Picture Size **Please Read Before Posting**

[Nicole]

Because of bandwidth concerns and the fact that not everyone is on a fast connection, we want to keep make sure the forum is accessible for everyone. So, please ensure that all pictures posted are no longer than 800px on the longest side.

On Flickr or Zooomr this is the medium size. On other sites, you may have to resize your pictures before posting them there. If you need a free program to resize images, there is always Irfanview (PC).

Mods and Admins are currently deciding what we will do with pictures that are too large, so we will update here when we have made that decision.

We really appreciate everyone's participation in the forums, and we look forward to even more participation in the future Thanks everyone!

[smc1377]

Something that I've been noticing...

There are some pictures that are being posted that are just being displayed in a reduced size, but the computer is loading the full-blown large image. If we are making rules about size due to bandwidth restrictions, I'd say that these pictures shouldn't be allowed either.

Example (not trying to pick on anyone here)...
Corvette Z06 engine

The very first post in that thread shows a small picture, but in actuality, we're downloading the full-blown 1280x853 picture.


But with that said, are there many low bandwidth members on here and if so, how many? Seems like hi-speed connections have surpassed dialup a long time ago. I personally don't know anyone who still uses dialup, while I know of about 40 different households of friends and family who have some form of hi-speed internet.

I don't know of any forums that are as strict as this one is on size of photos. And if any forum were to be more flexible on size, it should be a photography forum.

Anyhow, that's just my $.02.

[Nicole]

Originally Posted by smc1377

Something that I've been noticing...

There are some pictures that are being posted that are just being displayed in a reduced size, but the computer is loading the full-blown large image. If we are making rules about size due to bandwidth restrictions, I'd say that these pictures shouldn't be allowed either.

Example (not trying to pick on anyone here)...
Corvette Z06 engine

The very first post in that thread shows a small picture, but in actuality, we're downloading the full-blown 1280x853 picture.

That's one of the things we're currently working to address, things are in the pipeline. Not much of an answer, but we are working on that.

[jiminyClickit]

Nicole,

So I read it and started to move on and then realized your decisions here might mean I'd have to find another way to learn not only the lessons of photography, but of the lives of photographers from all over the world, told through their photos. Because, you see, I'm a DialUpper - there, I've admitted it, it feels great and I will say it again -DialUpper!-

Your decision will not actually affect me, as my system is very reliable: the two seconds longer I wait for pics to download is not worth $30 to correct. What caught my attention was the suggestion that you should only cater to the faster subscribers (not your idea). Other threads and/or reponses have left the impression that PhotoShop is the only edit program worth having (not your idea), and that if your equipment is not new and expensive, how can the pictures have a place amongst the "Professionals?" (not your idea).

I've given the gift of DPS to my friends and family (DialUppers), and the democratic melding of beginner/experienced is what attracts them. The friendliness is what keeps them coming back. The few folks who complain may never have done without the best, the fastest, the biggest. For the 95% of the rest of us, I wanted to say thank you for what DPS has done for us.

And for even allowing complaints to be aired, as needed.

[wulf]

There are three problems with publishing big pictures:

1. More to download for people on slow or flakey connections (and, yes, merely changing the display size doesn't stop that although it may encourage people to think twice about doing resizing themselves).

2. Throws out the page layout. That may not affect those with bigger screens but many users have something on the smaller size. If I have to scroll to take in a whole image, I normally skip past it and I'm sure I'm not alone.

3. Bandwidth costs. At the moment, DPS is provided for free. I am not sure what kind of income it generates but I do know that bandwidth costs. Even where the load is spread across external image hosts (like Flickr), that still pushes up individual's download limits (total levels could mount up over the course of a month, especially if there is limited caching on the local machine).

All in all, I think the best solution is to host pictures on a third party site, post a medium sized version and let it link back to a full size one for those who want to explore further.

Wulf

[Gunsotsu]

The picture size has been like this as long as I've known about this forum. It's the way things are and the way they should be and therefore, it's a non-issue. Either adhere, or leave.

Of course this wouldn't be much of an issue if people would just use Flickr to host their photos.

[Seltzer]

As it's been said we try to make this forum available to all to browse and experience, still trying to think of ways to work around the people that can't view Flickr images as well. But as it is, even some of us on high-speed (t3 line here at work) are getting slow loads on some of the topics with large images. The first trial step was to correct images for viewing here in the forums to not blow everything out of alignment while we work on finding a way to better restrict large images.
Another reason is that the overall bandwidth of the site suffers and there is still only so much that can be pushed through at a time. So while it may not affect your viewing end for large images it can have an impact on how quickly the site itself goes even in the non-image topics.

[smc1377]

Don't get me wrong. I was not saying that we should forget about the dialuppers. I was merely asking if there were that many dialuppers out there. Those of us with common courtesy will always resize our photos accordingly to accommodate all browsers even if there were no rules. I see it happening in all sorts of forums that don't have rules, I don't see why this forum would have members that weren't as respectful. Seems to me like the people who post large pictures do so only because they don't know how to resize, not because they are deliberately trying to post large pictures. So simply put, even if there were no rules, I highly doubt there would be a proliferation of large pictures on the site that this site would then become unfriendly to dialuppers.

[Canon PowerShot A540]

We Could Do What Was Done Here Ipod video photo shoot
Where The User Posted The Small Version And Linked To The Large Version Or We Could Do Linking.

[wulf]

That is the ideal. Post a smaller version as a preview (bigger than a thumbnail but no more than 500px on the longest edge) and then link to a larger image for people who want to view it in more detail.

Wulf