MUST READ! How to succesfully Post Pictures: Easy to follow, and w/pics

[AbSoLooT]

This thread is a HOW TO: on posting pics. I created this thread so it was user friendly and with pics. My goal? To make our gallerys look as sharp as possible, and solve that age old "direct link deboggle"

Lets get started: if you dont have much experience with Forums, you cannot post pics directly from your computer. Its with HTML code, and thinks must be linked. So for this you need a image hosting website to post. Most people have that part covered, however... There is one crucial and confusing step that causes it to be often unsuccessful, and frustrating to many.

Note: You need a image hosting site, and this will apply to all, but in my opinion its a good idea to just use Photobucket, and keep it all uniform. Especially since photobucket is easy to use, free, and most widely used because of these reasons.

We start our steps after you have created an account and are on your album page. Simple enough..




Step 2: From here you can easily copy and paste you link, and most people do... but.. you need to resize first, or you'l get the infamous resize message. The photos are now automatically resized to a width of 640 pixels. The only time this might be a problem is when your pics are taken in portrait orientation (long is up & down). Also, as shown in the last picture... There is a box where people copy the direct link from, and that is where 90% of the mistakes are made. The necessary link does not appear, until you click on the individual pic. shown here



You can click once, and it will copy for you, and that would be where my thread stops, but resizeing is necessary. Again: see above. Yo can normally just skip to the next dark red text, below, marked "Here." There are two options to do so. Im laying em out because the first may be invisible unless you place your mouse in just the right place. (again, user friendly instructions).

This is the first and easiest resizing option. But for the options to pop up, you have to place you mouse, just at the top of the pic. The drop down menu will pop down, place your mouse over the "resize" option and, pre-designated sizes will pop down. Click and select 640 x 480. (Note: dont go any smaller, as it is good to see the details in eachothers truck, and promote a uniform picture gallery from all)






Option 2, takes a few more steps, but you can get more specific. If you find yourself here after clicking edit, you may not know what size to input. click resize, and type in 640 (that should stick from memory) and it will fill in the rest for you.





Next, Save it and click OPTION B in the pic . Just replace the original, because if you dont, you may find yourself posting the link on the gallery, than getting a message or error saying to keep it below 640, when you had already done so. Click REPLACE ORIGINAL (opt B.) to avoid that small but frustrating error. You also already have a copy saved on your Comp or where it was uploaded from.




Here:
Last but not least, Copying from the right place: In this pic, you will see the box where most people copy the link from, and the picture does not show up on the forum directly. Crazy cuz it even says direct link Highlight the picture, than scroll to the IMG code, and click on that link. (note: it copys with one click, you do not need to select copy and paste, nor will it let you do so) You will see it flash, "copied" for your confirmation.







Conclustion: There has been a thread done on it already, but IMO it just has a bunch of "what not to dos" and doesnt spend much time laying out what "to do" . Also the laid out differences are hard to notice to the untrained eye. Not as user friendly to all, and still leaves unanswered questions because many of the posts to this day, in gallerys are copied from the "direct" links and done unsuccessfully. More information doesnt hurt either.
Here is the link to the original thread. Both are useful in their own right.

http://traxxas.com/forums/showthread...sting-Tutorial

Directions are best when they are laid out simple, and easy for the brain to just scan. Its insulting no ones intelligence, but making easy to follow directions, makes it more error proof and easy.

It'll be good to be all uniform and looking nice and not have to click on a link. If you have a post in a Gallery, and it is done unsuccessfully. Post doing it the right way, because many times people skip pictures when they have to click on a seperate link. I know I have.

Hope this thread is of some help to you, Please feel free to ask any questions or "compliments" Good Posting!

-AbSoLooT

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not delete, or resize your image on your image hosting site after posting, or it will delete or resize where ever that picture is linked to! if you want to use that pic in a differnt size elsewhere, upload anouther!! Deleting the pics from (photobucket or other I.H. sites) will cause a dead link!

[rag6]

Nice explanation. One other thing to add is how to post thumbnails.

[AbSoLooT]

Thanks man, Im more of a fan of direct pic. Think the gallery looks good that way, would be a good idea to do a seperate thread on thumbnails. Keep it simple, and organized. Pics are refered to alot more often as well.

[rag6]

Me too, but would fit within your thread.

[pavmentsurfer]

In terms of forum load speed, using thumbnails Is a huge plus. Also, when you use thumbnails you can leave the pics large, as large as you want, on your photobucket account. This is the method I prefer so I can use big pics and not clog up the forum.

[scorpio1026]

Nice write up! Should be a sticky!

[rraattrroodd]

well done buddy, its pretty hard to understand at first but when you get the hang of it, it's not that bad

[AbSoLooT]

Thanks for the positive feedback guys, I like the gallerys to just have large pics so you can just scroll and not have to click again. (most people seem to prefer that as well and not many T.N on gallerys) I think the thumbnails are a good idea for other threads where you may post a pic to reference to something.

[TAT2]

+1 on the STICKY!

[AbSoLooT1]

Bumpn it for newer guys to check out.

[nemuddpuppy]

A ++ on this. now to remember my photobucket password havent used it since '08

[flanders125]

Bumping for people who are new

[AbSoLooT1]

Attention: New updates as per Moderators. They also made changes. Pictures are now automatically resized to 640 x 480. Nice job Mods, gonna save me a ton of time. Now just gotta make it a sticky since they like it enough to add to

[BaldyDaniels]

Hey loot: can you explain a lil more about pics automatically resized? Does that mean i can post the originals that take no matter what size they are, and the forum will resize it for me?

[Stephan81]

Hey loot: can you explain a lil more about pics automatically resized? Does that mean i can post the originals that take no matter what size they are, and the forum will resize it for me?

I believe that's how it works man, I have posted lots of photos. Haven't resized them and I haven't had any issues with mods messaging me or removing the posts. So I gather the forum is resizing them for me?

[BaldyDaniels]

Most of the time the mods will resize them, but they had to do it themselves manually, causing more hassle for them. It will be an awesome bonus and less hassle for us and them, to not have to resize all the pics manually. Imageshack has a stand alone uploader that will auto resize pics for me, but their only option for forum size is 640x640 so it still was too big. Automatic-love it!

[AbSoLooT1]

Ya totally. U know whats crazy. I didn't write the words in red on my post One of the Mods did. I feel special But ya, means instead of having to go and manually resize to 640. (which took a bunch of time up when I uploaded pics to photobucket) Now it seems they will do it automatcially. Great thing to, means you can leave it in its original state under your pic hosting site. Love it !

[BaldyDaniels]

Hey loot, here's the imageshack write up I did a while back. I'll post it here so we only have to link this thread to pass on all the info on pic posting.


Picture posting via imageshack

First go to imageshack.us then click on "sign up" in the top right corner and it'll take you here:



After filling out your info and hitting the accept button, you can now push "login", also located in top right corner, and it will take you here:



After entering your email and password, hit enter, then click on my images twice and it will take you here, which will be your home page:



Since you need to upload pictures, the fastest and easiest way is to click on the tools tab which will take you to the following page, and download the imageshack uploader. It is a separate program that you open from your pc desktop and it's only function is to upload pics and vids to your imageshack account. Be sure to go into the settings menu and change all uploads to the private setting and they will go to your account only and can only be seen by someone with a link to it, and can't be viewed by the general public.



the uploading is straight forward, after opening the program, just drag and drop pics from ur pc into the white box of the program, then click private on both options on the right and put a name to the set of photos ur uploading and click the upload button.

Once uploads are complete, go to ur web browser and login to ur account and click twice on my images. When you find the pic you want to share on the forum, click the blue diamond symbol to the right of the pic icon as shown here:



It will then take you to the following page below. Then click on "embed this image" and it will drop down a menu as shown below. Now copy the entire code that is in the forum box and then just paste it into the message you are posting on the forum and the full size pic will show up in your message as soon as you post it. Remember that if you delete the photo from your imageshack account, it will no longer show up on the forum, so best just to leave em so they will always show on the forum.*



it seems like a lot to do at first, but once you get the hang of it, it only takes a few seconds to get a pic up on the forum. Its even easier on my iPad cuz I can take snapshots of the current screen. If you use windows 7, the snipping tool is great for taking a pic of the screen being viewed. Then you just upload the screenshot to ur account and then post into messages.

Hope this helps. Good luck!*


- Sent from Dan's iPad using TapatalkTAT
*

[DiggerPede]

Ok guys here we go. I'd like to add something to this thread. " How to post IMG thumb" pics from Photobucket. This isnt an automatic option, you have to go into your account settings and check this to have this as an IMG code option. Below are the steps on how to give you this:

First off login to your ACCOUNT. Next click your account name on the far right then on the next screen click ALBUM SETTINGS tab.



Now that you are in the ALBUM SETTINGS tab check the *IMG thumb* box and click SAVE at the bottom of the page. If you don't click SAVE this will not keep the settings you just made.



Now when you go to your ALBUM and hover over the pic ( drop down box ) or click the pic and on the far right of the screen you will now have the IMG thumb code option. Now when you click on this code it will create all the necessary [IMG].....[/IMG] and copy to your clipboard for you to paste to your POST or THREAD. No need to click the insert Image box in the edit portion of a post. This will double your [IMG][/IMG] wrap that you see some people do. In actuality this is a URL/ IMG code.



Now paste this code into your MESSAGE and you are all setup.



Hope this helps guys. I'm not the best at writing stuff up. This is straight and to the point. I do this on occasions, not near as much as I should. This would help load the pages faster.

Oh and here are the IMG thumb of the pics above.....

[d_gillespie]

The site I use is Hobzob.com! It is like the "Facebook" of hobbyists! You can view others R/Cs, trains, and models, you can rate them with "trophies", post comments, and write blogs on your page that called the "workbench". I have seen alot of cool R/Cs and the like on that site. Even if you don't join up I would suggest you go over and give it a look.

Derrick

[AbSoLooT1]

In addition to all these AWESOME posts by Baldy, and Digger. Here is how to post pics from directly from the web. This is one FINE thread and covers every part of how to post pics.

How To: Post pics Directly from web - Important info


This Thread is a How to on posting pics directly from web. What I am refering to, is posting a pic when on is referencing a specific part/item/post.
Learning this step is valuable, so that one does not have to do one of two things:

1. Post the picture, but do the long drawn out process of: Saving pic on comp,
uploading to Photobucket/Image shack, and then posting link to Forums.

2. Not posting the picture at all, being it is not so important to take the couple
minutes it takes to do so, Making the post alittle less valuable, helpful, and
visually pleasing.

Like many others, I too used the traditional method when needed, however learning
this step was a VERy big time saver. But remember. This doesnt "replace" the posts above. Its in addition too. Those steps still need to be followed to post your pics. These specific instructions are to post pics from website. They are already hosted, so this is the short cut so you dont have to add them to your own online hosting site like with your personal pics, but when u want to add one for reference.

How to:
What I am refering to, is linkin a picture and showing it directly from the web. Such
as on a manufacters page, or retailer showing a specific product. Also works on Googles Image page after search.

Say for example you are wanting to post this pic, Classic example of the Protrac kit
and what it includes.





Way to do so is to click on it, save it, upload, link to forum. However. Alternate
method is as follows.

Select the picture, To do so you must have just the picture up. One will usually post
the entire page, or fail if not selected properly.





Once you have clicked on the picture itself, RIGHT click on it to bring up the
following menu. Once you have done so, select the bottom option: Propertires. As indicated by Red Arrow.




After selecting properties,The following will appear. Click and highlight the the
code as shown, and indicated.





You now have the link to the picture itself, This is essentially this exact link on your image hosting site. except in this case, You are using a direct link to the server hosting that specific webpage.





Now what you need to do, Is convert the link into the format you are already familiar
with. The format represented by IMG in the above photo. Same as we are all familiar
with.What you need to do is these simple steps.

Type [img]
Than paste the link you copied earlier: Http:// .......
Type [/img]


What you are doing is exactly what photobucket, imageshack,HTML code is/has done.
It will look like this.





Note: You can also cut and paste a random pic from your image hosting site, and
replace the middle http:// code until you learn the [img] & [/img] Proper placement.
Finished Product, This is the pic it will post.




Big benefits to this shortcut, Saves time, Saves Space on your Hard Drive to store
the pic, and saves space on your Image hosting page. Not that how many is an
annoyance but rather more to scroll through in the future. And if its deleted in a
clean up, it will be removed on the thread you posted it on. This way, it will not.

(unless the website itself is removed from the internet, Dont think Proline.com is
going anywhere anytime soon) lol. Enjoy

-AbSoLoot

Important: This does not replace the traditional methods to post pics you have taken.
Personal pics still needs to be hosted and converted into a proper link for posting.
This is how to link pictures from the web directly for reference.

[DiggerPede]

Great writeup LooT. I'd like to also add to your tutorial on the " Post Pics Directly from the WEB ". If you go to PROPERTIES and grab the URL address, be sure highlight and scroll for the whole link. Meaning when you start to highlight it from, " http://jf;dsajf;lsadjfa;lsjfdlkdsjfa.jpg ", that you grab the whole link. Sometimes they are quite long and you will have to scan down to get it all. Whatever you do make sure it ends in, " .jpg " or whatever the pic originates as.

I'm glad LooT had told me about this little trick months back. I had never actually thought about it. Also like he notes be sure to grab images from a ligit site that has been around a while. Otherwise you will get the dreaded no image.

NOTE: The url doesnt necessarily have to end in .JPG.