How To: Post pictures to the forum using a picture-hosting website.

Guide to hosting pictures on AutopiaForums.com using a picture-hosting website.

One of the first questions that is asked on the forum, by new members who may not have had previous experience on web-forums, is "How do I post a picture?"

There are several ways to post pictures on vBulletin web forums. One way is to use an off-site picture hosting website such as Photobucket.com. Some forums, such as AutopiaForums, provide a member`s photo gallery to make it easy. This article describes how to use an off-site picture hosting website to host your pictures. If you are interested in using your free AutopiaForums gallery click here.

Before posting a picture you will need to have it hosted it somewhere on the internet. In simple terms the picture needs to have a web-address (similar to a house address) so the forum knows where to find it at all times. You must upload your photo to the internet before you can post it into a thread.

The picture hosting websites include: Photobucket.com; Flickr.com; Imgur.com; Picasa.com; and TinyPic.com. There are many others, and a quick search on Google or a suggestion from an AutopiaForum member can get you in the right direction.

The mechanics for hosting a picture are fairly similar from website-to-website. Photobucket.com is one of the most popular picture-hosting websites.

First, you will need to create a photobucket account to host your pictures. Go to photobucket.com.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...tingpics/1.jpg

In the upper right hand section of the screen there is a section called Sign In, Sign Up. Selecting this will bring up a box menu that you will use to log in to your account once it has been formed. At the bottom of the box menu is a link titled Sign Up Now. (Red Arrow). Select this link to go to the next screen.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...tingpics/2.jpg

Selecting the Sign Up Now link will bring you to a new screen. Fill out the information completely and submit. You will be sent an email you must respond to in order to active your account.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...tingpics/3.jpg

Once your account is activated your home screen will look like the picture below. You have options to set such as the picture size you would like photobucket to re-size your picture. You can also create separate albums to keep your photos organized. The next manner of business is to upload your pictures from your computer to the picture-hosting website. Select the album options menu on the right side of the screen. (red arrow)

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...tingpics/4.jpg

This will will bring up another menu box. Select Upload Pictures and Videos.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...tingpics/5.jpg

On the following screen select the green box: Select photos and videos.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...tingpics/6.jpg

Another menu box will open that will allow you to select the photos from your computer. Once you have selected all of the pictures you wish to upload select continue. A screen will open and all of the photos you are uploading will have progress bars underneath of the them. Once all of the photos have been uploaded you will go to the screen below. You can add titles or meta-tags to your newly uploaded photos. When you are done select Save and continue to my album.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...tingpics/7.jpg

Your album screen will display the photos you have uploaded in thumbnail size. You can double-click on a photo to enlarge and bring up information on that photo. In the album below I have two photos uploaded.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...tingpics/8.jpg

If you hover over the photo another menu box will appear with four different options to select: Email&IM; DirectLink; HTML; IMG Code.

Email & IM- Select this if you emailing a photo or sending one through an instant message. It is a direct link into your photobucket account.
Direct Link- This is a direct link to the picture itself.
HTML Code- Use this for web-design.
IMG Code- This is the same as direct link with the vBulletin image tags wrapped around the picture.

Note: AutopiaForums is a vBulletin based web-forum. It will attempt to post a picture in a thread anytime a web address is wrapped with image tags. Image tags look like [ IMG ] web address of the pic [/ IMG ]. The spaces were added between the brackets and IMG to prevent the forum from trying to post it as a picture.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...tingpics/9.jpg

While you have many options in order to post pictures on to the thread, there are two main options that are simple to use. The first option is post the Direct Link in the thread. First click on the direct link option from the menu box. This will copy the text into your clipboard.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...ingpics/10.jpg

In order to paste the Direct Link as a picture into your post or thread select the picture icon (red arrow) on the post editor.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...ingpics/11.jpg

This will bring up a menu box. Simply paste the copied Direct Link into the box and select okay.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...ingpics/12.jpg

Your photo is now posted with the correct IMG tags and will appear as a picture when you submit the post. You are done.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...ingpics/13.jpg

The second option you have when posting your thread involves using the IMG Code option from photobucket. Click on the IMG Code to copy the text into your clipboard.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...ingpics/14.jpg

When using the IMG Code, photobucket has already wrapped the picture with the appropriate IMG tags. Simply right click in the post editor and select paste.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...ingpics/15.jpg

The picture posts identically to the previous example.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...ingpics/16.jpg

Now select Submit New Thread to view your photographs.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...ingpics/17.jpg