SOP: Attach an Image to a Post

Author's Notes

Attaching an image is easy, if a little convoluted. First, you must be aware, that there are limitations on images. You may only attach GIF or JPEG images and they are limited in size and each user is limited in what they can upload during their time here. Unfortunately, server space is hard to come by without copious amounts of money, and we're not set to start raking in the dough anytime soon. If you want to upload larger files, put them at someplace like Flickr,Photobucket, or ImageShack, either way, if you have the URL of the image, BBcode ([img] and [/img]) will allow you to add the image to any type of site content.

1. Purpose

To provide processes for the Zombie Preparedness Initiative(ZPI) Image Attachment Function to display images on posts and messages.

2. Scope

This standard provides guidelines for the Image Attachment Functions so that all images are displayed correctly on the site.

This standard applies to all Zombie Preparedness Initiative staff and members.

3. Procedures

Step 1: Storing the picture for attachment

Storing An Image On The Web

Web images must be stored somewhere on the web and then linked to, but there are limitations ZPI has in place in regards to sizes and file types, so it may be easier to use a third party service such as Flickr or ImageShack or
Photobucket.

After going to the above web pages, register an account and upload the desired photos. after uploading be sure to copy the DIRECT URL that is the web address at the top of your web browser when you are looking at the picture in full view.

Using ZPI To Store The Files

To attach a small JPEG or GIF file to your post (it must be the original post, at this time, not one of the replies to that post) go to the File Attachments section towards the bottom:

I'm going to trust you to your own abilities to attach the file itself at this point (click Browse > locate the file > click OK > click Attach), but once you get the file attached, it will list it:

If you notice, it will give the option of listing the file -- this will display the file in the bottom of the post as a link. If you want to display the image in the body of the post, make sure this is unchecked.

Step 2. Attaching The Image

After gaining the Direct URL(again this is the location of the image) From here, it is a small matter of using BBCode to display the images using the [img] tag.

The [img] tag allows you to display an image in your post.
[img]http://www.example.com/example.jpg[/img]
You need to specify a URL to the image(that's the direct URL I keep Mentioning), so it needs to be accessible somewhere on the internet. Beware of adding very large images to your text, or the page will load very slowly!

A way to combat this is by specifying the desired display dimensions of the image by adding a dimension parameter to the [img] tag.A good screenshot: [img=640x480]http://example.com/screenshot.png[/img] will display the image in 640x480 (though the full image will be downloaded). Do not use this to show a thumbnail of an image!

You are free to link an image to an external destination by enclosing the [img] tag with a [url] tag. this allows a user to use an image to reference an outside page and by clicking on it you will be taken to the page. for instance if you wanted a photo that when clicked on would take you to yahoo you would write:
[url="http://www.yahoo.com"][img]http://www.example.com/example.jpg[/img][/url]