posting pics

[ljg]

I have just attempted to post a few pics of my 14,000 mile 280 SL.  I was unable to successfully post the data.  Any ideas?
Thanks,
ljg

[Peter van Es]

Please refer to:

http://www.sl113.org/FAQ/items/FAQ-Images.html

and the help section on the forum

http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?action=help;page=post#attachments

Peter

[Ulf]

I short - all files above 256k needs scaling down :-)

Ulf

[thelews]

This site is not pic posting friendly compared to almost all others.

[Peter van Es]

John...

I've gone over the rationale before... we're not a photo site, and shall never be as easy to use as Flickr or Picasa. And I have to keep other concerns than just ease-of-use in mind.

• people find it annoying if they have to scroll the site horizontally when pictures are uploaded
• we still have some people (most notably regular contributors ja17 and Benz Dr) who access the site via dial-up lines. They are not pleased with very large pictures
• recent events with the web-site hosting have shown again that back-ups, kept away from the hoster are essential.  I now make nightly, complete backups. If we have hundreds of multi-megabyte photographs, my private internet line would be fully occupied with this nightly process. I'm not willing to do that.
• since we moved the site, I now have much more space for photographs... however, I do not want to make the room unlimited. Most people here (with a few exceptions) are able to create excellent quality downsampled images that fit within 256K. So, assuming that I want to increase the size, what do I limit it to?
• Most camera's now produce 4-8MB jpegs which are far too large for viewing on the screen...
• If we limit the size, (1024x768 max) or the space at anything less than 4MB, most people would still have to do some post processing on their pictures before they can be uploaded. In other words, you still have to do something to your photographs before you can upload them here, so the upload process is not going to be much easier.

So having said that, at what limit (dimensions, size) would people want to limit the photographs?

Peter

[thelews]

I don't know, almost all other sites I view seem to have no problem...they offer thumbnails for loading, picture viewer for viewing and automatic image resizers while still allowing the viewer to see the original size pic if they want.  Also, the same picture of the same name cannot be posted more than once on this site, very annoying.  

we're not a photo site, and shall never be as easy to use as Flickr or Picasa

That may be true, but pictures are invaluable on a site like this, the old adage is very true.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about...

http://forums.190slgroup.com/showthread.php?5773-fuel-sending-unit&p=57386&viewfull=1#post57386

[Earl Barrett]

I must agree, posting pictures is not as simple as I would like for it to be.  There must be a better way to do this.  I also admit that I am not as smart with  modern technology as I would like to be. Any help that anyone has to offer would be great.  A picture is worth a thousand words. Love the communication that we share.

Earl Barrett

[Jordan]

I also agree.  I am not as mechanically inclined with cars as most so for me pictures are worth 10000 words.  This site has been invaluable to me for helping sort out problems and it has been the pictures that have provided the greatest assitance.  In many cases I do not know the name of a part or where to find it if I do so pictures do the job.  I understand where Peter is coming from because I downsize pictures when I e-mail them because they are so large.  Perhaps there can be a link on the home page and tech manual start page that takes one to where it is explained how to downsize a picture rather than having to do a search.  Maybe have a large button with "HOW TO POST PICTURES".  It should also be stated up front the maximum size.  I am just throwing out an idea.  I would love to see more pictures.
Cheers
Marcus

[badali]

Here is what I do to post a picture.
1. I right click the image I want to post and click "send to"  "mail recipient."  (This gives the option to make the image smaller)
2. Pick size 800x600 or smaller.  (An email message with the attached picture will open on your screen)
3. Drag the picture from your new message to the desk top then close the message to get it out of the way.
4. Click "additional options on the page where you are typing your message. (browse box will appear)
5. Click browse.  (window will open, with dropdown, pick desktop)
6. Double Click on the picture and it will show a link in the box left of "browse"
7. Then hit post and it will show on the posting.

This picture was reduced to 68.4KB from 937KB using this method

I can do the process in about a minute now.
Brad

[Peter van Es]

Thanks, Badali, for the explanation of how you do it. It's how I do it too.

Given the large number of pictures on the site, most people have no problem dealing with it.

John, even though you keep asking for simpler / better photo functionality, you fail to address or acknowledge my issues as listed below. I'll give you some more to think about:

• The 190 SL system use the vBulletin board system. When we wanted to move away from the old ASP based system over 2 years ago, we had over 40,000 posts and many uploads. Moving to the vBulletin board was not possible… there were no converters for that, meaning that we would have lost all of that valuable content.
  
• The board decided to use the SMF system, at my recommendation, for which converters were available that allowed us to keep all the old messages, posts and attachments. The vBulletin might have offered better picture functionality, but we would have lost all previous content.
• In choosing the SMF system, another reason for doing that was because SMF was open source. It allowed me to write software to deal with our Full Membership subscription system, that has since ensured that our membership numbers have tripled, because of the ease of joining, renewing and the reminder system. In vBulletin the licensing would not allow me to develop such a membership system.
  
• Switching from the current system to a new system would require lots of effort, and writing converters to take our current contents across, and redeveloping the membership system. Since I've done all of these things free of charge, spending hundreds of hours on this, I am not keen to do it again. Additionally, I have much less spare time now, and will not embark on such an undertaking.
  

So John, if you'd like to improve the system you are welcome to volunteer to do it yourself, or alternatively, accept graciously what I have provided to the group free of charge.

Peter

[thelews]

Peter, I don't care to do anything with regard to the system.  I'm just a member, and that's as far as I'll go here.  

It's a simple fact, this board is difficult for posting pics, more than almost any other.  Nobody should have to go through the hoops Brad outlined to post valuable pictures.  

The whys and hows of how this board's arcane picture posting came to be is irrelevant.  It sucks.  It's your board, you do what you want with constructive criticism.

[Ulf]

Usually the easiest way of reducing the file size of a photo is to open it on your desktop, then press "save as" - usually you will have the option to reduce the size, just remember to call it something different from the original. Otherwise, just place the photo elsewhere on the web and link to it from your message. I agree that this is not a photo page, but I also agree that a photo often explains a lot more than a description. ;-)

[Bernd]

Peter, I appreciate your effort to explain to us laypersons why it is that the SL group chooses to do things this way, but am completely with John in this topic. A picture is worth a thousand words. I would rather look at pictures of some detail than have a mental m....ion session about a topic I am interested in. It's cumbersome at times to read through lengthy postings that often get sidetracked.
As to what the site is, it doesn't really matter..everyone here that pays for a membership has a specific motive behind their raison d'etre.  I personally would greatly appreciate it if the site was more picture friendly.

[Ulf]

If it is any consolation - I'm a frequent user of both a Land Rover and BMW 5-series forum, and both are much more clumsy and user-unfriendly than this. I actually think this platform - although a little old-school - works pretty well and I'm really happy to be here :-)

[Peter van Es]

If you follow the instructions (http://www.sl113.org/FAQ/items/FAQ-Images.html) and take a little care, it's not too hard to upload pictures. Click on Additional Options below the message and Choose to Attach files.

To be kind to fellow forum users, limit picture size to 800x600 pixels.

I've relaxed the uploading sizes... to 1MB per picture and 4MB per post...(which I may regret later) however, for most camera's that still means changing the size somewhat. However, most posters have had no problem uploading perfectly good, detailed 256K pictures to this site.

Peter