This post is about the private network of Visionary Artists I run on the Ning platform:

I had sent this out as a broadcast yesterday (November 15th 2017):
Dear Members of our Visionary Art Network,
I noticed with chagrin that the embedded slide shows do not work anymore.

Ning is tinkering with the system: I assume because Adobe is not supporting Flash anymore, they are switching to HTML5, which by itself is not bad - what is bad is that the HTML5 embed codes for those "new and improved" slide shows DO NOT WORK!

I had a long chat with a Ning Support Staffer (Alexandra) on-line today at 3:00 PM Vienna time, and it didn't resolve anything. If and when they get back to me by e-mail is a question that I can't answer, but if I don't hear from them, I will pester them.

The one change that this brings (even if it was working) is that I can only embed photos that are in albums. Anything not in an album can no longer be embedded - like: quite a few of you did not put their photos in albums, but I was until now able to embed the photos as a generic slide show on your public page. So even if they fix the code, I will only be able to embed albums.

If and when the HTML5 codes for embedding albums work, then I am left with the task of re-writing each and every ones public page in the Visionary Art Gallery (and everywhere else where I embedded slide shows from Ning).

Undertaking this task, I am wondering if it is not just as easy for me to download your images (I've downloaded some all the time, but not all) and just put them up in a Weebly slide show on your pages. In this case, the rather expensive network becomes obsolete - because if this is the case, I could just as well create a private group on Facebook that doesn't cost me anything, where you could upload (or share) images that I could then transfer over to the Visionary Art Gallery.

Dodging a bullet last year, when after a change in ownership the new owners of NIng wanted to just about double the fees for the network, it resulted in an outcry among the network creator group, and a sizable number made themselves heard and said they quit Ning. I did not message you about this - it was eventually rolled back - now I don't know if you can access this from the Ning Announcements (to the Creators) - if not, let me know and I copy and paste it for those that are interested:
Notice of Upcoming Price Changes to Ning 2.0 Networks
I had at that time already thought of an alternative, because as it is even at the prices now, I cannot afford to keep paying these bills, which also include the Weebly account and the domain charges for the websites we are featured on publicly.
Donations have trickled down to next to nothing, and the balance in the Paypal account I use for the Network has melted down to ZERO - so any of these charges due, which are charged to my Paypal account, come out of my private bank account!

The financial aspects of it are one item, but please also realize that I spend a good chunk of my time to make all of this run smoothly. To keep the interest of website visitors up, and thus repeat traffic, I spend time featuring individual artwork on a regular basis in our FEATURED ARTWORK on the Visionary Art Exhibition site, as well as publishing blogs and promoting the Artists of the Month, like in this Video I made for YouTube
ARTISTS OF THE MONTH:

I may need to make changes should Ning not be viable for our purposes anymore.

Cheers
Otto

---

UPDATE November 16th 2017:

Today, I had again some conversations with Ning Support via texting. It looks like they have no clue how to fix this!

Here is a copy/paste as I recorded it on a rtf doc while we were texting:
Slide Show embed codes on Ning do not work
talking to: Anastasia - Ning Support Agent

I did not copy yesterday's long exchange about this - this is the conversation today, November 16th 2017

I talked to you yesterday about slide show embed codes. Since I am a member also on 2 other public Ning networks, I checked and found that the embed codes from their sites DO NOT WORK EITHER - so this is not something peculiar to my site, but this is universal across your system!!! You switched from Flash to HTML5 - but something is not working, and it is SYSTEM-WIDE, not just on my site. Is it just me that notices that? You need to get back to the drawing board with this and fix it: the largest part of the reason I have this network on Ning is that I can embed the slide shows! Without the embed, your network is for me practically useless and a waste of my time and money!

EXAMPLES (from Visionary Art and two other public networks I belong to):

_{here I gave the Ning Agent examples of HTML codes for slide show embedding on
Visionary Art - 4art.com - Austria ART}

Let me check your previous conversation, one moment.
9:49 am
Thank you for holding! It is correct, since we have switched from Flash to HTML5 embed code for slideshow no longer works on any of our networks, we are aware of that.
We are going to rework existing slideshow feature in the nearest future, so I hope it will suit your needs, but unfortunately, until then, nothing can be done about it. The embed code will not work since HTML5 does not support embed codes and it cannot be changed.

Something needs to replace Flash, if Flash will no longer be supported by Adobe.
I will educate myself on-line about this - considering that others have made the switch without problems!

Our engineers advised me that since you are using a div tag and embed code that converts this tag into a slideshow, and HTML5 no longer supports embed codes, there might be a script that can be used instead of the code to present a slideshow with div tag.

10:03 am
Not really my problem, but yours. Bottom line is, your embed code does not work.
If YouTube can do it, so should you! Maybe have a YouTube engineer explain to you how it is done!

It is not a bug, HTML5 simply does not support embed codes. We understand your frustration and understand that you were not ready for such changes, but at this point, there is nothing we can do to change it.

10:09 am
Get You Tube to explain to you how HTML5 embedding works - for Christ sake, what is wrong in your engineering department?
Here is a example of a YouTube embed code - why can they, and you can't?
_{here I inserted a YouTube embed code}

iFrame isn't HTML5. The YouTube has a separate page where the video is showing.

.... and you can't do that with slide shows? I know that the i-frame is just there to set the size of the display. Bottom line, again, is that you have a embed code that does not work!

You can, but only from ning to ning website, not to the external resource.
There is no inbuild embed code for the slideshows on 2.0 since we have stopped using flash.

It doesn't even work on Ning, lol - I copied a slide show embed code onto a Ning message (in HTML) and I get the same blank staring at me as everywhere else.

I was referring to the iFrame, not embed code.

then restore Flash, for as long as it is still working, and work on a solution how to embed slide shows in HTML5.
Maybe get some chinese engineers on your team - they figured it out years ago:
http://www.photo-flash-maker.com/create-html5-slideshow.html
HTML5 Slideshow | HTML5 Slideshow CreatorPhoto Flash Maker helps you creates HTML5 slideshow in a simplest and fastest way. With simple clicks, then you can have a nice html5 canvas slideshow (with HTML + JS + XML) that runs smoothly on any idevices like ipad and iphone.

We cannot reverse this change and go back to the Flash. I will definitely pass the link to our tech team.

---

There were a few more exchanges I did not copy anymore
because it just revolved around the same without any solution.

PLEASE NOTE:

I am paid up with Network Fees until JUNE 2018
if there are no solutions found until then, I will close the Network
Over course of this time, I will download your images (all total there are over 14.000 photos) and upload them to your respective pages on the VISIONARY ART GALLERY - the initial idea was that by uploading your images to this network, and by me embedding your slide shows on your public page, you were in direct control of what is shown publicly without me having to do anything - your public pages changed in lockstep with what you were posting on the network. It would in future require more work on my part to upload your photos to the public pages, but for now that may be the only solution to keep the VISIONARY ART GALLERY going. We have excellent Alexa rating, and a steady stream of visitors with thousands of page views a day - something that is not easily achieved with a individual artists website. This is further bolstered by showcasing select works on the VISIONARY ART EXHIBITION site.

👹

---