July 2021 update
📝 Image description field ported to Rich Content Editor
After the forum posts, comments, and private messages, the image description field was finally ported to using the Rich Content Editor. You can format your image descriptions just like in the forums/comments/private messages, and include mentions and images too! Thank you Molly for the little push. 😂
⚫⚪ High contrast theme for visually impaired viewers
Apologies for not providing this sooner, but now if you are visually impaired and the standard reddish / orangeish highlight color on AstroBin doesn't provide enough contrast to you, you can use your user menu to Enable high contrast theme. This will change the look of AstroBin to a monochrome theme with higher contrast ratios that will help with readability.
💻 Python 3 / Django 2.2 / Ubuntu 20.04
I performed a massive tech stack upgrade this month, including the main programaming language, the web framework on top of which AstroBin is built, and the base image of the OS for the main Docker container.
If these words mean nothing to you, the point to take home is that AstroBin's foundation stack received upgrades that make it more secure and modern.
Besides the security implications, this is very important for the long term longevity of the project! 💪
👷♂ Work in progress on the new equipment database
Work on the new equipment database and module, which is going to be the highlight of 2021, is ongoing.
Last month I worked on the new data models and API, and I gathered ideas, planned features, and began work on the first step (a migration tool to convert the legacy, fragmented database to the new paradigm) of what is going to be an epic endeavor and massive improvement to AstroBin, when it all comes together, due to several factors:
A comprehensive and polished equipment database, free of duplicates and incomplete elements
A better user experience when attaching equipment items to your imeages
A better search, with no equipment fragmentation, and more tools to filter by technical properties
A better way to connect people who own the same equipment, due to dedicated pages for each item, with dedicated forums and image galleries
Just to manage expectations correctly, please know that it will take several months until we see this fruit to the final awesome vision, and at some point I will ask for help from volunteers to assist in building the new data.
🛒 NFTs of the Messier catalog
AstroBin has collaborated with InnerSpace to create a list of 110 NFTs from objects in the Messier catalog. Objects have been selected from AstroBin's images and the authors have been asked for permission.
When you buy an NFT from the Astrum Messier Catalog, 50% of the proceedings go to the owner of the image, 40% to Innerspace, and 10% to AstroBin.
📺 I presented at TAIC (The Astro Imaging Channel) on YouTube!
I was a live guest of The Astro Imaging Channel on YouTube.
I talked for an hour and a half about some of AstroBin's "behind the scenes". This included some personal information about me, for the curious, some tidbits about AstroBin's history, some of the challenging aspects of running this project, an overview of the way I work and what my typical week looks like, some technical information about AstroBin as a platform, and some spoilers about the main ideas and the vision for AstroBin's future.