While the new program was being created, Code Guy let me know that he made a new link to SnowDays that showed off ALL of my Featured Flakes.  When clicked upon, SnowDays opens as per usual, but instead of seeing the new flakes being made there fall, ALL the Featured Flakes fall instead, from oldest to newest.  When the "gallery" ends, SnowDays returns to normal and we see the new creations fall from the sky.

Naturally, I was VERY honored that he chose to do this, and you can see this anytime by clicking this following link, or by placing it into your browser's location window: http://snowdays.popularfront.com/featured.html

But as kewl as that is, the new feature does MUCH more than that!  We can actually create our very OWN galleries, and they will display whatever we choose to place into them!  YOU are the master of what flakes fall at SnowDays now, and YOU can make these awesome galleries to share with your friends or family, put into blogs, web sites, emails, etc.!

Code Guy placed the following instructions at Snowflakemakers on December 5th, 2010, and since I don't think I could make them any better, I shall reprint them word for word here for you ;)  ...Take it away, Code Guy!

As I read through Mr. X's latest e-mail about the exciting new additions to the featured flake list, I hoped he would share with the group the page I added to Snowdays to display all the featured flakes at once. I created it so that he could show off his carefully selected list of some of the most amazing flakes, and I still hope he'll link to it from his featured flakes page. Maybe he forgot that it exists, or maybe he has other reasons (perhaps he's working on his own way to show off the featured flakes). Anyway, the sight of the featured flakes filling the screen on Snowdays is truly a sight to behold. In fact, I used it to introduce Snowdays to some of my newer coworkers when they asked me what Snowdays is and why it has such devoted fans. When you see the outstanding artwork and creative genius embodied by the featured flakes it's pretty obvious! So, it's my pleasure to present:

Mr. X's Featured Flakes

http://snowdays.popularfront.com/featured.html

I can't update Snowdays from home, so featured flake numbers 98 and 99 will have to wait until Monday to show up on that page. 

Custom Flake Galleries

To make the featured flakes page work, I added a way to display what I call flake galleries. A gallery is just a list of flake numbers and you can make your own by simply adding "?ids=" and a list of numbers to the end of the Snowdays address. For example, here's a gallery of some of the flakes I've made:

http://snowdays.popularfront.com/?ids=1,9606561,9610420,9610858,9611594,9612438,9616530,9665352,9676070,9740972

Automatic Searches

The gallery is displayed as a set of search results, so part of what makes galleries work is the ability to perform searches based on information contained in the address. While I was at it, I also added a way to automatically search on the name, location, message and date. This way, you can create an address or link to Snowdays where it automatically shows your flakes, or whatever search results you want to share (via e-mail, this group, etc). Here are some examples:

All the flakes created today:
http://snowdays.popularfront.com/?date=12.05.10

All the flakes that spread the word about the tips and tricks at misterx.ca:
http://snowdays.popularfront.com/?message=misterx.ca

All of CFC's amazing flakes:
http://snowdays.popularfront.com/?name=cfc&location=ca

All of Shellie's wonderfully detailed flakes:
http://snowdays.popularfront.com/?name=shellie&location=nv 

...and so on.

I hope this message finds everyone well, and let's give Mr. X a big round of applause for completing the featured flake list!

See you on the slopes,
Code Guy

Here's a bit more about Code Guy's instructions that you may find of interest....

FEATURED FLAKES:  This is a "custom" URL that Code Guy created, thus the word "featured" appears in it.  You can NOT create such personalized URLs yourself, so don't even try!  ;)

CUSTOM GALLERIES:  As you can see above, all you need to add behind the 'snowdays.popularfront.com' part is "/?ids=".  You then add the flake number, followed by a comma ( , ) and the neXt flake number, etc.  As you can see from his "x"ample, the first flake number is "1", (flake number 1), and then is followed by a 7 digit flake number.  It doesn't matter how many digits the flake number has, as long as it is followed by a comma and the neXt flake number.  The LAST flake number does NOT require a comma afterwards and NO spaces are used.  I think Code Guy mentioned that there is a maXimum number of 100 flakes that can be added to these lists.

AUTOMATIC SEARCHES:  These allow us to make the program automatically call up a search based on DATES, MESSAGES, or NAMES.  Here's how that is done....
Datesare done by adding a "/?date=" behind the main address, followed by adding the date in a numerical fashion, (month/day/year).
Messages are created by adding "/?message=" behind the main address, and entering the keyword you want the search to look for.  In Code Guy's 'x'ample, the key word was "misterx.ca".
Names are likewise done in the same way.  Add a "/?name=" (and the name itself) behind the main address, and ALL flakes made under that name will appear.  Add a "/?name=xxx&location=xxx", and only the flakes made under that name (xxx) AND location (xxx) will appear.  If you use special characters in your name (like I do, with 2 arrows and a small "x"), you'll want to ignore those and use ONLY the proper letters, such as....
Names with special Characters are a bit more challenging, but can be done!  Lets use my own name as an "x"ample.

I could have also added the "www." part into the URL above, but that isn't necessary :)  You fill in the NAME or LOCATION part to these URLs as you want the Seach Feature at SnowDays to search for them.