Important Information: posting pictures, attachments and image linking
 

You may have noticed that pictures and photos posted as attachments now show as a clickable icon, which looks like this:

• Attachment: abc.xyz (xxxxx bytes, X views)

We've found it necessary to make this change in order to conserve bandwidth/ server space. The forums and journals have grown tremendously, and we realize that photos and pictures are a valuable and meaningful way to share your progress and to offer support and encouragement to others. Rather than restrict the posting of attachments altogether, we feel that this method is the best compromise. Pictures --and any other permitted file attachments (files ending in gif jpg png txt zip bmp jpeg pdf) -- will always be available to be viewed at the reader's option, and this will not delete or remove anything :)

On the plus side, this change will mean much faster page loading for members with slower dial-up internet connections. There will also be less conflict with firewall-protected servers. And, you're less likely to see the ugly Error: Bandwidth Limit Exceeded message, which prevents you from reading and posting to your favourite forums.

Doreen

I'd also like to mention about using links to images in posts.

Our vB database permits linking to valid http: image files, using the IMG button (above the box where you type your message) or by manually typing in the [img] tags. These image links can be placed at any point in your message, unlike attachments, which always appear at the end.

Some websites permit linking to their images, and some do not. Sites (or their servers) that do not permit linking to images will often automatically re-write http: addresses, so that the image cannot be accessed from a remote link. What you'll see instead of the picture, is an icon that looks something like one of these:

broken links icons

In Computerspeak, it's called "hot linking" or worse "bandwidth stealing". Most people are totally unaware of this as a problem, and do not intentionally mean to "steal" someone else's bandwidth.

Here is a really good article explaining about the problem,
Bandwidth Stealing, from websiteawards.xe.net.

There ARE many sites which do permit linking to their images, and some are specifically set up to be used for linking to bulletin boards and in email messages ... smilies, icons etc. Here are some sites that I've found useful and great source of fun smilies to put in your posts :) :

• ClickSmilies.com
  
• MySmilies.com .. formerly known as Crack's Smilies
  
• Smilies-World
  
• The Ultimately Pointless Website ;)

Another thing you can do ... if you have photos posted on a free website, perhaps an on-line photo album for sharing with friends and family .. just post the url address as a link in your message. That way, the reader can click on it and go to the actual website where the picture is posted.

Or, right click and save the picture to your own computer. Then post it as an attachment in your message.

Hope this is helpful to you all.

Doreen

Thank you for the info. I enjoyed the smiley websites.

How can you make a smiley your avatar? I tried to insert one and although it was a .gif file, I was unable to do it.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Julie

Hmmm ... possibly the file was too big?? It's restricted to 20 kb or 100 x 100 pixels, whichever is largest.

The database won't accept an http: image link as your avatar, just in case that's what you were trying to do. You need to save the image to your computer --- just right click on it, and choose the "Save As" option. Then you can upload using the Browse box in the Avatar edit option.

hope that helps :)

Doreen

Wow!
 

Doreen,

YOU ROCK!

Thank you so much. (For the bp info as well). ;)

Julie

LOL!! Glad to help. I see why you wanted to have a new avatar, it's cool :thup:

Doreen

Hi Doreen!

I'm kinda having a problem accessing attachment so I can see pictures, etc. :confused: I am able to get web pages, but when I click on the attachment file another window pops up, but no picture. Can you help me?
Thank You!

Suzanne :confused:

can anybody tell me how to put more than one picture in an attachment?

thanks

Our database will only permit one picture or document per attachment; one attachment per post.

If you have several pictures to post ... you will either have to make several posts and attach each one individually. OR, you can use photo-editing software to make a composite of the photos so that it's all one file, then attach that to your post. This may not be practical though, since there's a size limit of 100 Kb / 400 x 400 pixels per attachment.

If you have lots of photos you'd like to share, you might consider signing up to one of the many free photo album websites. These will allow you to post many pictures and keep them organized. You can then just put the link to the website in your post, or in your signature line. These are also great for sharing photos with friends and family too. There are many sites out there, possibly your own internet service provider offers free webspace to subscribers that you can use for this purpose. You might also try Webshots.com or MSN photo albums.

hth,

Doreen

Doreen,

I want to add a picture etc as my signature, can you please help and recommend some image linking sites other then the smilies please.

Thanks :D


Sue

hi Sue,

I'm sorry, but other than the smiley sites I listed, I don't know of any other websites that officially permit hot-linking. If you have your own website (not a free server, but one you pay for) then you can link to your own images that you post there. Most free websites, and online photo album services will not permit hot-linking.

Some members are hot-linking to attachments in their journals for their sig. line, but we may possibly have to limit this practise in future. Each post counts as a view of the attachment, and that potentially uses up a lot of bandwidth .. especially if the image is large.

Doreen

Thank's for your help Doreen, I can see it's getting slower the busy the site gets, but that only goes to show how popular the site is.

Thanks again
Sue

Doreen,

When I click on pictures that have the ending ".jpg" a screen opens and says it is downloading the picture and the little bar scrolls across the bottom as though the picture is downloading, but I don't get a picture. I don't think I had this problem before -- I am sure I have downloaded pictures that end in ".jpg." Do you have any idea what is going on? I asked the rest of my family if they changed any settings on the computer and they deny having done so.

I seem to be having the same problem .. my computer thinks that the picture is open and done downloading, but there's nothing there .. just tried to upload a pic as an attachment ... and nothing happened ..

HELP???

It should work fine now, if not, let me know :)

Wa'il