[Skippy]

There are two ways to post pictures directly on our forum. I will explain both ways, please reply if any of this confuses you, or if you have any questions about this topic.



With that being said, let's get started. Firstly, I'll give a breif discription about both methods, then I will go into detail about how to use these methods to post pictures. I will touch on the subject of preparing your images before you are ready to post them.


Before You Post:
Please make sure all of the images you are posting are sized no larger than 800 pixels wide, by 600 pixels wide.

Using Option #1: Posting images like this will result in the full size of the image showing up in the post. The images will be posted wherever you insert the [IMG][/IMG] tags

Using Option #2: Posting with this method will add a thumbnail (smaller version of the image, when clicked takes to a page with the full size image. The thumbnails will be shown at the bottom of your post.


Option #1 Hosting Your Images:
The term "Hosting" is defined as, having your file in a location other than your computer. There are FREE websites that exist solely for this reason. I would HIGHLY reccommend Photo Bucket. Photo Bucket is an online photo album that lets you add as many albums (great for sorting out each event's pictures, great for keeping things organized) as you would like. They also let you host more pictures than you will post on this website, so there's no real concern about exceeding storage limits (in which case it will not let you upload any more photos until you make room for more). You DO have to sign up and create an account, but this takes less than 5 minutes. One of the best features about Photo Bucket is, not only is it extremely easy to upload your pictures, but for every image you upload, it will give you the code to post it on a message board (I'll explain more about this later on).


There are other sites out there that don't require you to register, but I would highly reccomend Photo Bucket as it is straight forward, and very easy to use.

Option #2 Uploading Your Images:
Uploading your images is a simple alternative to using a service like Photo Bucket. To upload your images to your post, simply finish writing your post, scroll past the first "Submit Post" button, then click the "Manage Attachments" button. This will pop up the Attachment Manager window. Firstly let me say that the "Attachment Key" may look confusing, but it serves little purpose, and requires no action, it's strictly information about the different file types you can upload (file size limits for each type of file, etc).

You should see two fields at the top of the window. One called "Upload File From Your Computer." 99% of the time this is the field you will want to use, and for now I'm going to ignore the other option, simply to prevent any more confusion.

To upload the file, click the "Browse" button, this will open a window that explores your computer. Use this window to navigate to the file you want to upload. If you're just uploading a few images, it helps to save them to your desktop as it makes them easier to find. To select the file you want to upload, simply double click the file in the Browse window. This will fill the first text field on the Attachment Manager Page. YOU'RE NOT DONE YET! After selecting your file, click the "Upload" button to actually upload your image to our website. Once your image is done uploading, the Attachment Manager page will automatically update, and show you the files you have hosted for your current post. YOU ARE ABLE TO UPLOAD MORE THAN JUST ONE PICTURE PER THREAD!




I will continue to build/edit this tutorial, for now I need sleep.



-Skippy

P.S. this is the result of Option #2, a screen shot of what the Attachment Manager Page looks like, the important parts are outlined in red. To hide the attachment key, click the button outlined in black (at the bottom right corner of the image).