How to Post Images to the WW&F Discussion Forum

[Graham Buxton]

Thank you so much Jeff but the limit of 400 KB is really too low.

I think that 400 KB limit for image size was established many years ago, and hasn't been updated as technology evolved. That might be because various forum members have switched to using a 3rd party "photo host". Photo hosts typically allow users to seamlessly include images stored on the host servers and display those images merged with text in the thread.


For instance, this post by Bill Reidy about Boxcar 56: https://forum.wwfry.org/index.php/topic,3838.msg56910.html#msg56910
 includes photos hosted by https://imgur.com.  To demonstrate that, here is a link to just the photo: https://i.imgur.com/0qEpaHs.jpg


Its quite likely that you could do something similar, and photo hosts generally don't have rigid image size limits. Aside from Imgur, other hosts I've seen forum members use include Flickr, Postimages, and Photobucket. There have likely been other hosts used that I just haven't noted.


Some hosts offer "free" hosting, and others have various rate plans. I use Postimages,org, and they offer free photo hosting. If you'd like to explore using Postimages to post larger photos in forum threads, I can assist -- just send me a PM.

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

Graham thank you so much for your time and advice. I don't have any host servrer sofar but I'm going to use one so I wont have to reduce the size of my pics to stay within the limit. Plus the quality will be much better.

[Benjamin Richards]

With a bit of file manipulation, the 400k limit can be worked around to give a satisfactory result. File type, compression level, color depth, and resolution can all be adjusted.

I'm a little wary of image hosting services as a long-term solution, especially free ones. Nothing prevents them from folding if/when their business model fails to turn a profit. The poster child for this is TinyPic, but I'm sure there are others who suffered a similar fate.

It's also true that changes to the forum itself might cause similar data loss. (RYPN, for one.)

I find this comic relevant:

[Graham Buxton]

It's also true that changes to the forum itself might cause similar data loss. (RYPN, for one.)

Yes.


And one doesn't even need to look to RYPN for an example -- the WW&F forum itself (currently running on SMF software) used to run on "something else", and looking back at older threads (say from 2008) shows that switching/updating forum software can be a real 'pain' and sometimes not all elements survive the transition.

[ALAIN DELASSUS]

Finally I made it through Postimage but it was a bit intricate for me. Thanks again Graham but you know it, I'm not computing savy . Typical I was born when in France the steam locomotives still hauled every train across the country.

[Graham Buxton]

OK, there are a series of small steps to using Postimages.org as a photo host. Wile it can be done without opening an account, doing so makes it easier to manage uploaded images.


So open an account, and upload an image. PM me if you get stuck doing that.
The next step is to "Share" that image. Take a look at my earlier post that will be an example: https://forum.wwfry.org/index.php/topic,4130.msg52481.html#msg52481


After uploading an image to Postimages, you should see something similar to this:







For this example, click on the blue icon at the right end of the "Direct link:" line to copy the code into your system's clipboard.

Now go to the WW&F forum message that you want to insert your image into.  The Compose / Modify window looks similar to this:



There are two rows of buttons directly above the row  of smiley icons. Click the left-most button on the second line, "Insert image". Then put your cursor in the box, 'right click' and choose "Paste".


At this point, the Preview button should show your message with the photo from Postimages included.  If you are happy with how it looks then click the Post button and you are done.


There are other options, but get a couple of images posted this way to get comfortable with the process before trying out the options.  Send me a PM if you get stuck.

[Bruce Wilson]

Ben, I am grateful for your posting of the timeline and found that very interesting.

[Philip Marshall]

Thank you, Graham. My 1990 snapshot of the Albion depot seems to have achieved online immortality.