tl;dr (too long; didn't read? here is a summary) -- Please use a decent image host, to save us all time and trouble!
There are a lot of ways to embed images in forum posts. Some people use the forum's image attachment feature, which forces guest users to log in to view the image. Third party image hosts allow you to bypass this restriction, and give you more control over where and how you embed the image. However, most popular image hosts pepper their pages with advertising and make it difficult to reach the full-resolution image that we all want to see when comparing camera image quality.
I wish to tell you about a better option.
imgur.com
You may know this site as a breeding ground for internet memes (and truth be told, it is!), but it is also one of the better image hosts out there. It has far fewer advertisements than a lot of other image hosts, and those it has are less obnoxious. Imgur's thumbnail and linking features make it great for forum users. For basic use, you don't even need an account. Just drag and drop images, and share the links.
Tools to make it easy
If you ask me, the key to success with any image host is to find a good desktop tool that simplifies uploading and screen capturing. For about a year I have been using a program called MyImgur:
This program lets you drag and drop image files, paste them from your clipboard, or draw a rectangle on your screen to capture a screenshot of a region (like Windows' Snipping Tool). It handles the upload to Imgur and has a copy menu where you can choose "BBCode" or "Linked BBCode" and then just paste in a forum post and your image will appear.
However, MyImgur is not without its shortcomings. I usually prefer to post thumbnails that link to the full resolution image, but MyImgur does not automate this type of thumbnail linking. When using MyImgur, I always had to modify my image URLs before posting them. I got tired of this, so I built a similar Windows app to eliminate some unnecessary steps. I call it ImgurWin and it is open source. See the resemblance?
The major shortcoming that I am too lazy to fix is that I didn't work to enable anonymous usage with ImgurWin, so a (free) Imgur account is required. This app is new and may always be a little rough around the edges, but I am already finding it very useful. ImgurWin has full support for generating links from thumbnails to full-sized images. My days of manually editing image URLs to post linked thumbnails to forums are over.
Manual Example
If desktop tools are not your style, or you aren't running Windows, everything can be done through the imgur.com website.
I just saved a 4 megapixel snapshot from one of my cameras and uploaded it to imgur.com without an account. I copied the image address and I can paste it here on ipcamtalk using an img tag:
But wait! That would embed a 4 megapixel snapshot directly in the page, and it would take up a ton of space and slow down the page loading. Fortunately, imgur makes it very easy to get a thumbnail of any image. All I have to do is add the letter "m" to the image URL just before the file extension, like this:
Here it is in action. No forum login required, and you can view it inline.
Now I want to make it so that when someone clicks the image, it will open the full resolution version. To do this, I need to wrap the image in a link that points at the full resolution (without the added "m" character).
It looks the same, but now it is linked. Go ahead and click it. Notice how it went straight to the full image and there isn't an advertisement to be seen.
Regarding Thumbnails
Imgur supports 6 different thumbnail sizes; you just change which character you insert before the file extension. These are the main ones:
Two other options always produce a square thumbnail, stretching the image as necessary to fill the square:
There are a lot of ways to embed images in forum posts. Some people use the forum's image attachment feature, which forces guest users to log in to view the image. Third party image hosts allow you to bypass this restriction, and give you more control over where and how you embed the image. However, most popular image hosts pepper their pages with advertising and make it difficult to reach the full-resolution image that we all want to see when comparing camera image quality.
I wish to tell you about a better option.
imgur.com
You may know this site as a breeding ground for internet memes (and truth be told, it is!), but it is also one of the better image hosts out there. It has far fewer advertisements than a lot of other image hosts, and those it has are less obnoxious. Imgur's thumbnail and linking features make it great for forum users. For basic use, you don't even need an account. Just drag and drop images, and share the links.
Tools to make it easy
If you ask me, the key to success with any image host is to find a good desktop tool that simplifies uploading and screen capturing. For about a year I have been using a program called MyImgur:
This program lets you drag and drop image files, paste them from your clipboard, or draw a rectangle on your screen to capture a screenshot of a region (like Windows' Snipping Tool). It handles the upload to Imgur and has a copy menu where you can choose "BBCode" or "Linked BBCode" and then just paste in a forum post and your image will appear.
However, MyImgur is not without its shortcomings. I usually prefer to post thumbnails that link to the full resolution image, but MyImgur does not automate this type of thumbnail linking. When using MyImgur, I always had to modify my image URLs before posting them. I got tired of this, so I built a similar Windows app to eliminate some unnecessary steps. I call it ImgurWin and it is open source. See the resemblance?
The major shortcoming that I am too lazy to fix is that I didn't work to enable anonymous usage with ImgurWin, so a (free) Imgur account is required. This app is new and may always be a little rough around the edges, but I am already finding it very useful. ImgurWin has full support for generating links from thumbnails to full-sized images. My days of manually editing image URLs to post linked thumbnails to forums are over.
Manual Example
If desktop tools are not your style, or you aren't running Windows, everything can be done through the imgur.com website.
I just saved a 4 megapixel snapshot from one of my cameras and uploaded it to imgur.com without an account. I copied the image address and I can paste it here on ipcamtalk using an img tag:
Code:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/AM0kfNS.jpg[/IMG]
Code:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/AM0kfNSm.jpg[/IMG]Now I want to make it so that when someone clicks the image, it will open the full resolution version. To do this, I need to wrap the image in a link that points at the full resolution (without the added "m" character).
Code:
[URL='http://i.imgur.com/AM0kfNS.jpg'][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/AM0kfNSm.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Regarding Thumbnails
Imgur supports 6 different thumbnail sizes; you just change which character you insert before the file extension. These are the main ones:
| Character | Name | Thumbnail Width |
| t | Small Thumbnail | 160 pixels |
| m | Medium Thumbnail | 320 pixels |
| l | Large Thumbnail | 640 pixels |
| h | Huge Thumbnail | 1024 pixels |
Two other options always produce a square thumbnail, stretching the image as necessary to fill the square:
| Character | Name | Thumbnail Width |
| s | Small Square | 90 pixels |
| b | Big Square | 160 pixels |
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