SANParks.org Forums

nor me Val I don't know how many bytes make a whatsit!!!!

There maybe a limit to how many photos one can post on on a page
But you can submit as many forum logo designs as you wish!!!!

I'm very guilty of posting lots of photos per page, but I was under the impression I was attaching links to pictures, not uploading the actual image. I use Flickr and copy the url into my TR. Is this wrong?

I'm not very technical but I think its embedding images into the post rather than just linking.

So Flickr actually stores the image but by embedding the image (using the tags) the SANParks server has to display the image, thus using the server's bandwith.

Linking (using the [url][/url] tags) just uses the viewer's bandwith.

Does that make any sense?

I'm not a techie either but I think the smaller the image (i.e. the way Chickdee posts) is the kindest to readers bandwith. So those with unlimited bandwidth etc can go to the biggger pics if they wish?

Not really. The bandwith of the SANPark's server is limited - some of Danie's posts in the Webcam chats may explain better than I can. So too many large pics being loaded (i.e. displayed in pages) puts pressure on the server's performance. In addition those with narrow bandwith (i.e. not on broadband) or with caps on data downloads can suffer.

I'll ask if Steven or Danie can come and give a better explanation.

Thanks saraf

thanks a lot to remind this fact
I have a good connection... and I can't anymore open all the photos in the LB'J ID.... too many pics
and for me these threads (ID threads) are the best, very interesting

when I have more than 10 pictures to post, I use a small/tiny size with a link to a bigger size, much more work, but why not to help people who don't have a super connection

Flickr does that very easily. The only problem is that it will only allow 200 photos on a free account.
But yes, thumbnails work perfectly, even for people with very fast lines. You just open the ones that look interesting to you.

Another way to do it is posting a very selected few photos, with links to a full gallery somewhere, like Dropbox.
After two great photos of say a lion kill you just give a link to the series, and continue on with the story.

Don't forget that you report will be cleaned up, which means that your posts will not go to the next page, but will be 15 posts (!) per page in the end unless there is an interesting conversation inbetween.

Having just finished a 'live' TR, I'm probably guilty of posting too many pictures on a page.

If I had posted 10-15 pictures then waited for a new page it wouldn't have been a 'live' TR and I would probably still be waiting to post day 5 or 6 of my 21 day trip.

A different way of posting the TR would have been to break each day into several parts with a few pictures on each an post separately. The downside of this is that at times the system response was so slow a single posting took 30 minutes or more.

I have a simple solution to this that requires a (probably) small modification to the site. Allow the owner or moderator to decide when a new page is required by using a key word in the text or by using a checkbox on the posting page.

As this forum is really a marketing exercise for SANParks, I would say that the onus is on the site administrator to ensure that the servers are capable of running the site without placing restrictions on the people who are taking the time and effort to share their pictures.

That is not a small change, but one that will have to be requested at phpBB. (And will be refused, but that is an aside.)
It will also not help after the topic is cleaned as all the posts containing photos will be on one or two pages.

You are looking at the wrong end. The servers are more than powerful enough to serve the site. The photos are not hosted on the SANParks site.

It is the receiving end. Many people have limited bandwidth, and a monthly cap. So for them it is important that there are not too many photos, and if there are, with thumbnails, so they can decide if they want to see the larger version.

What I started doing is to create a collage of the photos I want to post........3 photos per collage and you can save a lot of photos per page.

And when posting on pages where there is not a lot of and just break up your posting in to smaller bits.

DuQues : Your post raises the question; Why clean up Travel reports? What advantage is there to removing a few Kilobytes (at most) of comments from a report? Not space saving surely?

I agree that bandwidth and caps are a problem but that's a fact of life with accessing the internet these days. This site uses a lot less bandwidth than a site that has multiple adverts with moving GIF type images on every page i.e. your standard news site.

Personally, I really enjoy reading other people's trip reports and I think the more pictures there are, the better.

right and not right... it's also interesting to know the story around a picture...
when I (we) still developped pictures on paper, only 1/4 of my collegues would like to see only the photos and the rest asked for the story... like my familly too