Lots of info in the help forum. Took this off one thread. Posted by RVSnowbird:
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There are several reasons for having your personal and rv pictures on a picture host website. Besides being able to link to them for posting here, other forums and websites, it will be a place for family and friends to see them. I also learned first hand the value of maintaining pictures on line after a hard drive crash in which I lost everything - only those pictures and documents I had stored on line survived!
The basis for posting a picture within rv.net text messages is that it first must be on a public view website. They are then linked to for display on the rv.net webpages. See Profile and Pictures within Text Messages the procedure and more information.
The numbers to keep in mind before posting here is not over 640 pixel width, 480 pixel height or 100kb file size. It is not yet a rule but the reasons for those limits are simply a courtesy to 800x600 and below monitor resolution users. Anything larger than those numbers will either be very slow loading for dialup/cellphone users or in the case of extra width, force side-scrolling.
If you are in doubt as to the picture size, you can always post a link to your on-line picture instead of the picture itself. This is done by first right-clicking on the enlargement and selecting Properties. Triple-click on the URL in the middle of that and for safety, copy and paste it to a Note or WordPad.
Next, in a new topic or reply, click on the hyper-link symbol (that I call the bowling ball and swim goggles), and paste that URL in the upper box as shown here:
Yes, that is the same function used to direct someone to a website but in a sense, that is what you are doing, directing someone to see your picture at another website. In the lower box, enter a description such as "My new wheels".
You can also use that same method to direct members to your entire album rather than just one picture. The procedure is the same except to open your album, copy the URL in the address bar and that is what is pasted in the top box of the Link Editor. The lower box would be a description of it such as "My RV Travels and Adventures".
Another possibility is posting just a thumbnail or small-size picture with an embedded link to the enlargement at your picture host website. This is explained at "Click to enlarge pictures within text".
As previously announced in Countdown for free photo hosting, RV.Net will soon have its own picture host service but that release date is not yet known.
Before committing your pictures to a host website, ask yourself why is it free and what's in it for them. Part of the answer is the advertising on their webpages and the more popular the service, the higher the advertising rate they can demand. Most also have a subscription rate for more storage capacity, bandwith, etc. for around $20/year. This is not necessarily a bad thing as it does give you some assurance of future service.
Another part is that you give your permission to allow them to be shared with the world. The websites in a sense become a picture "depository" for anyone with access to copy them. You also must provide some information in order to set up an account which may or may not be shared or sold.
Unfortunately, many new picture hosts offer the world to build their user base and some later fail, closing up and taking the member pictures with them. Others resort to cutting back on their bandwidth and/or put in restrictions such as album capacity, size, etc. Again, choose wisely. Changing hosts later may render any pictures you posted as red
's.
A survey was done of pictures posted here and these are some of the more popular hosts in use at rv.net today:
www.PhotoBucket.com
You can upload up to 20 pictures at once; photos larger than 250 KB are automatically scaled down.
Limitations: 25mb storage, 1500mb per month bandwidth, 250kb file size limit.
www.TinyPic.com
Very little known of this except that it is new and is the offspring of PhotoBucket.com. It is only two steps and very easy to use. The pictures are not archived as the service is designed more for auctions which are usually 30 days or less so longevity may be a question.
www.ImageShack.com
No signup required.
Limitations: File size limit 1024 KB. Images that have not been accessed in over a year will be deleted.
www.FotoTime.com
A one year subscription to the FotoTime service is required for those that want to keep their FotoTime account more than 30 days.
www.PictureTrail.com
New PictureTrail members are assigned a free Intro Account. After 31 days, they are switched to the free Basic Account if they have not already upgraded to the Premium account level. Free Basic accounts are eventually phased out from the system if not upgraded to the paid Premium level of $19.95/year and storage for up to 500 images.
www.WebShots.com
This statement was made on that website: "Due to abuse, WebShots no long allows display linking. You can only view Webshots images from Webshots pages and within the Webshots software. Alternatively, you can post a link to the page that contains the image you'd like to display."
www.Shutterfly.com linking no longer allowed
www.free-webhosts.com is a website that lists many other picture hosts. Remember, you are "giving" your images to someone you do not know so choose your picture host wisely.
Many Internet Service Providers (ISP's) also offer free picture storage and allow linking. One caveat however is that if you later leave that provider, they will no doubt delete your pictures rendering any you posted as red 's.
Not on the list are user groups with free photo album space. Yahoo groups do not allow linking but MSN Groups do. You can build your own at MSN Groups - start. You will only be allowed 3mb of storage space per member name but if more is needed, just get another membership. One caveat is that the website must remain open to public view and not require membership for access. MSN Web Documents for example is one that has access only by that member.
MSN Groups must have some activity within a 90-day period or are subject to being deleted. You can also join an existing groups website such as:
Open Roads Singles - must be a single RV.Net/Forum member with a reserved MSN Passport name
Open Roads Forum - approved application required, RV.Net/Forum name requested
RV's and More - approved application as well as e-mail response
RV Lifestyle - no application required
If any are familiar with these or picture hosts not mentioned, please let us know by adding your comments.
Thank you
Dick M.
2002 GMC Sierra 1500 2WD Ext Cab, 5.3L, 3.42 axle
2006 KZ Coyote 23CMS, Equalizer Hitch/Voyager Brake Control
