Drag-and-drop file upload plugin?
April 6, 2011 7:17 AM Subscribe
Great-Grandma-proof, drag-and-drop, web-based file upload plugin for email-size-limit-busting files?
Trying to procure a 18 MB photo from an elderly person on the other side of the country. I would like to set up a webpage with a drag-and-drop uploading system like the ones on smugmug or various other sites.
Is there a plug-and-play system out there that I can easily install? I am quite technically proficient, but don't want to spend the time creating this from scratch. Preferably just the drag-and-drop upload part - not interested in a login-based system. I can set system permissions and all that, but I can't seem to get the right googlewords for an easy plugin to put on the client side page.
Dropbox.com has proved wildly overwhelming to this revered elder, so this is a last resort.
Trying to procure a 18 MB photo from an elderly person on the other side of the country. I would like to set up a webpage with a drag-and-drop uploading system like the ones on smugmug or various other sites.
Is there a plug-and-play system out there that I can easily install? I am quite technically proficient, but don't want to spend the time creating this from scratch. Preferably just the drag-and-drop upload part - not interested in a login-based system. I can set system permissions and all that, but I can't seem to get the right googlewords for an easy plugin to put on the client side page.
Dropbox.com has proved wildly overwhelming to this revered elder, so this is a last resort.
It sounds like you might be at the point where talking her through sending a snail-mail flash drive comes to the rescue (possibly mailing the drive to here with a very specific screenshot filled word document + maybe some nice friendly hey grandma stuff)
as far as easy to set up upload webpages, i've installed w2box for some quick and dirty upload pages and it has worked fine. (there is some familiarity with php & your webhost needed to set it up)
posted by yeahyeahyeahwhoo at 7:54 AM on April 6, 2011
as far as easy to set up upload webpages, i've installed w2box for some quick and dirty upload pages and it has worked fine. (there is some familiarity with php & your webhost needed to set it up)
posted by yeahyeahyeahwhoo at 7:54 AM on April 6, 2011
I also think getting remote access on the machine may in fact be easier than explaining the file upload process to somebody.
BUT, what about something like Dropbox Uploader? You need to tweak your PHP configuration to allow an 18 MB upload most likely.
posted by misterbrandt at 7:57 AM on April 6, 2011
BUT, what about something like Dropbox Uploader? You need to tweak your PHP configuration to allow an 18 MB upload most likely.
posted by misterbrandt at 7:57 AM on April 6, 2011
Have you considered a remote control application? There are some which generate small .exe's customised with the authentication built-in, so it's literally "click and run this, I'll do the rest." (Of course, I can't actually remember any off-hand, but if this is appealing to you, I'll google harder.)
I"m sure all the major remote access applications provide something similar, but the one I have access to (on both ends) is LogMeIn Rescue. It's easy as pie. And for something like this, a free trial might just do the trick. Setting up a Dropbox solution for the future might not be too difficult while you're controlling her computer.
posted by hoboynow at 7:57 AM on April 6, 2011
I"m sure all the major remote access applications provide something similar, but the one I have access to (on both ends) is LogMeIn Rescue. It's easy as pie. And for something like this, a free trial might just do the trick. Setting up a Dropbox solution for the future might not be too difficult while you're controlling her computer.
posted by hoboynow at 7:57 AM on April 6, 2011
Response by poster: Secretly, it's not my great-grandma, just the Rosie-the-riveter generation. This is for work, and has to go down today...
posted by CaptApollo at 7:57 AM on April 6, 2011
posted by CaptApollo at 7:57 AM on April 6, 2011
CaptApollo - I'm sending you a PM - I have a file drop form on my website, if you think you could talk her through it. It would result in a yousendit.com link I could e-mail you.
posted by randomkeystrike at 8:01 AM on April 6, 2011
posted by randomkeystrike at 8:01 AM on April 6, 2011
dropItTo.me is a Dropbox uploader I have used for exactly this sort of scenario.
Once you've registered you send them a link like dropitto.me/yourname. They must enter a password and click login. Then they get a normal file upload box and a send button. You get an e-mail and the file appears in your Dropbox. There is a 75meg limit.
I think it's about as simple as a file sending website can get.
posted by Jim H at 8:24 AM on April 6, 2011
Once you've registered you send them a link like dropitto.me/yourname. They must enter a password and click login. Then they get a normal file upload box and a send button. You get an e-mail and the file appears in your Dropbox. There is a 75meg limit.
I think it's about as simple as a file sending website can get.
posted by Jim H at 8:24 AM on April 6, 2011
Not quite drag-n-drop, but Droopy is a single purpose webserver that's about as simple as it gets. It's a Python script, so you should be able to run it on anything that can run Python.
posted by fings at 8:29 AM on April 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by fings at 8:29 AM on April 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
If you set up Picassa you can have one folder sync to it and so everything she drags into that windows folder will show up in Picasa.
The beauty of this is she wouldn't have to learn any new program because surely she knows how to save something into a Windows folder.
posted by cda at 8:39 AM on April 6, 2011
The beauty of this is she wouldn't have to learn any new program because surely she knows how to save something into a Windows folder.
posted by cda at 8:39 AM on April 6, 2011
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Have you considered a remote control application? There are some which generate small .exe's customised with the authentication built-in, so it's literally "click and run this, I'll do the rest." (Of course, I can't actually remember any off-hand, but if this is appealing to you, I'll google harder.)
posted by robtoo at 7:41 AM on April 6, 2011