How to Post Pics

remus · 16 Jan 2010, 21:52

In an attempt to make the gallery look a bit nicer i thought id write a quick tutorial on how to make pics look nice in your posts.

Lets get down to business.
Theres 2 ways to embed images in an SCF post, firstly you can use the built in 'upload attachment' tab (just below the text entry box when you go to write a post) and secondly you can link external images using the [img] tag.

The main advantage to using the built in uploader is that its pretty easy and requires a minimum of effort, on the downside it can do funny things if your pics are quite large and so limits your display options some what.

Conversely uploading your pics to an external site takes a little longer with the advantage that you know exactly what you get at the end.

How to Use the In-Built Uploader
1.Click the 'upload attachment' tab underneath the post window.

2.Click 'browse', select your photo, click 'open' and finally click 'add file.'

By default any images will appear at the bottom of the post, to get them to appear in the body of the text, click the spot where you want the image to go then hit 'place inline'. This will insert a tag in to your post placing the image there, this can be moved around by simply copy and pasting.

How to link Images from an External Image Host

First you need to find an external image host (this is a website that'll store your pictures in a way thats accessible to other people on the internet.) Personally id recommend something like imgur as a very easy to use image host. Ideally you'll also want to avoid sites like imageshack that force people reading your post to go to their site to view the full image.
Next you need to upload your image to your image host of choice. This varies a bit from site to site, but generally it'll look something like this:

As with the in built uploader, its simply a case of clicking 'browse', selecting your image and hitting 'continue'.

3.After a bit of whirring and clicking, you'll be presented with a screen somewhat like this:

From here it is simply a case of copy and pasting the text i've circled in to your post. Easy!

A few General Tips
-Its quite annoying having to scroll sideways to look at an image, so try and keep your pics at around 800xsomething to 1000xsomething.

-Image hosting costs a lot of money. To tackle this, try and keep your images small (in terms of file size.) At the resolutions most images are displayed here THERE IS NO NEED TO HAVE A 1MB IMAGE. 250kb or less will suffice for 95% of the images on this site. so to conclude this mini rant, small image files = SCF love, large image files = SCF hate.

-Dont be afraid to play around. The worst that can happen is that your post will look a little messy and a mod might come along and clean it up if its bad enough. On a related note, the 'preview' button is also very helpful.

Happy posting!

Rich O Brien · 16 Jan 2010, 22:16

Thanks for the tip

Also can you tell me how to turn a link...

Google

Search the world's information, including webpages, images, videos and more. Google has many special features to help you find exactly what you're looking for.

(www.google.ie)

...in to a hyperlinked word?

remus · 16 Jan 2010, 22:19

You use the [url] tag, more specifically, you do this: [url=www.google.ie]google ireland[/url].

Speaker · 17 Jan 2010, 01:51

Very good

Also a video posting tutorial would be very helpful, because as a newbie I was really strugling to make it work. Maybe a common pined topic in the newbie forum for such tutorials would be a good Idea?

Gaieus · 17 Jan 2010, 09:49

@speaker said:

Also a video posting tutorial would be very helpful, because as a newbie I was really strugling to make it work. Maybe a common pined topic in the newbie forum for such tutorials would be a good Idea?

Here you are, sir (I have now made it sticky, too) just scroll down when Simon really goes into the depths and explores all the possibilities.

silver_shadow · 17 Feb 2010, 09:37

Hi guys, i use photobucket and you can then view anyone's images without being logged in. So even if the system kicks you out, you can still view the post.

http://photobucket.com/

chrisglasier · 17 Feb 2010, 10:05

@silver_shadow said:

Hi guys, i use photobucket and you can then view anyone's images without being logged in. So even if the system kicks you out, you can still view the post.

http://photobucket.com/

It would be good if you could also post here as in some countries imageshack, photobucket and the like are blocked.

Thanks (I really like to look at them)

Gaieus · 17 Feb 2010, 14:02

Yes, Chris is right - many of these image sharing sites are blocked in certain countries (while in others - like for me - they are so damn slow that often I rather not wait till they load).

Is anyone using Picasa? (and Cris, is Picasa also blocked in China? China, right?)

chrisglasier · 18 Feb 2010, 03:11

@gaieus said:

Yes, Chris is right - many of these image sharing sites are blocked in certain countries (while in others - like for me - they are so damn slow that often I rather not wait till they load).

Is anyone using Picasa? (and Cris, is Picasa also blocked in China? China, right?)

It seems not at the moment, but then Google and the government haven't been getting on too well so I wouldn't like to rely on it.

remus · 19 Feb 2010, 08:22

Thats a very good tip, cheers banty

simon le bon · 19 Feb 2010, 20:19

Hi guys,

Dear Remus, a very good idea to open this thread.
I would like add some comments.

1- Don't forget our own built in "Upload attachments" only accepts (if I remember well) a max of three pictures by post.

2- The size (in Mb) of attachments are limited (I don't remember how much it is)

3- So far I don't think we can manage thumbnails to introduce to plain pictures.

4- In the choice of an external hosting pictures service, I see two fundamental points. 1> the pictures must be accessible without time limitation ( for exemple a good hosting like DataFileHost delete the pictures after a while and posts are then only embedding blank pictures ) **2>**The second point is to look if Host service drives to an intrusive advertising.(The better is nothing )

like Silver_Shadow I'm also using PHOTOBUCKET for many reasons, and I don't see a better one. (I have also got a yearly little pro account for bandwidth and ftp service).

5- Dear Rich (rclub24) remember our very simple BBcode guide to manage your posts like a pro.

6- For posting Videos: (Thank you dear Gaieus to link to my little study ) the easiest way to embed a Youtube Video is to use the "Watch" code, A tip introduced by Ecuadorian

7- About bantymom's tip concerning resizing the weight of pictures, I can't advise you easier and more effective than the excellent FastStone Photo Resizer which is free, small, existing in portable version. "An image converter and renaming tool that intends to enable users to convert, rename, resize, crop, rotate, change color depth, add text and watermarks to images in a quick and easy batch mode". I'm using it extensively.

*s

bantymom · 19 Feb 2010, 21:47

@remus said:

-Image hosting costs a lot of money. To tackle this, try and keep your images small (in terms of file size.) At the resolutions most images are displayed here THERE IS NO NEED TO HAVE A 1MB IMAGE. 250kb or less will suffice for 95% of the images on this site. so to conclude this mini rant, small image files = SCF love, large image files = SCF hate.

Maybe everyone already knows this, but just in case, let me share this little tip. If you already have Photoshop or Photoshop Elements (though I'm sure there are others) there is a special "save for web" for making pics web ready. It will let you reduce the resolution (and size) while watching what happens to the image so you don't lose viewability. (I have to save them with "web" on the end of the name so I don't think I need to do it again later)

pmolson · 7 Mar 2010, 14:56

A little off subject, but it does relate to keeping the house clean.

What is the best method for combining several existing threads into one.

I have started posting a series of homes that I have completed in
separate threads, and it was rightly suggested that I combine them.

How?

Thanks.

Gaieus · 7 Mar 2010, 15:06

That can only be done by moderators. I also saw those topics - are you (or whoever suggested) sure that would be the best? I mean I know there are members who keep posting all there works in their respective "WIP" topics (which then tend to grow substantially long) while others like to separate all their projects into different topics.

I am not sure I would necessarily "prefer" either solution - it should be really up to the member to decide which taste he/she wishes to follow. So shall I merge your topics into an indistinguishable giga-thread (just because the subjects are similar)?

pmolson · 7 Mar 2010, 15:46

I see what you mean, If one of the individual threads sparks an interest or morphs into
something unexpected it could end up buried in long list of other stuff.

I guess we can leave well enough alone.

p

Gaieus · 7 Mar 2010, 15:50

Note that I am not reluctant to do it - just wanted you to think about it first.

pmolson · 7 Mar 2010, 16:13

I understand.

Thanks.

I Wish I had someone to stop me from blundering forward
blindly in other aspects of life.

p

Gaieus · 7 Mar 2010, 16:27

Note that I only seem to be so wise with other people's issues myself, too.

Rich O Brien · 7 Mar 2010, 18:37

It was me who suggested the merging of threads. Only because of how impressed I was at them. It was in no way meant in malice. More out of eagerness for others to be able view all of pmolson's excellent series in one area.

It was an idea only, as I still enjoy either 'segmented' or 'welded'

As this is off topic from this thread I'll shut me hole!

Gaieus · 7 Mar 2010, 21:35

There is no problem, Rich, at all. There are opinions (and indeed, some of the topics out of 6 as far as I can remember now) may sink - so anything could be "reasonable" - just up to the OT poster.