Images Tips and Tricks

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Images Tips and Tricks

Post by PanBiker »

Upgrades to the site software and the gallery module has rendered some of the comments in this thread to be no longer relevant.

The thread was originally started in 2012 so I have brought the first post up to date to describe the current functionality.

16/09/2017


The gallery is a separate module to the site software and acts as a repository for images that can then be incorporated in posts.

I am no expert by any means but I will post what I have learned so far on the subject.

I have chosen my gallery image of Miss Mallard who seems to be turning into a bit of a star as she has already attracted 359 (a lot more now) views (who could resist), for demonstrating the various options and effects

Gallery

Here is where you can upload your images into the various categories within the gallery. Images in the gallery can be viewed, rated and commented on by other members of the site.

Images are held in the gallery in categories which are then divided into sub categories and then into sub-albums.

Images in the gallery can be viewed by navigating to the category and then in to the sub-album, clicking on the image or the title will bring up the image in the viewer.

The viewer mode has all the related information about the image. This includes the Image-URL, and the Image-BBCode. Other information available is when it was uploaded and by whom, the number of times it has been viewed and the rating (if it has been rated). At the bottom of the page there is a simple edit box to post comments on the image, (you can get the full editor by clicking the box below.)


Inserting into posts from the Gallery

Images from the gallery can be inserted into posts by copying the Image-URL string from the gallery and then using the Insert Image icon in the posting box to place the image into the post. This is the icon in the top bar of the post editor with the small mountain picture, if you put your mouse pointer on it it will show its function and usage. Clicking the icon will place the image insertion codes at your cursor position. Your cursor will be in the centre of the bracketed BBcodes. The easiest way to paste your previously copied Image-URL is to use the keyboard past combination of CTRL V. This will insert the string between the brackets, if you then press the END key on your keyboard, your cursor will move to the end of the line.

The site settings will automatically resize your photograph to a usable size for use within threads.

Image


Images imported as Attachments

Images can also be incorporated into posts by adding them as attachments to the post itself. You will see a tab below the posting box, clicking this will allow you to browse to an image file (or many other types of file) and attach it to the post. This will attach the file to the post, once attached other options will become available to place the file in the post. The file will be inserted in the post at the current position of the cursor. In the case of an image file it will be displayed as a scaled down version, clicking the image within the post will show a scaled up version.

What's up Duck.jpg

There are pro's and cons of using both methods, personally I prefer the Gallery as the images are available to all and can be commented on and rated. Uploading via the gallery also has the option to import more than one image at a time. The limit is currently set to 10, it can be changed in the admin console.

Adding them as attachments does not make them available to anyone other than the owner and only visible in the post itself or as a list of personal attachments in the user control panel which shows the owner how many times the attachment has been (in the case of an image) viewed. You cannot comment on the image other than replying in the topic, neither can you rate it. Ideal if you have an image that you want to put into a post but may not have a lot of merit as a stand alone image in the gallery. The attachment facility itself will allow a great number of different file types to be attached to posts, which is where it has the most use in my view.

I hope this may be useful, please add comments or post anything else you have found out about image manipulation on the site.
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by Stanley »

Good start! The only thing I would add is that I still use the sizing method I found worked on the old site. Put the image up in your on-board image viewer and size colour as 650pixels/whatever on longest size and 1000dpi for B&W. These sizes fit in topics nicely when you find them in the gallery, click on them for full size and copy that image location for inserting in the topic using the Image button. I have a OneGuy pics file and I save the edited image in there. Makes it easy to find the image using the 'browse' facility on the insert image menu and paste it into the box. Very quick and easy and by the way, if you are composing a reply and want an image, leaving the edit box to put one in the gallery doesn't lose your work. Once you have done it, right click on the navigation arrows at the top of the page and click on the topic you were editing. Takes you straight back to the edit and you can insert the image using the button.
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by Moh »

Double dutch to me !!
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by Tizer »

Ian, Thanks for the guide which is logically written - I wish someone would employ you to write all the manuals for gadgets etc that are sold nowadays - most of the manuals are ambiguous and undecipherable. But I can understand why Moh still finds it `double Dutch'. It's OK for someone like me who is more familiar with computers but still opaque for those who don't have that familiarity - no criticism of either Ian or Moh, it's just a fact of our rapidly changing lives! I suppose we need to outline one very simple method in as few words as possible for Moh.

But...I'm still unable to get a clickable, expandable Gallery image into my Winged Hero first post. I've got the image in the post as an attachment and I like the way it's a good-sized clickable thumbnail to give the bigger pic. The thumbnail itself is big enough to see what the image is. When I try to insert the image from the Gallery I get either an unclickable full-size image or an unclickable very small image. I've tried using various URLs for the image from the Gallery page, and inserting directly then putting between [ ] brackets with the image codes, and inserting via the Insert Image button. But all to no avail. I'm going to have to ask you to spell it out for me!
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by PanBiker »

Tiz, I think the top and bottom of it with the Gallery is that you have to resize the images before uploading to the site. There is no option to control the size between gallery and post. This is the same behaviour as on the old site. Find a a pixel width that works for your posts and run the images through an application that will resize. I use Irfanview which has a batch processing mode so you can do a whole bunch at once, very handy if you have a series of pictures to link a narrative. I know you can get it for Windows and Mac but not sure about Linux. There must be a similar application for your platform I would have thought.

I downloaded Gimp a few weeks ago which is another good application for image manipulation. Gimp can handle multiple layers and is ideal for tweaking animated gifs while retaining the animation. It got Stanley's avatar to wave again and Gloria's to dance the witchy jig. Both the links are for the Windows versions.

I suppose part of the problem nowadays is the fact that the resolution even of the small handy digital cameras is going onwards and upwards all the time. Shooting at full resolution (which we all tend to do because we can) will produce quite a large native image, so you have to do a bit of remedial work to make it web friendly. Resizing of course will also bring the size of the file down.

If you insert the the thumbnail version of the file using the BBCode album string, that will resize. Unfortunately the thumbnail size is a bit too small to really be of use in a post, it looks a bit like a postage stamp.
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by Tizer »

Ian, Sorry if I've misled you and caused you to have to write a long explanation but your first three paragraphs are not really relevant to my problem - on the other hand they will be very useful to other folk, so you certainly haven't wasted your time! :cool4:

I'm used to re-sizing images, it can be done very easily in Gthumb which is one of the standard Ubuntu packages but I also use Gimp a lot and it is excellent software. Have you tried the Perspective Tool under Tools | Transform Tools for correcting problems with perspective? I often photograph documents and things like museum boards and sometime they end up slightly out of perspective because I was standing to one side, or there is barrel distortion. The Tool can correct this very well and has saved ne discarding many of those photos.

My problem with the OG images is related more to your last paragraph. When I insert the thumbnail code I get the thumbnail image but it doesn't resize. I assume we are talking about the same code? I go to the `Images of Tizer' page, right click on the desired thumbnail, and click Copy Image Location (in Firefox). Now if I paste that directly into my post (as you advised in your first post here) all I get is a blue URL linked to a blank screen with a tiny thumbnail at top left. So I delete the pasted code in the post and instead click the Insert Image Icon (sun over mountain) and paste the same code into the dialog box and click OK (Submit?). Now I have the tiny thumbnail in the post - but it's not clickable, there's no spy glass mouse icon. I can't get it to do what the attachment route does for a clickable image.

Let's do it here:
First, paste straight in...
http://www.oneguyfrombarlick.co.uk/gall ... age_id=133

Second , via Insert Image...
Image

EDIT: After reading Ian's following post I came back to this one and tried what he suggests, i.e. inserting the `BBcode' which for this pic is the number 133 between two `album' on/off codes and found as described by Ian...
133

And, bingo, it works! Brilliant Ian, thanks so much. It's really so very easy, the problem was that I was looking for the usual kind of web address because I thought that was what was meant by `BBcode' (never heard of it until OG Mk.2 arrived here). It's a matter of learning where all these bits of code etc reside on the OG pages and there seem to be always multiple ways of doing things, which can be a benefit but can also make for slower learning if you take the wrong turning on the route.
Last edited by Tizer on 19 Feb 2012, 11:36, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by PanBiker »

Right Peter, your last paragraph. If you click on the title of the image it will open up with a full view giving all the relevant information about the image. You will see three boxes below the image at the left hand side. If you copy the contents of the Image BBCode box and paste that directly into the reply box you will get this:

I have taken the outer square brackets off so it will display

album]22[/album

22

Clicking on this should resize.

It is different to copying the actual thumbnail which I think is resized to a predetermined uniform size and is "as is".

The only problem I see here is that the version of the file displayed in the post is a bit on the small side.
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by Stanley »

Moh, don't worry, just send them to me like you've always done! The rest of you, brace up and get posting!
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by Tizer »

You've dragged me out into the clear light of day Ian! I've edited my post above to show the final version which clicks to give the full screen pic. I agree though that "...the thumbnail size is a bit too small to really be of use in a post.." but I guess we are stuck with that size of thumbnail. I can see me using attachments for one purpose and gallery for another. Most of the pics I put on OG I intend to be viewed in a descriptive post, so the attachment seems better because it gives a bigger and more useful thumbnail together with the expandable version, all done at once with the upload of my image, no extra tasks. If I wanted to upload a series of images then it would be quicker with the gallery, or if I wanted to simply put some pics onto OG and they didn't relate to a specific topic I could use the gallery. Of course, I might find the best route sometimes is to put an image in both ways! But then I'll be loading OG with duplicates.

I wasn't sure of what you meant by "Adding them as attachments does not make them available to anyone other than the owner". But they can be seen by other people in the post. Do you mean the file can't be copied?

Note to other readers. Please don't think I'm being critical of Ian in this discussion, he's doing a great job at sorting me out but I have to keep asking questions and it might come over as being hypercritical! :confused:
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by PanBiker »

I think what I should have said was maybe a little less versatile as attachments. Yes they are in your post (if you insert them) so you can view them and I suppose copy them but that's it. They cant be commented on except in the thread itself or rated or searched for. They are in your post and in the users control panel and not visible anywhere else on the site.

The Gallery on the other hand has all the bells and whistles, viewing, categorisation, a proper comment box, able to rate the image, URL code generation, Album code generation and the whole gallery searchable by the site search facility and I suppose Google and all the other bots on the planet.

Horses for courses really, both methods have pro's and con's depending on the end result you want. I know one thing it's all a lot easier and has a lot more functionality than offered by the previous platform on the old site.

I don't pick up on the hypocritical bit either Peter, sharing banter like this is how we all learn. Like I said at the start of the thread, I am no expert by any means but I have a vested interest as I use a lot of photo's in some of my posts and just like you I need to know what is the best way to get the result I need.
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by Tizer »

The banter should also aid any other folk out there who sometimes find it difficult to get their head around the image loading but who might be more shy at asking than I am!
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

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Stanley wrote:Moh, don't worry, just send them to me like you've always done! The rest of you, brace up and get posting!
Thanks Stanley.
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by Tizer »

I think the problem for some people is not in submitting a picture to OG but in making it the right size first. Even basic digital cameras create very large images now, though not everybody realises that because their computer probably re-sizes it temporarily for display. Does Microsoft Windows not come with a basic photo editor where it's easy to re-size photos?
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by Stanley »

If anyone hasn't got an image editor, just do a search for GIMP, look for the one that suits your operating system and download it. Doesn't take up a lot of room and dead easy to use. Very fast and powerful if you want to go further than routine adjustments.
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by Whyperion »

I am currently using paint.NET which seems to do all I need at the present time , might see if that has perspective and shake corrections as found some mobile pictures that didnt quite work - camera focus not quick enough for rapid changes. As far as OGFB concerned most pictures of mine irrelevant.
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by Tizer »

At last!! I've figured out why my photos where blanked out and unavailable to anyone except logged in members, and why I couldn't post them at the large sizes that I see Stanley and Ian etc posting photos. Typically, it turns out to be a simple explanation but wasn't simple to sort out. Basically, I've been daft and I've submitted my photos into personal albums instead of into the communal gallery. But in my favour I would plead that it's easy as a newcomer to this new forum software (and I was a newcomer like all of you some months ago) to start out the wrong way and then get trapped in that (wrong) method. Ian (PanBiker) quite rightly stated at the start of this topic, under the heading `Gallery': "Here is where you can upload your images into the various categories within the gallery. Images in the gallery can be viewed, rated and commented on by other members of the site. Images are held in the gallery in categories which are then divided into sub categories and then into sub-albums."

This is where I went wrong - because there are two different ways to enter Gallery. The correct way is by clicking on Gallery at the top of the page - it's in the line of links beginning with `Donate'. The way I first found the Gallery was in my User Control Panel - this link is also at the top of the page. So to post a photo I clicked on User Control Panel, then clicked the Gallery tab under `User CP', then `Manage Personal Albums', then `Upload Image'. All my photos had gone in to the Gallery this way. Also in these settings, I had `Allow users to comment on my personal images' set to `Yes' so I assumed that everyone should be able to view them. But not so. Now I'm going to have to re-post my images the correct way.

The proper Gallery method wasn't intuitive for me. When I started on this new forum I looked at it but didn't see anything to click that said `Post a photo' so I worked my way through the User CP and found that method - the wrong one. Now I know you have to go to Gallery, then click on a sub-forum in the Gallery, then you get a chance to post a pic. Ah well, live and learn, I guess it keeps my brain active!
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by PanBiker »

Glad you are sorted Tiz and have seen the error of your ways! :wink:
If you start posting in the gallery and need extra categories, drop a note in the site suggestions thread. The Gallery is not fully developed yet with it's categories so any suggestions would be welcome.
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by Tizer »

Thanks for the help Ian. I'll suggest some categories.
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by PanBiker »

Just been over into the Gallery and can see that you have made a start at transferring your images Tiz. Some have already had quite a few hits.
I was wondering if I could help out with any of my moderation tools but can't see a way of helping really. Good job that image manipulation is a lot easier in the new forum and that you are not too far in.
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by Tizer »

It's not too onerous Ian - the search function on the new OG software is excellent so I'll be able to trace the locations of my posted pics and replace them. It looks like whatever pixel size I submit they get displayed in posts at 600 pixels width which means I don't have to be very exact about sizing.

I wonder if anyone else fell into the same trap as I did, going into the Gallery the wrong way to post pics, and then perhaps abandoned it altogether? I seem to recall Belle posting one or two pics and them turning up with the big red cross and the `No authority sign'. It's certainly easy to post pics on here if you do it the right way! Could this thread be made into a `sticky' (if it isn't already one) and linked from elsewhere so that new members can find it more easily when they want to learn how to post? You and I are bumping it up at the moment and keeping it in view but otherwise it would soon disappear.
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by Whyperion »

There is a bit of a bug , don't know if it is fixable in the settings of the board software. In that posting the BBCode link to a gallery image in a forum topic will only give a link at most to the full image web address , but if won't take you as such to the gallery image which is only accessible through the gallery.

(Click on the image to get a bigger image as well and good , but you don't know anything about the image)

Point I am trying to get to is that the image information , name, where taken , dates etc are enterable in the gallery upload of the image , but they are only available for others to view if the Image Name is clicked whilst one is viewing in the gallery.

Is there a way of embedding under the image thumbnails the image name as well ?( other than using the web link image icon instead and linking back to the image web address , which rather necessitates the duplication of the entering of image information )
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by PanBiker »

The Gallery is a separate module to the board software in general. As I see it, the gallery is just that, an area for uploading, manipulating, commenting and viewing. The insert image widget again is just that, it does what it says on the tin, inserts a chosen image into your post. Whether further information from the gallery (if available) could be attached is a question for Doc. I will put the question in the admin threads. Personally I cant see it as an issue, pictures in posts normally carry some form of supporting text in the body of the post. If the post is just that of a picture you may just as well look at it in the gallery.
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by PanBiker »

Whyperion wrote:There is a bit of a bug , don't know if it is fixable in the settings of the board software. In that posting the BBCode link to a gallery image in a forum topic will only give a link at most to the full image web address , but if won't take you as such to the gallery image which is only accessible through the gallery.
I have re-read your post and in addition to my reply above I would add the following. The behavior of using the Image BBCode is a product of how the board software is designed to operate and not a bug as such.

I have asked Doc to take a look at the thread and you query regarding image information when inserting in posts.
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by Stanley »

Why make something more complicated when it's working so well? What's wrong with just clicking on an image in the gallery? I think Doc has bigger fish to fry......
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Re: Images Tips and Tricks

Post by Whyperion »

It was more of a comment that in this modern wonder age when computers are supposed to save us time and do all the boring work for us the Forum and the Gallery would be a bit more joined up and easy to use as one item. To look at stuff in detail in the gallery is not too onerous at the present time with limited numbers of pictures, but mostly one is drawn to the knowledge of existence of the pictures by means of the forum section mentioning something. Yes it is an issue mainly with the board software developers but I wondered if anyone knew of a means of getting the thumbnail with automated notes into the forum post.

An example would be in the forgotten corners thread PostAuthor: Stanley » Thu Jul 19, 2012 5:48 am , ( thats another thing I miss , the post #s in threads ) , which was the only picture that did not have a strapline of location and date , such information was on the gallery picture tags but it was only by an inordinate amount of digging that I found the image album , number and then detail entered.
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