Posting Photos

[Andy]

There are several different ways you can add images to your forum posts on Trials Central. All are straightforward and easy to use.

1. YOU HAVE AN IMAGE ON YOUR COMPUTER YOU WANT TO UPLOAD

Firstly, there are restrictions on the overall storage space on Trials Central allowed to be used by those who are not Trials Central Supporters. Non-supporters have a limit of 50MB overall. This includes space used by stored images and personal messages. Trials Central Supporters have no limitations on the amount of storage they can use. You can upgrade your account to become a Trials Central Supporter and help the ongoing cost of providing TC by clicking here.

STARTING A NEW TOPIC

If you are starting a new topic and want to attach your image, simply scroll to the bottom of the input box, browse to the photo on your computer and click “Attach This File”. Note there is an individual file size limit of 10MB per file. The image will be automatically resized once uploaded, but it is better and faster if you can reduce the size of your files before uploading. If you want to upload multiple images then you can click the link to “Try our advanced uploader” – Note this is not supported on all platforms (certainly not iPad or iPhone) and requires a minimum of Flash 9.

Once the image is uploaded you will see a thumbnail of it below the topic input box as below:

Just click the “Add to post” link. This will insert a snippet of code into the Topic input box similar to:

[attachment=8782:Img_2080.jpg] 

Do not edit this code or your image will not work! You can click the “Preview Post” button at the bottom of the topic to see how your image will look once published. You can repeat the above process to add multiple images into a new topic.Please don't start multiple topics all on the same subject with one photo per topic!

REPLYING TO A TOPIC

If you want to post an image in a reply to a topic that either you or someone else has started then scroll to the “Reply to this topic” box at the bottom of the topic as you would normally do and then click “More Reply Options” in the bottom right:

Once you’ve done that, you’ll see the “Attach Files” section below the reply input box. From here, the process for uploading and attaching images is exactly the same as it is for starting a new topic detailed above.

2. THE IMAGE IS ALREADY SOMEWHERE ON THE INTERNET

Firstly, bear in mind that just because an image is on the Internet does not mean it is not copyright. Most website owners don’t take kindly to people “stealing” their images and posting them elsewhere, particularly as linking to images on other websites uses bandwidth they have to pay for. However, if the image is yours or you have permission to post it then the process is simple.

Let’s assume the link to the image you want to post is:

http://www.trialscentral.com/andy/myphoto.jpg

Click on the small picture icon in the topic post toolbar. Note if you are replying to a topic then you may have to click “More Reply Options” in the bottom right before you see this toolbar:

That will bring up a dialogue box where you simply type or paste the link to your image:

Click “OK” and you will see your image embedded in your post. Obviously, you can also type text wherever you want in this box. Images that are too wide will automatically be scaled down by the forum software when you post your topic or reply.

3. YOU ARE USING A PHOTO HOSTING SERVICE

There are many photo hosting websites available. Some of these will provide you the exact code to post your image on forums. You should look for a link or snippet of code that may be entitled “BBCode”.

The code you need should start with [img= and end with ]

Example:

[img=http://www.trialscentral.com/andy/myphoto.jpg]

All you need to do is paste that snippet of code INCLUDING the IMG tags and square brackets into your your new topic post or reply. You can click “Preview Post” at the bottom of the screen to check that your code is correct and the image works. Images that are too wide will automatically be scaled down by the forum software when you post your topic or reply.

[Andy]

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