Posting Pictures 101

HawksGoalie33 · Pro Joined: 21 Apr 2008 Posts: 566

Since I have been browsing the forums for about 30 minutes and have seen a fair amount of new posts about how to post pictures I figured I would go ahead and make a step-by-step, from start to finish, tutorial to hopefully become and sticky and relieve the situation. Here goes...

Posting Pictures 101

The Pictures
1- Take the pictures you want to post
2- Scan them onto your computer, or upload them via the cable/USB port or SD card reader your computer.
3- Save them to the desired folder and remember how they are labeled.
4- As virgin images are usually a gigantic size it is a good idea to resize them. You can do this by using a photo or image editing program (paint, photoshop, image ready, etc. etc.) Image sizes of 500w x 375h (or visa versa) are usually best for forum posting as they are large enough to allow the reader to see the image in detail but not so large they have to scroll to see the whole image. It is also friendly to forums as many restrict image sizes.

The Hosting
In order to have your pictures viewable by those on the forums you need to first upload them to a file sharing service. The most popular are listed below:

Photobucket - http://photobucket.com/ My personal choice, requires free account registration
Imageshack - http://imageshack.us/
Screenshots.cc* - http://www.screenshots.cc/

*screenshots has changed the design setup of their website recently. The links they give you automatically shrink your images to thumbnail size. You can still achieve full sized images if you play with the coding a little. Imageshack and Photobucket are both easier to use and allow for thumbnails if desired. Use Photobucket if you upload frequently or want access to the images later for future postings as they are stored for you.

To upload your images click one of the above links and follow the steps below:

For photobucket you will need to create an account, it is free to do this. Once that is done you will see a button in the center of the screen to unload images and videos. Click this button, navigate your computer files to find the picture you want to upload (which is why you must remember what you named it and where you saved it) and click upload. Once it has uploaded your picture click 'save and continue'. The site will automatically direct you back to your main album(s) where you will copy and paste the link information.

For imageshack and screenshots.cc you do not need an account. Once you click the above links you will see the option to immediately begin hosting images. From here the process is the same as photobucket. Click this button, navigate your computer files to find the picture you want to upload (which is why you must remember what you named it and where you saved it) and click upload.

Once the image has been uploaded you will get a url that links to the picture. Some sites give you a simple link to that image and some sites give you multiple options of coding (to use in forums, website coding, or emails). For the purposes of posting on forums you will need either the direct image link, or the forum image link

The Posting
Now that you have the image uploaded and the link you need to create your post and show off your picture.

First, you will need to begin your post. Once you get to the point that you want the image to appear you will need that link that you copied from the image hosting website (if you have not copied the link do so now).

direct image link : begin by either typing [img] or clicking the "Img" button found under the Subject bar on the forum page (next to the bold and italic buttons). Now paste your link. Next you need to close the image tag by typing [/img] or by again clicking the "Img" button.

forum image link : some image hosting sites provide the [img] tag for you in the link. If this is the case you will only need to paste the link.

The Finishing Touches
Now that your image is uploaded and you have posted the needed information into the forum message fields you need only to finish writing your message and click submit (or preview if want to check it before it goes out, which I would recommend as you always catch something you mis-spelled).

Thats it! I hope this has helped guide you through the process of posting images. If you have questions please feel free to ask. I will try and address them the best I can and amend the above tutorial to answer future questions of the same nature.

Good luck.

The Signature Image
If you would like to add your newly uploaded image into your signature the steps are really very simple.
1- At the top of this page click the profile option (you might want to do this in a separate tab or window to continue viewing instructions).
2- Locate the signature field...about half way down the page you will see the field to enter your signature.
3- In this space simply past the [img]http://link.com[/img] code from the image uploading site you chose.
4- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click submit.
From now on every post you make will be followed by this image. Again, I would suggest resizing your image to the above sizes or smaller. Large images in signatures can cause the pages to load slowly for you and other viewers, not to mention taking up a lot of bandwidth and space on the site.[/i]
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gimbo726 · Pro Joined: 15 Jan 2008 Posts: 984 Location: Dallas, Texas

Awesome, I was considering making a thread like this.

Thanks Hawks Very Happy

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canadian_man_44 · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 5:23 am Post subject:

There......it is now a sticky.
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HawksGoalie33 · Pro Joined: 21 Apr 2008 Posts: 566

ty
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you're only as good as your last save

puckstopper35 · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 6:44 pm Post subject:

Awesome

Wish this had been there when I first joined, instead of forcing me to run around getting people to teach me how to post pictures... Laughing

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<.3

saskgoalie · Minors Joined: 06 May 2008 Posts: 217 Location: canada

Thanks i finally leared how to put pictures on. but just one thing, is there a way to keep a picture on all ur posts??

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HawksGoalie33 · Pro Joined: 21 Apr 2008 Posts: 566

you mean like puckstopper has in the post above you?

You would put your image in your signature... at the top go to profile... towards the bottom you will see the field for signature... in the open box to the right put the [img]http://link.com[/img] and click submit... then it will appear after every post you make.
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you're only as good as your last save

saskgoalie · Minors Joined: 06 May 2008 Posts: 217 Location: canada

thanks hg

HawksGoalie33 · Pro Joined: 21 Apr 2008 Posts: 566

np, glad it helped.
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you're only as good as your last save