Inserting Images Into Your VansAirForceForums Messages by Doug Reeves 
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One of the neatest features of posting in the VansAirForceForums is the ability to embed images.  A downside is that until recently you had to have knowledge of how to upload to a web server, which meant having your own web site, authoring software, upload client, etc.  Most people don't have their own web site...and software...and skillset.  Not everyone has (or wants) this.  But, a bunch of people have digital cameras and images of their RV project on their home computer.  Lots more than have their own web site.

Why would doing this help anyone?  Say someone asks in the forums for a close up picture of a particular part of construction.  You have it on your computer's hard disk from your own RV construction pictures, but since you don't have a web site you only have the option of sending it by email to that one person.  Everyone can't benefit from your picture.  The overall 'RV knowledge base' isn't improved upon.

Now, all you need to know (these days) is how to copy and paste an address.  Oh, and BTW.....it's FREE.

OK, so first you need to find a free place on the internet that offers image hosting (Google search for free image hosting).  You'll find millions of places to do this!

One such place is www.Imageshack.us - a site that is about the easiest I've ever seen.  They have a 1MB per picture limit, so if your image is 3MB and two feet in width you'll need to reduce it first.  Once you have the picture at the size you want (a nice size for the forums is 700 pixels wide), go to their site.  You'll see the following screen.

Click on the 'Browse' button and locate the image on your computer.  Select it, then click 'Open'.  You'll be returned to the screen above, only this time there will be text in the little box next to the 'Browse' button.

Click the 'host it!' button and wait a bit.  What's happening is the picture you selected is being uploaded to their server and an address linking to it is being generated.  Soon you'll see a screen similar to the one below:

Note the line with the arrow.  It's labeled 'Direct link to image' - sometimes they change the way the screen looks, but they will have the 'Direct link to image' link in there somewhere. That's the line you need to copy/paste into your forum message.  So, highlight that text and press Ctrl-C (on a Windows machine) to copy the address to your computer's clipboard.  Now go to the forums.

While in the 'Reply To Thread' or 'New Thread' screen look for the 'Insert Image' icon.  Whenever you get to the part of the message you want to insert the image, click on that icon (in screenshot below).

A user prompt box will appear.  Put your cursor in the text box and paste the address from your computer (Ctrl-V on Windows machines).  Click 'OK'.  Screen shot below.

You're done, it didn't cost a penny, it didn't take up ANY disk space on the VAF servers, you don't have to create a web site and everyone gets to benefit from your photography.  The 'knowledge base' has expanded.  Pretty cool.

Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading,

Doug Reeves (VAF #1)
- aircraft: RV-6 N617AR Flying
- contact: (206) 202-5059 / 'dougreeves at vansairforce.net'
- web: DeltaRomeo.com VansAirForce.net AircraftCamping.com

 

11/5/05 Update:
Copying and pasting the 'Thumbnail for forums (1)' text (the second field in the image below) right into your message will give you a thumbnail image.  When the reader clicks on the thumbnail a new window will open and the image will be automatically resized to whatever size browser they are using.  This means you can use a 2000 pixel wide, 1MB sized image!

Related: free VIDEO hosting sites on the web