Announcing New Larger Picture Attachment Sizes and Guidelines

[edmcguirk]

New Features for Attaching Larger Photos to Scene of Vermont Threads

We are pleased to announce that the Scenes of Vermont Forum software has been modified to allow for larger size pictures to be included as an attachment directly to a post. The attachment will appear in the post as a smaller size thumbnail image, and by clicking on that thumbnail, a larger size image will appear in a separate screen.

Because the attachment of larger size pictures requires more storage space for the website, we are going to announce some new limits /guidelines for the attachment of pictures.

We ask you to limit it to 3 attached pictures, per person, per thread.

The maximum picture file size is set at 3.0 Megabytes (MB) per picture. When you upload the attachment, the websites software checks to make sure you are under the limit, it won't allow you to attach oversize images. If your picture is too large, you will need to re-size it down. The 3.0 MB limit is far more than you need for good web display, if possible, try to re-size your pictures to be around 1.0 to 1.5 MB (or less), and they will still display well.

You will be allowed to attach pictures to a thread started by another person, subject to the limit of 3 pictures per person per thread.

If you wish to display more than 3 pictures, we encourage you to upload them to another hosting site, and instead post a link to a gallery on the other host, such as Flick r, or your own website.

Tim will monitor the storage needs generated by this new policy, and reserves the right to change these limits/guidelines if needed in the future.

How to attach to a Picture to a Post :

Click “New Topic”
Enter any text discussion in the text box, as usual.
At the bottom, click the “Attachments” Tab (next to Options tab)
Click the “Add Files” button
Navigate to your picture on your computer, etc. to upload it
A section will appear with the file name, a box to add comments or a title, the file size in MB, and Image Status. If the picture is within the 3 MB size limit, a green check mark appears meaning it is good for attachment. If your file is too large, you get an error message telling you to attach a smaller image. If you want to attach a 2nd or 3rd image, simply repeat the process. When your text creation and picture attachment is complete, click the “Submit” button. The attachment(s) appear as smaller thumbnails in the post, click on the thumbnail to see a full size picture.

Image Sizing Recommendations :

For Pictures from Digital Cameras :
Submit Jpeg file format, preferably in Srgb color space, which is best for web viewing.
Size your pictures to either 1024 W by 768 H pixels at 72 DPI for a medium size display.
Or size them at 1500 W by 1000 H pixels at 100 DPI for large (full screen) size display.
In either case use a Jpeg quality setting of 70%, which is still good for web display.
These picture sizes should create files well under 2.0 MB in size.

For Pictures Directly from Cell Phone Cameras :

Many phones will initially create images that are far larger than the upload limit of 3MB.
You will need to reduce the file size by using a lower quality of say 10% to 20%
These lower quality settings will still produce pictures on the website that look good.
The forum software will let you know if your image is too large, or not.
If it is too large, use a lower quality setting until you get it to under the 3.0M limit.
For most pictures, 1.0 MB (or less) file size looks good for web display.
Submit in Jpeg file format if possible, don't worry about this if you are not sure.
Different phones might work differently to adjust the quality, consult your user guide.

Below is an example of a smaller picture thumbnail, click on it to see it larger.

[Andy]

Nice! Good development. Thanks, Ed for your work on this. For those who haven't been there recently, this same announcement was posted on the Photography Forum - same rules.