Pagoda SL Group
W113 Pagoda SL Group => About this site => Topic started by: thelews on December 19, 2009, 16:09:17
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Pictures are truly worth a thousand words and this site makes it quite difficult to post them.
Reasons:
Ridiculously small size, most sites will allow up to 2 meg or more. Let's just say, we have a more "mature" audience who owns these cars and many don't even know how to resize pictures that small.
Can't post a picture of the same name twice. Returns "a picture of that name has already been posted" or something like that. No way, it seems, to retrieve the picture from the site and attach it in the current post.
No [IMG] icon for remotely hosted pictures. I know why this is, but then it ought to be a lot easier to post pictures here!
Limit of 4 pics per post...why? Other sites, easily 10 or more.
Why take one of the most valuable tools of internet forums, limit its use and make it difficult to use?
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....ditto here, but other members seem to be able to post full size pictures, so there must be a way of doing so.....some of us are obviously missing something. Looking forward to learn "how to".
CHEERS !
WITT ! ???
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Oh, I know how to...it's just that it should be easier, like almost all other forums...
It's hidden on this site because they don't want you to use it. It's HTML code...
You get the HTTP address for where your picture is hosted... this one is http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2057/2047866946_d2bbcc1167_b.jpg Then you put img in front of the address with [ ] brackets around the img and /img after the address with [ ] brackets around the /img.
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2057/2047866946_d2bbcc1167_b.jpg)
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Those of us who've been around a little longer know that we've run out of space a couple of times before (in fact, we did a month or two ago again as well, and lost a number of posts in the process). That's why we limit the the upload to 4 pictures, of 250K in size per message.
We actually want to limit the picture size as well (to something that shows reasonable on most people's monitors, i.e. 800x600 max, but better yet, 640x480). We still have a number of viewers who do not have more real-estate when viewing this forum. When you limit the size to 800x600 or less it's actually quite easy to limit the size of the upload to 250K, without losing any quality at all. Provided you use the right tools, and follow the correct instructions (see here: http://www.sl113.org/FAQ/items/FAQ-Images.html).
And, yes, as John indicates, it is quote easy to circumvent. But it's really inconsiderate when people do that:
- externally hosted pictures can disappear at any time in the future, outside of our control, rendering posts useless (see some of the old threads on this forum). That's why we don't like it
- externally hosted pictures can be really large, yielding slow download speeds and messed up page layouts for lots of people (although this forum software copes with it much better than the old system).
Sure, if you have a fast Internet link and a big screen, you won't notice... but hundreds of others will be annoyed.
Finally, on the uniqueness of image names... I recommend in the FAQ indicated above to add your username as part of the picture name, That will prevent the problems you find with duplicate names. And no, you cannot link to an existing picture... because if you could, so could everyone else and the current forum software wants to prevent that.
So, even though I could raise the limits, I won't. It's not necessary, just read the above FAQ again.
Peter
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Peter, why are we so short on space, it seems to be one of the cheaper commodities out there and I'm not aware of any other site that I frequent that has space problems?
I don't think I'll be renaming my pics. They are named for me to find on my personal computer, as most everyone's are. Again, making it MORE difficult to post pictures here works against the exponential benefits that come with being able to easily post pictures on a forum.
While we're at it, why is the "quoted" type so small you need a magnifying glass to read it. You don't like quotes either?
But, hey, you're the boss.
Boy, that's a good looking engine bay above! And, did you notice the ORIGINAL firewall pad? ;)
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There's another way to resize....
I use Tinypic - upload my pics there and have them resize for the board. Then download them to my desktop, and upload them here. As I tend not to be posting critical pictures to (for example) how to threads etc, i tend just to use the tinypic [img] links. Much to Peter's chagrin, I am sure
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Another way to do it (if you have Windows) is to go to the "My Pictures" folder in "My Documents," select an image you want to post, right click on the image and choose "Send to" and then "Mail Recipient." When a window pops up, choose "Make all my pictures smaller" and then just email the picture to yourself. This results in an image that is way under the 250 limit (usually between 60-120) and is how I have been posting images to this site since the beginning.
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Resizing isn't the issue with me, per se. The issue is, 75% of this club, or more, is this forum. Shouldn't the goal be to be as user friendly and content rich as possible?
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I have to concur with John. One of the main attraction of this site is to be able to share information!. And, as anyone knows, a picture is worth a thousand words. I am currently restoring my 280sl which I have had in a state of disassembly for over 17 years. It is EXTREMELY helpful to view a high resolution image of certain details of these cars to aid in any such restoration project. Face it, most of us don't have a neighbor that happens to have a clomplete and original Pagoda of the same vintage to look at. Alas, I find myself scrounging the web for images that reflect what I am looking for. I have seen John's Flickr website which he has kindly referred me to and have downloaded some of his pictures to help me...It would definitely be nice to have this resource available on this website, especially if the images could be grouped and categorized. Words can never describe a correct placement of wiring harnesses, clips, sticker, etc., as easily as a picture can.
I understand that bandwidth can an always will be an issue, but I too wonder if this is something that might be doable. I for one would gladly pay a few more $ to be able to do it here....
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I have seen John's Flickr website which he has kindly referred me to and have downloaded some of his pictures to help me...
Careful using my car as a reference, it's an early 250 SL. I would be happy to take any picture you'd like. Easier in the spring though, the car's kinda buttoned up now, at least until I can get one car out of the garage.
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Hi John,
I do see some differences, but your pictures from underneath are especially helpful to me. Not many differences there...
A high res. picture archive of similarities and differences, especially on the correct cars, would be wonderful addition to the website.
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When I upload pics I use Corel Draw X4 to resample the image, for no other reason than it is the soft ware that I learned years ago, back when resizing images was needed for most every web site. I still use it when I upload images because the automatic compression at most sites does a crummy job.
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Another way to turn a large (1.5MB) jpg into an uploadable (but still usable 62KB) jpg is to use PowerPoint.
1. Open a new, blank presentation
2. Insert picture (select the picture from a file)
3. Size it to fit the slide
4. Select Save As...
5. You will see a dialog box that says "save as type" with a pull down menu to the right of the dialog box. Find JPEG, select this and save the current slide.
6. Voila, your large jpeg has just been "resized"
The beauty of this is that in Powerpoint you can write notes, highlight areas of the picture, draw arrows etc.