Prompted by RWM’s post on another thread, I’m asking for some help and instructions on the above.
I’ve tried using the 'Insert/edit image" function at the tree icon in the toolbar above, but it always freezes up and never works for me.
There doesn’t seem to be any instructions anyplace on this website. There is a place on another Forum here for such things, but that Forum seems to suffer from a lack of attention, so that’s why I’m posting here instead.
I recall that someone - Larry/ tree68, perhaps - either posted or had a link to instructions a year or two ago, but I can’t seem to find it lately.
Any help or insight will be greatly appreciated, not only by me but others who would like to share photos, too.
Ed, I can’t answer Paul’s question, but you do need a web based photo storage site. I think the only picture that can be posted from your computer is the one for your avatar.
To post an image in a text box here, you must provide this server with a URL and proper tags to retrieve the file. That means it must be accessible 24/7. For that purpose, the best solution is to register for a free account at any number of webhosts, photobucket being one of them.
Once you are logged in to photobucket (for example), you upload images directly from your computer. When they are labelled and you see them on your gallery page, you can place your cursor on them and drag it down to the drop down menu that appears. Slide down to the bottom option, the one that says “img tags” or something similar. Right click and save, close out, come here to your text box, and paste. When you post your comment, the image will have been retrieved by our server here and will appear as you intended.
Posting a picture is easy, once you find a place to host your image. I have my own webspace (for a small annual fee - you can do that too, and have your own website if you’re so inclined), so I host my own images. Pretty much any photo site will do.
If you end up hosting your own images, be sure to reduce them to a managable size. I usually keep my images down to a width of 800 pixels, using a photo editor, before I upload them.
Inserting an image is easy, using the IMG tags. I’ll do an example, using the wrong brackets, so you can see it. The correct brackets are [ and ].
Since there is no direct economic incentive for Kalmbach (and I suppose other reasons too, possibly including legal), it is not surprising there is no mechanism for them to host forum photos, nor for them to explain in easily found and accessible places HOW to post photos. (That is why Paul found it necessary to start this thread in the first place.)
So, to have photos included in our posts at the trains.com website, we have to go to non-Kalmbach host outfits, such as photobucket.com, where the above photo can be found. But, such outfits only offer FREE limited space. So, posted photos aren’t permanent, but will only last as long as the poster has no need to free up space for other photos. Thus, we peruse through back posts, and find posts with photo(s) absent.
Paul’s intelligent thread question unwittingly shows up what may or may not ever be altered at Kalmbach, i.e., the lack of permanence to forum photos AND the lack of DIRECT economic incentive to have such. But, that is only my opinion.
To directly address Paul’s question … the above posters said it correctly: Just include a hosted photo’s IMG line in the post composition.
One of the forums I post on allows a direct upload, but there’s never any space on the server. So I post pictures there the same way I do here - with the IMG tag.
Like I said before - ours is a photo heavy hobby. And even though storage is getting cheaper, we’d still be burning a lot of it up.
In a previous incarnation of this forum there was a resource that did list the forum coding. It would be nice to see that back. I don’t profess to be an expert on it - but a lot of what I know now came from that resource and the similarity of forum code with HTML. I wouldn’t want to clutter the top of the forum with a permanent sticky, though, so it would have to be added somewhere else.
OK, so now I’m going to give this a try, with a Sept. 2004 photo of 2 BNSF trains meeting at speed on the north bank of the Columbia River about halfway between the Bridge of the Gods and Mt. Hood:
Using the ‘‘Insert/ edit Image’’ function [‘tree’ icon] above -
…Does seem a bit strange that well qualified personnel on the computer even seem to have problems inserting photos on here…Why does it have to be so mystifying…I gave up trying to do so a long time ago.
I’m comfortable around the computer, but no geek by any means…
It has not been an issue with me since about a week after joining the fora here five years ago. Someone described the steps I outlined above to me, I acted appropriately, and have never looked back.
It sometimes is the case that one’s choice of browser and its settings, and how they interface with the server here, gives people fits, and not just with inserting images. Often their text gets mangled or de-formatted when it appears.
If you use the img tags and square brackets, and use a webhost such as photobucket or railimages, etc, the gross majority of users get full service out of the procedures.
Two things I’ve noticed, this link is “active” in Paul’s last post (is it supposed to be?) and the link is to Paul’s “album” page not a page with only the picture and nothing else.
I’ve found that the forum software will auto-format an HTML link. Thus it is necessary to insert images in the following order:
Highlight and copy the desired link (see note after the picture!).
Type the opening IMG tag.
Place the cursor after the closing bracket of said tag (]).
Paste the URL.
Enter the closing IMG tag (with the slash).
On the face of it, your attempt is correct, but because the forum software auto-formatted your image as a link, the underlying HTML code is corrupted. So much so that I couldn’t even quote your post. Not your fault - call it a glitch.
Here’s your image:
One technique I often use to capture the URL for a given image is to have the image up on my browser, right click on the image, then select “properties.” The window that opens will contain the actual URL of the image (it may not all fit on the two lines displayed, but it’ll all be there). Highlight the entire URL, right click and copy it, then paste it as above. That’s what I finally had to do to get the image above posted. I could open the link to your page just fine, but I couldn’t get
What I would suggest you do, Paul, is to save your image URL, come back here, and type both tags. Then, place your cursor between them and paste. That process will definitely not let windows explorer change it to an active URL except as an image link that the server will ‘get’.
I have had success doing it as Larry describes above, too.
Love the topography and view in that image. My kind of place.
Thanks, tree, I didn’t know about the “properties” way. I use Firefox and right clicking on a picture gives me the option to “View Image.” That will give me a page with the picture only and it’s address in the “Navigation Toolbar.” The “properties” way is faster, especially on my dial-up connection! [;)]
From the site where I have my pictures stored, I click on “properties” for the picture I want to move, then copy and paste this portion of the URL for the picture:
On the index page showing all the forums at trains.com, under the heading “Discusssions”, is an orange coloured font, in caps, showing “FAQ”. How to post images is covered in that section.
I do agree with you that it could be plainer, and should appear on all forum main pages in addition to the index page, where is exists solely.
