Greetings Karl,

I did a quick scan of help topics but I'm a writer not a computer wizard, so my question is this: I note that it's possible to include pix, cartoons etc. within a post, so how is it done?

I often get jokes, cartoons and banners with an anti-feminist message from around the world. I know how to save them in various formats but how do I insert them into a post?

How about video clips? I've sent to AH via attachments to e-mail but that's not an option for the board. Tips appreciated. I'm an old(ish) dog eager for new tricks, if it will help the cause.

BTW we have many mutual friends under various guises. It's coming together.

Thanks in advance,

Yan Yan

Hi Yan Yan,

If you after purely the code to insert an image, use this format:
[img]http://the-address-of/the-image.jpg[/img ]

For example, to show my signature - i use this code:


If you're asking how to put a picture online so it can be viewed, there are many ways to do what you're enquiring of.

You can either email to myself (pm me and i'll reveal my email to you), or you can sign up with one of those 'free picture hosts', like photobucket or imageshack. There is a way of cheating it, too, but you'd need to know a little of computers to do that, so for now, we'll avoid that direction.

Alternatively, if you'd be willing to make a small (or large would be good too LOL) donation to the upkeep of the site/forum, i could give you your own ftp space. ftp (File Transfer Protocol) allows you to upload your own files (music, word documents, web pages, images, etc.) to your own space (which would be unlimited space). Naturally, i'd be able to walk you through the entire process. This is sounding like a sales-pitch now, isn't it? LOL. It's not meant to sound like that, but this is one option and in my humble opinion, the best of all option.

Although imageshack & photobucket are free services, they also require you to link back to their site each time you use one of their images (or upload your own image, and link to it). So for one, they require HTML or phpbb-html - with linkbacks - to be used, and secondly they limit your space and bandwidth. ie. if too many people view (not download or edit at all, just seeing it on screen is enough) your image, they add to the bandwidth used... if you exceed your bandwidth - they replace your image with an advertisement for their site. Secondly, they limit the space available - you only get so many images allowance, and then your stumped. Using my ftp idea, you're not limited to linking back to me in anyway, you're not limited in bandwidth terms - it's infinite, and there are no web-space restrictions either, so you can add more, and more and more. Finally, you can use the ftp on ANY site you visit. So, for example, you could post a picture here and you could also post that same image, or any other image, to any other board, webspace, blog, etc. you want. iow, this webspace (ftp) would give you entire freedom of use & application, whereas the free ones are free in monetary terms, but very restrictive in application.

As an example of usage...

My signature, gratitude to AnderX for the design, uses an image stored on my own webspace, which i used ftp to upload it with. Each time someone reads my posts they're adding to the bandwidth used. If you then account that some threads have mulitple posts from one persons, lets pretend three posts in one page for this scenario, then effectively that same image has been seen three times, even if only one of my posts was read. However, using my own space, there is no bandwidth restriction - so it can be read by an infinate amount of users - and not one of them will ever see it replaced by an advert. Not only that, but i've edited my signature on other boards to use the same banner, so: this one image is being used in multiple boards, seen by thousands of users across the internet, and they'll always see the same image time after time. Had i used a free service, it would get seen by the first however-many users, and then everyone thereafter would see only an advertisement (with a link to their site) for photobucket, imageshack or similar.

Karl,
Many thanks for the plentiful information. I'll experiment when I'm compus mentis.

If all else fails we have a socially-dysfunctional ex-pat Australian in the company. He'll put me right.

Best regards,

Yan Yan

LOL, I haven't experienced too much limitation with how many images you can put at a free site ..and rarely link back for individual forum posting. I do link all the services I use in the sidebar of my blog though. But the biggest thing to remember if that for larger images - they will give you a "thumbnail image link" with a wrap-around "url tag" back to their site to see the full sized image. In that situation, it is really important to use the thumbnail. Here's what that really looks like.. Click to the full picture...
The free services hate forum posters who don't use thumbnails and will ban entire forums from using their service. ImageShack perma-banned a Stern fan forum for "size abuse." They also spot check uploads for porn content. Also if no one clicks to your picture for a year, they delete it.

Free Sites I use...

ImageShack.com (both registered and unregistered usage) - If you don't register, you've got to copy the links they give you into a text file when they give it to you - or you'll never be able to find it again. ImageShack is the only one I know of that allows "transloading" - taking a pictute link you see at a website and loading it directly to the picture hosting site (Many graphics sites don't mind you using their pictures - they just don't want you hotlinking to it at their site).

TinyPic.com - No registration. They resize large pictures to a size they can handle, but if you still want to use their "thumbnail" it is a " _th" added just before the .jpg in the link. Can only load images one at a time.

ImageVenue.com - No registration required. They only allow the thumbnail link to show. ImageVenue does not allow moving images (.gif). They allow you to upload a lot of images at once.

ImageThrust.com - Both registered and unregistered use allowed. Like ImageVenue, you can upload multiple pictures at the same time..

Photobucket requires registration, I think.

There are probably more, but these should hold you. Whichever you use, keep track of your links when they give them.

This will be deserving of it's own thread - soon enough.
For the meantime, let it be known i've been pottering around seeking a useful tool for the website.

Use this link:

http://forum.mathews.me.uk/uploads

to upload ANY images you want. Once uploaded it offers the following codes which can be directly copied & pasted to your own posts, blogs or whatever takes your fancy.

options covered:

• URL
  URL Direct link
  HTML
  BB Code (i.e. this & other forums)

I really hope you folks can make use of this - it's taken me ages to locate it & install so you'd better all make it worth my while

And yes, it can be used for off-site image hosting too. I don't mind - but if you DO choose to use it off site, i'd appreciate you use the URL link (as oppose the URL Direct) - OR offer a link back to the forum - either which way is good...

Karl, good job on the thumbnail linking option for larger images instead of people having to figure it out. People can use thumbs with a link back when posting elsewhere. Here is the image I uploaded (Note that this site no longer exists. Several people at MND were looking into it a couple of years ago. It turned out to be more of a gateway to channel people to another forum to write S&M stories than true man hating, but apparently yahoo dumped them eventually anyway)...

Click this link to see the thread explaining, step by step, how to use the image uploader.

And TerryGale, thank you kindly for test driving it (feel welcome to use it on your forums/blogs).

Hope it's helpful