"Link to External Image" Vs. Actual Image showing in thread?

I have had several threads where I figured the image would be seen in the thread, and instead I get, "Link to External Image" even when following the instructions on posting an image.

Other times, the actual image does get posted.

So what is the difference, what am I doing wrong, and how can I ensure that the image is shown in the thread?

I'm working on a lengthy thread on Enlightenment that includes various vital images, and am wondering how to make sure the images are in the thread.

Thanks,
Dom

reply to post by dominicus


Link to external image is when the image is not hosted on ATS, in the "ATS uploads" section. Actual images are the ones hosted in that area.

Originally posted by Hefficide
reply to post by dominicus

 

Link to external image is when the image is not hosted on ATS, in the "ATS uploads" section. Actual images are the ones hosted in that area.

Are there instructions or a how to page that shows how to upload and image to ATS so it shows in the thread?

Thanks,
Dom

reply to post by dominicus


If you want an image embedded in a thread, it's not complicated at all.

Just make sure the pic is on your hard drive - and sized correctly ( 500 width is about as large as it can be. I use 480 wide for most pics ).

Then click on the "tools" button on the blue toolbar.

Once that opens up, the furthest right option is "ATS Uploads". Click that.

Once that opens, to the far left, there will be a button that says "Select Image File". If that doesn't show, it means that you need to install or update Adobe Flash.

Click that button, which brings up a standard Windows style file selector. Find the right directory and file you desire, select it, and choose "save".

That will upload the picture to ATS and the uploaded picture will then appear on the screen. Double click it, once it appears, and a screen will load showing the full size picture, with several options beneath it.

The field that says "Use is a post" will have a string of text beneath it that looks something like . Simply copy and paste that into your post/thread OP and you're set.

~Heff

nevermind

reply to post by dominicus


This is one of those things where I will always link a pic into a thread for the OP, when required.

It's the simple matter of changing tags when using offsite images, and sooooo easy to do.

Let's say you want to link a Snoopy pic:




Honestly, it's easier to outlink a pic, rather than download it off the webz, upload it to your ATS space, and then post the link in your post.

In this example, you clicked the "image" button above your comment box, and posted the valid URL:


That's where you get that annoying "link to external image" image, instead of the pic you wanted. If I had a nickel for everytime I saw that......well, I just sigh.

Here's the solution:

[ img]http://a66c7b.medialib.glogster.com/media/b4/b46b7e6aab6272d6a5c2c043a6b32c629895d335f4dc977dcd27af89b80c53ea/snoopy-love.jpg[ /img]

That's the offsite link for that Snoopy image. (BTW, Valentine's day is coming up soon!)

In those brackets, the img needs to be changed to ats. Remember to change both the beginning and ending tags. It's that simple. That's all you have to do. (remove the spaces, of course.)

The correct format is:

[ ats]http://a66c7b.medialib.glogster.com/media/b4/b46b7e6aab6272d6a5c2c043a6b32c629895d335f4dc977dcd27af89b80c53ea/snoopy-love.jpg[ /ats]

Once I remove the spaces, I get this, once again:



Summary: When posting external images, simply change the "img" tags to "ats". A very simple edit gets your images to show up in your post. It really is that easy.

Cool. I didn't know you could still do that.

However, if you outlink an image like that, it might very well eventually end up as a little red "X"

If it's something worth keeping around, it's better to take a minute to do it the long way, I think.

EDIT: Or do they stick around forever even if they are deleted/moved on the external link when using the ats image code?

reply to post by Druid42


Silly question, but I have to ask since I'm not sure whether it is or not... (my internet speak is a tad on the rookie side )

Isn't that what they call "hotlinking" ?

reply to post by dominicus


A nifty way to verify your images are going to show (or anything for that matter) in a thread is click the New Thread link in just about any forum. Personally, with lengthy threads I'll compose them in MS Word BBcode tags and all then I'll copy and paste sections of it in the new thread and click preview with each section to verify everything is copacetic with the thread as the composition is progressing as I go.

As long as you don't hit "Post" it makes for a pretty good verification process.

reply to post by CranialSponge


Yes ...and it's frowned upon in some circles due to it's technically robbing bandwidth from the site hosting the image.

reply to post by UberL33t


Ah, okay thanks.

I wasn't sure because of the changing the [img] tag to [ats]... I thought maybe that changed it somehow.

But hotlinking isn't necessarily always bad, is it ?

reply to post by Druid42






It's a shame we can't star in this section because your post was very helpful

reply to post by CranialSponge


Well...depends your stance...if you're the owner of said hosting site and you have people "hot linking" to an image requiring your server to use the bandwidth to render the image viewable on someone else's site who will most likely not visit your site at all...well you can see how some folks would have issues with it.

You guys have stumbled upon a technical aspect of "hotlinking/outlinking", and back in the day, linking an image from a "small" site was considered taboo. Nowadays, most sites have bandwidth to spare, and if they post an image, it's known it will be linked all over. The modern world of highspeed connections relieve the old mindset of "OMG, I'm stealing bandwidth. Bandwith, if you host a webserver, should not be a concern. Look at Facebook, and Tumblr, and the myriad of other hosting sites.

Yes, as Zarniwoop states, it's better to snatch an image off the net, download it, then re-upload it to your ATS upload spot. You'll have an in-site permalink. All good.

However, linking a picture from Yahoo, for example, is as good as a permalink. For the amount of traffic that it induces, there's not a problem. A thread on ATS that outlinks to an image on an obscure site is not really an issue either, as there is a small amount of traffic involved.

If said thread hits the front page, well, there may be increased traffic over the server, but still, traffic is what drives advertising. If the outsourced traffic causes a server overload, there's another site with spare bandwidth to compensate. Every image you are linking to ATS has multiple copies on different servers. In the modern age, it's called load balancing, and unless the image is on your own personal server, the load is balanced across many different webservers. No need to worry if you are linking in from a popular commercial website. ATS utilizes load balancing as well, and if someone wants to use an image from ATS, they can. Does ATS worry about the extra traffic and bandwidth usage? Hardly. It's good for statistics. The more traffic across your server, the better. Popularity is key here. Even remote linking produces statistical traffic. It's all good.

reply to post by Jay Electronica


Thanks for the thought, regardless. The "virtual" star is appreciated. I'm just glad to help.

goofed up, sorry