Stovebolt.com Forums The Back Office IT Short Bus Pictures in the forums ... instructions

I know this has been around awhile. Tiny started a thread back in 2015 and it became a "sticky."

These are step-by-step instructions in PDF download (with screen shots ... my favorite) for uploading an image in the forums. It is a one-page PDF -- well worth printing and keeping.

Tiny's post said: "It is now possible to post images in the technical forums and the Swap Meet area. Images can be no larger than 300KB and no more than five per post. Click the link below for the How To. If you have questions about how to resize images post it in the 'Bus."

That limitation has changed. The only place you can't post pix is in Spoon and Private Messages.

Also, important to know (it was for me): the picture comes from your computer or device. Doesn't have to be "up there somewhere" like the links are.





Edited by PM, May 10, 2023: Khansen added this information for us. Very helpful:

So here's a screen capture video I put together for posting photos with captions. Just follow the pointer. POSTING A PICTURE WITH A CAPTION [flickr.com]

More and more folks are beginning to realize how easy it is to post photos to their threads/posts, making it easier on us visual types to try and help them out. Even this 75yo non-Tech guy can do it. Just don’t ask me to post links.

I, too, and a visual learner. At 72, I must have serious brain foggy. Plus, words. Use the right word if possible. That helps a lot with the dog and kids. THAT I know.

I certainly am stoked to do this. First one was to add Barry's pix and remove all the ones I had on the server.

I *will* try to control myself.

Or not.

I use the free "Post Image" host to post photos anywhere. For the first year posts were accompanied by shapely ladies in very warm weather outfits but now it is family friendly.

There are a few issues associated with linking photos, as we the forum, have learned in the past. They disappear if the host changes their policies. In that case, all of the photos that accompanied a very detailed post, may someday be gone, losing all of that knowledge that you brought to the forum. A picture tells a thousand words. Thus the reason the forum now allows photos within the post.

The other issue, is the photos take much more time to load so they can be viewed. In many cases you can view only one at a time so you have to go thru the loading process again. Imbedded pictures, up to five, are there, while you reading the post.

I would however like to see the accompanying clothing models in the former pictures. Did I say that! Sorry, it is a family friendly site. Shame on me!

I think the stumbling block for posting photos is not in our instructions but in the stubbornness of the users. “I’ve always done it this way and I’m not going to change”.

The old instructions required posting links and in certain places on the site those instructions are still there. New members who actually take the time to read through the instructions and guidelines think they NEED to use links. Even when guided to our new instructions in the left margin of every page, they refuse to change.

Member “coilover” is a good example and since he responded to this thread I’ll pick on him. He has always used a photo hosting site and he is happy with the results so in spite of being asked to use the new program, outside of The Greasy Spoon, he still uses his old way.

Five minutes worth of experimenting and the new instructions become clear and much easier than switching back and forth between sites.

Those using cell phones as their primary computer don’t generally see the left margin of every page so they are fighting an uphill battle right off.

It is so much nicer when reading a post and the referenced pictures are right there to look at. Plus, a lot of us don’t trust some of these hosting site and won’t click on them.

As for photos directly in the Greasy Spoon, no way, absolutely not, nope, ain’t gonna do it. That could get way out of hand very quickly, porn (Evan’s scantily clad ladies) and spamming come to mind.

Links have their places but not as a primary means of posting photos.
Rant over!

While the topic of posting photos is active, I'd like to add some info.

When you bring up the Attachment Manager window, you'll see the box where you can add a caption to the photo that you are about to drag-and-drop or navigate to.

You must put the caption in the box BEFORE you add your photo.


The caption cannot be added or edited after you add the photo. If you do want to add or change a caption, you have to delete the photo, add the caption, and bring the photo into the Attachment Manager again.

If you need to change the size of a photo, you can use the Paint program that comes with Windows. Just open your photo in Paint and there's a resize icon you click to make it smaller. Attached below are some screen shots that show:

• Where you'll find Paint in the Windows Start menu
• Paint's resize window that comes up when you click on the resize icon
• The resize icon circled in green

Cheers, Dean

By the way, in the Gallery Forums, you can add up to 25 photos! Very cool!!

Dean

Much to respond to here.

Rather than go thru too much history (many of you already know the growing pains of the site), I'll get to the CURRENT thinking.

Having the images on the site as a photo (not a link) is a much better plan. We have had lots of lamenting from Bolters who have lost their pictures. In cleaning up the static pages, we had a lot of broken links, for various reasons. I can imagine the frustration of reading a post and have the link to an image not work.

I also like the idea of the thumbnail size in the post which opens up to basically a slideshow when there is more than one image.

People don't read instructions. We are working on making the instructions easier to read AND we are working on a step by step video. Perhaps the instructions, being in PDF format for download, is part of the problem. I'm on a PC so it was easy for me to print out, once I figured out where it went on my computer.

Dean has a very important piece to add to the instructions. From our newspaper days, you need to have some kind of caption for the picture.

And a final note: the LINKS to images isn't necessarily a BAD thing. In the NEW THINK, all the images are at the bottom of the post. I can see how for some posts, it's more helpful to have a link to go along with what you are taking about!

Both have their benefits.

I'll be back ....

You can add 25 images to the first post in each thread in the Gallery Forums. ;-)

At least, that is what is documented in the Attachment Manager window.

Cheers, Dean

Android phone instructions for uploading photos.
At the bottom of the 'quick reply' box is the 'Use Full Editor' button. click it!
That opens up a"New Reply" box.
Scroll down past the emojis and you will see a paperclip with 'Attachment Manager' beside it.
Click the 'Attachment Manager'.
This opens up a window that has a button 'Select a File To Attach'.
Follow the instructions given previously about captions,then click 'Select A file To Attach'.
Select the photo you want.
When your photo has loaded click the 'Done' button.

The instructions that Wayne outlined work for the iPhone and the iPad as well.

Not true, not for me. I have never been able to post a pic and have been here 15 years. Expect when putting my pic in the gallery with Peggy coaching me.

Leo, it’s very easy if you are storing photos somewhere on your computer. I am a total computer dummy but I have figured it out. I still can’t figure out how to post links so I feel your pain.

Well, consider yourself edumacated now.

Use the Full Editor. Look at the icons in the little squares above where you type. See the one with what looks like an envelope? Just to the left of the quotes? To the left of the envelope is a blue-greenish globe with what looks like a chain link. Click on that. It will bring up a popup window (unless you are blocking popup windows for Stovebolt.) The window has the following text in it. In the box below the text, paste in the link you want to share. For example, https://www.stovebolt.com. Click on OK. That will change the popup window to one that contains the following text. The TITLE can be whatever you want it to be. For example, if I entered https://www.stovebolt.com in the URL box, I could enter The Stovebolt Site in the TITLE box. Or, I could enter "THe best dern antique GM and Chevy site on the web" in the title box. Or I could enter "John's plaything" in the TITLE box. It's entirely up to you.

Or, if you're a nerd like me, you can do it all by hand, like this: The part that has the [url= in it is the URL part on the example above. The part between the ] and the [ is the TITLE part.

Try it yourself. It's easy.

Leo,
Have you tried lately? The forum software is updated from time to time. I have noticed an improvement when it comes to posting pictures.

Paul, thank you, oh did I mention I don’t know how to copy and paste either! I do well to maneuver around this site without crashing my computer or the site.

Copy - right click on the item you want to copy, and select Copy
Paste - right click on the item you want to paste, and select Paste

Copy - Ctrl + C on the item you want to Copy
Paste - Ctrl + V on the item you want to Paste

When you copy something, it's copied to the Clipboard. It remains there until you copy something else. When you copy something else, whatever is on the clipboard is erased and replaced with the new copied item.

So, for example, let's say you want to Copy a URL. Go to the address bar in your browser and double-click. When the entire URL is highlighted, right-click on it and select Copy or hit the Control key and the C key at the same time.

Then, in the post you're creating on Stovebolt, right-click and select Paste or type Control-V.

Paul, I promise I will try. I use a iPad when posting here and I don’t have some of the controls readily available to use. I’ll try it on the Mac when I have the opportunity. Thanks

Here's an old video (from 2014 [youtube.com] done by a Bolter's wife. Have asked about getting it updated a little.

Maybe it will help some.

Man, this topic needs to be sorted out.

Ah, well, the Mac is different. To highlight text, you have to tap twice and then choose select all. THEN you can copy it and paste it. It's a bit different than Windows. Although you can simulate a right click by holding down the command button and then tapping.

I also use an iPad to post. When posting a URL using the full editor and the globe Icon, I need to remove the http:// when I paste the website in otherwise it contains two copy of the http://. Once removed it works perfectly. Here is a screenshot of the issue.

I am not trying to be obtuse but this discussion wears me out. But as Baleagle said is what I have been using for years and I have cleared the htto//beforehand. I have been able to post anywhere I choose.

Peggy
Followed link. tried the full editor and there was no option to upload pics???

Here's the way I do it.

Put my picture/s on my desktop.

Start a thread or open the "quick reply" to an existing thread.

Click on the "use full Editor" button.

Click on the "attachment manager" next to the paper clip.

Split my screen so I can have the Desktop and the Stovebolt page open together.

Move pictures from the desktop to the Stovebolt page via Drag and drop.

Click "done" when done.

The "total files:" should show the number of pictures you loaded next to the "attachment manager" link.

Preview you post so your happy with it. Note, your pictures will not show up when "previewing" your post.

Post Reply.

I can't help if pictures/files are to big, that's above my pay grade...lol

Hope this helps...

Mike B

All that was not for dummies like me. Thanks anyway.

We b OLD,
If you’re logged in and click on “Use Full Editor” near bottom of thread, you should see the “Attachment Manager” to add pictures. See Screen dump attached.

So here's a screen capture video I put together for posting photos with captions. Just follow the pointer.

POSTING A PICTURE WITH A CAPTION [flickr.com]

Nice video. Just remember that it won't let you upload images that are over about 3 mb. One trick to reduce them is to mail the image to yourself then save it. The emailed picture will now be small enough to upload.

Mike

Mike,

Good call on that. We've had a number of people who have had a problem uploading the images.

Another nice thing about emailing to yourself, you can change the file name before it goes into file manager. I move it to the Desktop and rename the file there. From there, I move it to the Attachment Manager.
,

That's a good choice for Microsoft Windows based systems but I don't believe it's compatible with computers and phones that use other operating systems such as Android (Google, Samsung for example) and IOS (Apple). That is why I suggested using email as a more universal solutions.

Lots of choices out there....

Mike

Mike, et al

Admittedly, the guidelines for posting images has been a series of patches. We're trying to pull together all the info we have gotten so far in order to put out an easier-to-follow instruction. The guidelines started out a one-pager that was only viewable as a download.

It took a bit to find all the *parts* we needed to get this engine to turn over. (You know that drill: what about? How about? Maybe? What'd we forget this time? Who'd we forget?) Now we are in the trouble-shooting phase (obviously). These testing "posts" are helpful to determine the tweaks. We hope in the end, posting images will be as easy as turning over a well-tuned motor.

Thanks for all this input. Keep 'em coming.

[Feels like we are building The Ark ... a spot for every size (platform) ]