Introduction
Adding a photo to your forum post is really quite easy. First, some basic facts. To display a photo on the forum, you need to upload your photo(s) from your computer to the Internet. Photos are saved from your digital camera to a folder somewhere on your computer, so you need to be familiar with where they are stored. Photos are technically referred to as image files. Each image file has a unique name followed by a default image extension. For example, an image file from your camera might be labeled: HP0123.jpg The first part, "HP0123" is the file name, and ".jpg" is the extension. The extension represents a recognized image file type used on the Internet, and ".jpg" (also ".jpeg") is the preferred image file type for larger photos because the overall byte size will be smaller. (see PART II - Image Resizing)
There are 2 main options available for uploading photos to the Internet from your computer. You can upload them directly to the PalmTalk forum, or you can upload them to a commercial image host website, such as "Photobucket.com" and add the required image code manually.
Which option is best for me?
Option A
Uploading photos to the PalmTalk forum.
When you upload photos directly to the forum, images are displayed as "thumbnails" in your post. A "thumbnail" is a reduced-size version of your original photo. When you click on a thumbnail it opens the image to it's full size in a new window, similar to a popup window.
A few Pro's & Con's of using this method:
Pro's
It's quicker to do, and simpler for novice users.
Thumbnails load faster.
Reading captions is easier.
Con's
Image file size restrictions mean you may need to resize your photos first. (see PART II - Image Resizing)
Option B
Uploading photos using an external image host such as, "Photobucket.com".
When you use an external host, your posted photos will appear on the forum at their full size. Many people prefer this, because it adds impact, and saves having to, "click to enlarge" a photo.
A few Pro's & Con's of using this method:
Pro's
There are less restrictions on individual file size (byte size).
Images can be resized dimensionally as you upload them.
Con's
Requires that you create an account and log into another website (a bigger learning curve if you're just starting out).
If your image host account is closed for any reason, your photos will be lost from your forum posts.
UPLOADING A PHOTO - OPTION A (PalmTalk-hosted)
Once you have composed your post, you need only to take a look on your computer for the photo(s) you want to add.
To do this, click the "Browse" button and select your photos one at a time from your computer, and click UPLOAD (see fig. 1).
(fig. 1)
Remember, that as an IPS member, there is a 2 mb (2000kb) size limit per post, but if you need to add more photos, simply reply to your own post and start uploading again with more captions! (If you are forum member only, the upload limit is 250kb per post.) After you upload the first photo, look to the left of the screen where it says: "Select a file" and "Attachment space used:". This will reveal the file size of your first photo, and show you the remaining space available for additional photos for that post. If your image files are 250kb or smaller, then you will always be guaranteed 2 photos per post as an IPS member.
Next..
Your photo(s) will now be available to post from the forum server. On the left of your screen is shown the status of the images you where uploading. If done correctly, there will be a green "check" icon and the message displayed:
"Upload successful and is available from the 'Manage Current Attachments' menu".
(fig. 2a)
The drop box above the UPLOAD button shows the photo(s) you have uploaded, as revealed in the mini "drop-menu" (see fig. 2a above). To insert the desired photo into your post, first point your mouse to the message text area, and click to show the cursor where you want the photo to appear. Now, from the mini "drop-menu" click on a green icon to the left, or the file name itself, of the photo you are posting. This will add a snippet of code to your post to display the photo. Photos can now be viewed when you click "Preview" to check the layout of your post. To add a caption, simply move the image code down a line, click directly on the line above, and enter a caption. There is no text limit to the caption, as it is simply an extension of your main message text. In fig. 2b below, you can see the image codes with captions in place.
(fig. 2b)
Note:The middle icon (RED) in the mini "drop-menu" will activate a popup box asking if you wish to delete your photo. Remember this feature if you upload photos that you decide not to post (in error, for example) because deleting unwanted images removes them from the server, thus saving space.
UPLOADING A PHOTO - OPTION B (Third-party host)
You will need to find a preferred picture hosting service. Photobucket (www.photobucket.com) is a great place to host and keep your pictures in an album for posting on the Internet. Follow the steps for registering, and you will soon have a virtual album for all of your photos.
To host a photo on Photobucket, you will need to upload the picture first. This is taking an image file from your computer as mentioned already, and placing a copy of it on the Internet in your Photobucket album. You will see that at the top of your album screen, there is a place that says "Browse" with an upload button. Here you can browse your album, and when you have found the picture you want to upload, click "Upload". It will then copy the picture and you will see it in your album.
Below each picture, there will be three rows of code - url, http, and img. If you want to post a link to a picture, you can copy and paste the "url" code onto a post. This is nice way to show someone a huge picture without having everyone see it on the screen. Some people have 56K modems and it can take a while for a large photo to download. The code that you use to post hosted photos on this site is the IMG code. If you copy and paste this code into the post, the photo will show up in your post.
To create an account with Photobucket click HERE and follow the on-screen instructions to set up your free account.
PART II - IMAGE RESIZING
What is image resizing?
The image size refers to the file size of your image, which is governed (though not exclusively) by the dimensional size of the image. The file size is measured in bytes (see below) where 1 kb (kilobyte) equals 1000 bytes.
* kilo (k)* = 10 ^ 3 = 1,000 thousand
* mega (M) = 10 ^ 6 = 1,000,000 million
* giga (G) = 10 ^ 9 = 1,000,000,000 billion
* tera (T) = 10 ^ 12 = 1,000,000,000,000 trillion
What are the PalmTalk forum upload limits?
500 kb for IPS members, and 250 kb for Forum members.
How do I resize an image?
Using an image manipulation "tool" or software program on your computer that can reduce the dimensional size of your photo in order to decrease the file size. Everyone has their favorite program, but if you don't use one or are unsure, you can download a free program such as IrfanView. It works on a variety of Operating Systems and is "no-frills", free software that won't bug your computer.
How small do I need to make my photos to fall within the file upload size limit?
It varies. The dimensional size of your photo - i.e. width x height is determined by your camera's manual settings and is measured in pixels ( 37.79 pixels = 1cm). Using image manipulation software it is possible to reduce the file size not only by making the image dimensionally smaller, but also by tweaking the image quality when saving the file, without drastically reducing the dimensional size, and without any discernible loss in quality. As a guideline, most image files with a standard dimension of 800 x 600 pixels or smaller, will fall within 500 kb in file size, and with some tweaking using IrfanView or a similar tool, can easily be resized to under 200 kb. It's really down to experimentation. With many image editors for example, just opening an image file on your desktop taken straight from your camera, and saving it without reducing it dimensionally can save more than a few bytes in file size.
What is the best image file extension to use for photos?
JPEG(jpg) is by far the best format for photos and will give you the smallest filesize for larger images. There are others image file types; for example, GIF, TIF and PNG but these are usually reserved for high quality artwork or for when you need to use transparency. Use JPEG and experiment with the quality setting on your image editor to achieve the optimum dimensional size with the most acceptable image quality.
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