips and enhanced photogallery are now available to all visitors to our website.
The new features break down in to two parts, sound clips of memories and the photo gallery.
Sound clips
Sound clips will be added to more and more memories over the next few months, these sound clips are an audio version of the memory, similar to an audio book.
The list of memories has changed slightly to show which memories currently have a sound clip. A ++ will appear to the right of the memory title in the drop down list. An example is shown below.
Clicking the Go button will display the memory and a sound clip tool will be displayed just above the text of the memory that will enable you to listen to the memory as well as read it. The soundclip tool will look different depending on which browser you are using An example of the new memory screen in Firefox is shown below.
The following screen is for Microsoft Internet Explorer
Clicking on the play button ( 
in Firefox and 
in Internet Explorer) will play the sound clip. There may be a short pause before the sound clip plays while the sound clip downloads to your computer.
What to do if you do not see the soundclip tools
Dont panic!
This just means that you need to download a small browser plugin' to get the soundclips to work.
To get the correct file if you are using the Firefox browser you need to click here .
To get the correct file if you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer click here .
Follow the instructions given by the web pages. Once the plugin has installed correctly go back the our website and try again this time all should be working OK.
Photogallery
The site now has three types of photograph.
- A photograph directly linked to a memory
- A photograph associated with a memory
- A photograph that has no link to a memory
As before, a memory can have a photograph shown within the text of the memory, this is a directly linked photograph.
Not all memories will have associated photographs but where a photograph is linked to a memory it will not be shown within the text of a memory but instead a button will appear at the end of the memory telling you that there are associate photographs available to view, clicking the button will take you to the corect photographs. An example of this is shown below.
Clicking on the Gallery button in the lefthand vertical menu of any page will take you to the photogallery. Here you can select photographs either by the area in which they were taken, by the date they were taken or by the subject they portray.
Once you have selected the type of photograph you want to view click the Go button and a series of thumbnails ( small photographs) will be shown. Click on a thumbnail and a larger version of the photograph will be shown above the thumbnails. If you would like to see an even bigger version click the button just under the expanded photograph which says 'View full size image in a new window' and the photograph will be displayed in its full size. Since this photograph is shown in a new window you will need to close thie window using the link under the photograph 'Close this window'. You will now be returned to the page with the thumbnails.
The gallary will not only contain photographs but documents and other interesting images. We will be adding new images very quickly but it will take a little time to get all of the hundreds of images we have uploaded to the website, please be patient and come back regulary to see what it new.
Woops!
All of the new features have meant a big change to the website , and although we have tested it carefully, there may be things that do not quite work correctly. If you find a link that does not work or photographs that should be of North Shields being displayed in the Whitely Bay category please let us know by using the Contact Us link at the top of any page and we will sort things out. There is no better testing than allowing the site visitors try things out.
Please enjoy the new features and pop back regularly to see the new items we will be adding, and please tell your friends and family about us.
If you have any questions about the new features please contact us using the contact us link situated at the top of every page.