Moods of the sky around our weather instruments 2015-16

[Bull Winkus]

Did you mean to say west looking view? If so, nice sunset!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Steve]

Did you mean to say west looking view? If so, nice sunset!

Thanks for sharing.

 

Ha! Yea, it wasn't wet at all!

[elagache]

Dear Steve, Herb, and WeatherCat shutterbugs,

Just sky, without my weather station.

  . . . . That's cheatin'!  You are supposed to get a weather instrument somewhere in da' picture! . . . . 

Okay, okay, so it is really neat picture! 

Still, I thought I should give a little nudge to see if you guys can manage to get some really neat sky photos that include your weather instruments.

This is the wet-looking view from my back yard.

Looks about as wet as our brown California hillsides . . . .

I suppose the Midwest is getting its normal amount of rain for this time of year - correct?

https://photos.smugmug.com/Photography/General-Photography/i-rrqzBxh/0/X2/DSC_0954_DxO-X2.jpg

Am I the only guy with an old enough computer that a SmugMug X2 image doesn't quite fit on my browser window?

Cheers, Edouard 

P.S. SmugMug did fix their link exporter so how you can just click and copy the fancy BBS code if you so desire it.

[Steve]

Yea, I scaled it down a size. Most forums I'm on auto-scale, so I send an X2 for anyone wanting more detail or with large screens.

[elagache]

Howdy Steve and WeatherCat forum photo sharers,

Yea, I scaled it down a size.

Thanks, I suppose I'm getting old and rare but I've only got 1920x1200 on my MacBook Pro.

Most forums I'm on auto-scale

There are forums out there that can auto-scale images from SmugMug?  Are you being forced to upload images on these forums (some require it,) or is there some fancy new way to host images on SmugMug and have the forums automatically adjust the image size?  If such a thing existed that sure would be slick! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[Steve]

or is there some fancy new way to host images on SmugMug and have the forums automatically adjust the image size?

Yes, linking photos hosted anywhere at any size. It isn't new, but it is more prevalent today. vBulletin has been able to scale to a specific size for years. You can then click it to view full size. It may be a plug in or toggle, as all vBulletin sites don't have the feature. One forum I'm on still uses vBulletin 3.X, which is probably 6-8 years old. Ancient in web years, and it behaves this way.

Some forums I'm on now use the XenFolo forum platform, and it takes any size linked file and presents it in a size appropriate to your window. So if I'm on my 27" desktop with a large or small window, it scales it to fit (although no larger than the original.) If I view the same site on my iPad or phone, it scales the image to fit. You can click the image to view full size.

[elagache]

Dear Steve and WeatherCat shutterbugs,

Remember when California summers were cloudless?  Well those days appear to be long gone:



Last evening the skies were almost entirely overcast.  There was even some really colorful sunset clouds, but it was a little late for me to run around chasing that effect with my camera.

Yes, linking photos hosted anywhere at any size. It isn't new, but it is more prevalent today. vBulletin has been able to scale to a specific size for years. You can then click it to view full size. It may be a plug in or toggle, as all vBulletin sites don't have the feature. One forum I'm on still uses vBulletin 3.X, which is probably 6-8 years old. Ancient in web years, and it behaves this way.

Okay I admit, I'm stumbled.  Are these photos that you upload to the particular forum or is there some sort of code you use to indicate the URL where the unscaled image is to be found?  I checked the vBulletin BB codes:

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/misc.php?do=bbcode

These look reasonably standard.  They don't list any extensions to the image tag:

http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/misc.php?do=bbcode#imgcode

Pardon my curiosity, but www.V8Buick.com is running vBulletin.  If I understood enough of what I'm asking for, perhaps I could ask them to enable it - if they can!

Thanks!

Cheers, Edouard 

P.S.  . . . and how come nobody managed to take some really nifty photo of their weather instruments with the Strawberry full Moon in the background - all happening on the summer solstice - something that only happens every 50 years or so!. . . 

. . . probably for much the same reasons I didn't either . . . .

[dfw_pilot]

PostImage.org has free hosting and bulletin board integration. It's a nice feature board mods can integrate because users don't need to sign up for a hosting account somewhere like SmugMug or Flickr. It also saves the admin costs of hosting the images on the (Trixology) server because they are all hosted at PostImage.

[elagache]

Dear dfw and WeatherCat navigators of the whacky world of the cloud. 

PostImage.org has free hosting and bulletin board integration. It's a nice feature board mods can integrate because users don't need to sign up for a hosting account somewhere like SmugMug or Flickr. It also saves the admin costs of hosting the images on the (Trixology) server because they are all hosted at PostImage.

Okay, I love the concept but who is paying for the hosting costs of all those images?

I have a paid account on SmugMug because I hope that SmugMug will make an effort to earn that yearly payment.  Sure I love free as much as anyone else, but a relationship that is that hollow is a two-way street.  If PostImage.org runs out of money, what happens to all the images stored there?

I had hoped that companies had learned from the first dot-com crash.  Because if they haven't, they will be condemned to repeat it.

Edouard

[dfw_pilot]

Advertising pays for PostImage.

An example on: Another Forum.

[xairbusdriver]

And other image hosting sites make money by selling you enlarged copies of your own images, bound albums, etc. Fortunately, I have very few 'valuable' images anywhere in the cloud, so if I lose the ones there, it will be no real loss. I do have 7.25GB of free space at DropBox, but I don't even need that much. I doubt they will go belly up any time soon, anyway.

[Steve]

Okay I admit, I'm stumbled.  Are these photos that you upload to the particular forum or is there some sort of code you use to indicate the URL where the unscaled image is to be found?

No, these are my images hosted on SmugMug that I display on a vBulletin forum using the basic IMG tag, just like I do here. But somehow, the forum software scales the images to what I assume is an admin determined maximum size. If I'm posting a photo that has a lot of detail, and could be better viewed in larger sizes, I'll post an X2 sized image, knowing that it is going to display at 1024  (or whatever size) wide unless clicked on. Here's an example, but a lot of these open into larger Facebook sized images, as that's where they're linked. (I post my travel photos on Instagram, and they then get automatically shared to Facebook.)

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/98-trip-reports/289962-smorris-travels-across-usa-outback.html


And another, with the images being hosted on SmugMug. I notice that these do *not* open to the full X2 size unless you right-click, open in new window/tab.

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/67-classifieds/350554-sale-2008-subaru-outback-2-5-xt-limited-49-7xx-miles.html


Now, here's more or less the same thread on a XenFolo forum, and the images dynamically scale depending on the browser window size, and display full size if clicked. These are a mix of photos hosted on SmugMug and Facebook.
http://overlandbound.com/forums/threads/steve-debs-cross-country-adventure.347/

[xairbusdriver]

Images (and other things) changing size dynamically can be as simple as well designed CSS3 (older sites may use javascript). It's called 'responsive design' to allow the same site to be viewed on multiple hardware types (desktop/laptop/smart phone/tablets/watches!!). It avoids building 'mobile only' plus desktop versions of the same site. Of course, it is a real benefit to us viewers who don't have to scroll horizontally to see an image that can be double the width of our current browser window.

[elagache]

Dear dfw, Steve, X-Air, and WeatherCat fans of tidy forums,

Advertising pays for PostImage.

Well, it is a common financing strategy, but I fear that is precisely its downside.  There are a lot of web services trying to stay afloat this way.  The economy continues to do extremely poorly, so I can't imagine that this sort of advertising brings in a lot of cash.  I'll stick to SmugMug.

No, these are my images hosted on SmugMug that I display on a vBulletin forum using the basic IMG tag, just like I do here. But somehow, the forum software scales the images to what I assume is an admin determined maximum size.

When you have a chance, could you ask a polite question on one of these forums on how they do this?  The admins on V-8 Buick aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, so If I want to give them a pointer, I would need to be as specific as possible!

Thanks!

Cheers, Edouard 

[dfw_pilot]

I can't imagine that this sort of advertising brings in a lot of cash.  I'll stick to SmugMug.

Sorry, I guess I misunderstood the point you were making or for what reason you make use of SmugMug. I referenced PostImage not for you to use personally for a sharing type service but for the person who pays the bills for this forum. Sharing images from other sites via the IMG tag is fine but not mutually exclusive. Sharing photos via PostImage is easy because it offers an integrated plugin for forum admins (i.e., the attachment and photos button) and hosts the images off the forum server, saving space and money for whoever pays the bills for this forum. If PostImage isn't around in 10 years, it really isn't a concern or an issue.