Posting Pictures Tutorial From The Mrs

[BoredOutOfMyMind]

There are two ways to post pics. One way is straight from your computer to AFF. The other, more preferred by admin way is for the posters to use an image hosting site to download their pics to, then link them in their posts. They prefer us to use an image hosting site so that we don't bog down the server resources too much. I will cover both avenues. *Downloading and Posting Pics from your Computer.* If you just want to post one or two pics every once in a while, and not bother with an image hosting site, you can do this easily. While you are posting, look below the gray box you are posting in to the next section on the page. It's called 'Additional Options'. There is a blue header that says 'Attach Files' with a button directly below it that say 'Manage Attachments'. Click on that button and a new window will pop up where you will choose 'Upload File from your Computer'...click the 'Browse' button. Look through the directories on your computer to where you have your pics saved, and click the appropriate buttons to choose your pic. Click on the 'Upload' button once you have chosen your pic. When you hit the submit button it should show up with your post. *Downloading and Posting Pics from Image Hosting Site.* Your other option is to use an Image Hosting site like Photobucket.com or ImageShack.us. I have used both and I can say that I prefer Photobucket because you can put your pics in different 'albums'. BUT...just know that every URL address that you use to link your pics to will have your user name in the link...if you are wanting to remain anonymous at AFF, make sure you register a user name that you don't mind others seeing. Both image sites are pretty easy to use. Where it prompts you to Upload images, just click on the 'browse' button, and direct it to the pics on your computer, and then hit the 'Upload' button. It will give you the URL address links to choose from. If you go with Photobucket it will give you 3 to choose from. If you use the bottom one, it will already have the Image Tags around it ([IMG] [/IMG]), you just have to copy/paste that link into your post. Viola! That's it. Very easy. Photobucket has nice options to edit your pics as well. You can do some resizing of pics. Even down to avatar size. A good size for pics to post is around the 200-400 pixel range. An avatar will need to be no larger than 100x100. Sometimes pics will be too large to download. It's either because of the size, or the quality that is making the file too large. If that is the case, you will need to edit the photo using a photo editing program, or send it to your buddy who can. BOOM suggests this free downloadable program Irfanview for those who would like to do it themselves. For those who don't want to tackle the photo editing, both BOOM and I would be more than happy to help anyone out.

*Posting Pics that you have found off the Web*. This is fairly easy as well...all you have to do is right click on the picture, click on 'properties'. Then click on the URL address to highlight it, and copy it. Then while you are making a post, click on the Image button (yellow button with mountains and sun). A new little window will pop up asking for the address. Just paste the address in there. The new window automatically has 'http://' included, so when you paste your link, make sure it only has one http:// at the beginning of the line. You will need to keep in mind that there are a couple of glitches. Some sites have pics that are copywrited. Some sites don't like you to take their pics and post them, as that makes them the hosting site, and it hogs the resources on their server. I have seen them combat this in various ways. One thing I've seen is that they will replace the pic you posted with a pic telling you you're naughty for stealing their bandwidth. Some sites through routine maintenance will sever the link. So a pic you posted one day, may disappear the next. *How to post an AVATAR...* Look under the header at the top of the page and you will see a link that says 'User CP'. Click on that link. It will take you to your User Control Panel page. On the left under Headings & Options, click on 'Edit Avatar'. You have the option to use a Pre-defined Generic Avatar as set up by the site, or to set your own Custom Avatar. To set your own, click on the option for 'Custom Avatar'. Below it are two boxes, Option 1 and Option 2. If you already have an avatar hosted on the web, you can add the URL address in the box under Option 1. If you have an avatar on your computer that you want to upload to the site, click on the 'Browse' button next to Option 2. Select your pic from your computer's directories. Click on the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom of the page, and your avatar should show up. Remember that the size of your avatar can be no larger than 100x100 pixels, or 19.5 KB. NFCF is not set up to resize pics, so you must do that before trying to post it here. Again, BOOM or I will be happy to help anyone out with editing a pic to use as an avatar. See our email addresses above