Better integrated image hosting

[vicawoo]

One of the biggest barriers for people contributing/asking for help is how cumbersome it is to host images. Can't tell you how many "help me with my game" threads there is without screenshots, which is inevitably followed by asking for screenshots, which is inevitably followed by asking how, and so on.

Of course, it's easy enough on the game side: you hit print screen, it goes to the screenshots folder (at least for civ 4).

Spoiler The Current Solution and why it's too difficult :

But the natural forum solution, you have to upload it into attachments. I don't think it's as difficult as people make it out to be, other than having to select each file individually.
However, these images are shown at the bottom of the post and cannot be integrated into the post itself.

And ironically, there's an img bbcode option which does allow us to show images from urls ... but it has no relation to the upload feature.

So what people normally do is upload all their files to a 3rd party file hosting service, then one by one copy and paste the urls back into the post. It's the most effective way, but it's very cumbersome to navigate back and forth between two pages to post images.

I used to use imageshack toolbar, which allowed drop and drag functionality into text areas. I drag images from my files, it uploads it automatically, and automatically pastes bbcode urls. Unfortunately, that's gone obsolete with the older gecko Firefox draganddrop API, so I'm now back to square one like everyone else.

So I'm asking for better functionality, and suggesting something that looks like a good solution, or something akin to it:
http://imageshack.us/content.php?page=syndicate

Installation instructions for placing ImageShack Syndication inside the reply section of message boards:

phpBB
vBulletin
Invision Power Board 2.0.x
Simple Machines

Examples of Use:

Embed into front page to allow users the ability to upload images.
Embed into the reply and post-new-topic page of message boards for convenient image posting.

 

[Synobun]

Imageshack Syndicate is an incredibly buggy and hardly useful tool, and often doesn't even work. I don't see how uploading to a place like imgur or photobucket is cumbersome unless you are uploading literally dozens of pictures every single day, which is incredibly unlikely.

 

[vicawoo]

I'm not familiar with the service itself, but with the old service, it took me less than a second to upload arbitrarily many pictures (not including the upload time). I really don't care what service it is, just so long as it's supremely easy and fast and user friendly, think apple level overly user friendly.

I can add up the actions:
open your favorite image hosting service (say you use autocomplete, so .25 to 1 second)

Move your mouse to the appropriate upload field

Change folder to your image folder

Scroll to first target image, for saves I have to reorder by last modified.

If you're lucky, you can select multiple images. If not, well, for a normal save, I'll do 3 to 4 screenshots of my land, 1 for tech, one for demographics, sometimes a diplomacy relations screenshot. For a turn by turn, important events tend to get their own screenshot.

So otherwise, repeat the last 3 steps 5 to 10 times.

Now for each image, navigate to the uploaded image page.

Find the url.

Copy the url

Tab back into your civilization post field.

Click the image bbcode button

Paste the url.

Repeat for however many images. So for 6 images, that's about 8 x 6 = 48 actions. If you can accomplish that in less than a second, kudos to you. If you're like a normal person, then I'd be unhappy if my upload system takes 3 minutes to click through for a series of images, and that's if I'm efficient.

 

[Camikaze]

If you were happy with what imageshack used to be, you should try imgur now. It essentially offers the same thing. Click 'computer', choose the file (though I guess that'd still involve the issues with choosing a file that you list), click 'upload', grab the direct link URL (you don't have to go searching for it), done.

 

[Maniacal]

I second imgur, it is more or less exactly how an image hosting service should be. Imageshack went downhill years ago and has too many pop-ups and advertisements (yes there is ad-block, but the people who don't know how to upload an image probably don't know how to use adblock either, if they are even using Firefox).

Also to select multiple images you just highlight or hold ctrl + click and select them all to upload (to imgur, I haven't used imageshack in years).

Plus, knowing how to upload an image to a decent hosting site is a necessary and somewhat required skill on the internet anyway.

 

[Dachs]

My problem with the attachments on CFC is more that they automatically recompress most image files (making them somewhere between ugly and useless) and have a ridiculously low data threshold.

 

[Abaddon]

We used to have a lot better system.

That system lead to someone being able to hack CFC and delete tons and ton of stuff

Since then, we do not have any moderation or improvement by non standard things.


Sadly the current Attachments system is not going to change.. it would help if their was a more obvious link.. and as Dachs said, higher thresholds.

 

[ainwood]

Upload it as an attachment, then get the urlk to the attachment, and enclose that in

 

[Abaddon]

I do do that, but its a bit cumbersome. An why does the gallery take weeks to get approval?

 

[The_J]

I do do that, but its a bit cumbersome.

Not more cumbersome than using an external service ^^.
It's just 2 clicks!

An why does the gallery take weeks to get approval?

Does not anymore. Has been speed up.

 

[Abaddon]

2 Clicks..


1. Go advanced..
2. Manage Attachments
3. Browse
4. Unknown clicks finding file..
5. Upload
6. Click on link to upload
7. Click on title bar to highlight the address
8. Copy it here
9. click the img tags
10. click post

 

[Maniacal]

That looks like the vending machine at my old workplace... except we didn't have Fanta

 

[ainwood]

2 Clicks..

Incremental over what you've got to do to upload it anyway. :