How to post thumbnails

How to post thumbnails

For each of the monthly or weekly challenges, it's good if each participant can maintain a single thumbnail post with quick links to all their images within the challenge.


Basically, for each thumbnail you want something with this structure at it's heart:

[URL=post][IMG]thumbnail[/IMG][/URL]

All you then have to do is swap post and thumbnail for the correct links; the first to your post in the image thread and the 2nd to your thumbnail image.

Replace thumbnail with the web address of your thumbnail, in the same way that you used the web address of your main image.
Your image hosting service may provide a way to return a thumbnail sized version of your shot, or if not, create and upload one yourself and then use that. (that's what I do: 120x120 pixels with a dark grey background)
N.B. This should be the address of the jpg itself, not the web page that contains it.

Replace post with the link to the post that you created within the image thread. If you look at that post, find your user name on the left, then a little to the right you'll see either a little blue circle or a yellow star. Click on that and it will take your post to the top of the visible page, and then in the address bar at the top of your browser will be the exact address of your individual post. Copy and paste that in place of post

So as an example from an earlier challenge:
thumbnail is http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7147/6722511297_011cc2407e_o.jpg
and
post is http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/cyc-iii-day-3_topic83717_post978382.html#978382

and so the resulting code for my thumbnail will be:

[URL=http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/cyc-iii-day-3_topic83717_post978382.html#978382][IMG]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7147/6722511297_011cc2407e_o.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

which gives the following image that can be clicked on to take you to the original post:


When you add a new image, don't start a new thumbnail post, just edit your existing thumbnail post and add a similar entry for the next one, maybe with 4 or 5 spaces between the entries.

Hope this helps - do feel free to ask if you need any help

Edited by rovhazman - 01 November 2013 at 14:09

I see what you mean, Richard but I think if you do that, the thumbnails are linked to your flickr page.

I think idea with thumbnail galleries here is that they should link to the Dyxum challenge page. That's what makes it so time consuming - each URL needs to be edited manually.

The only way I've found to make it bearable is to build the thumbnail gallery pic by pic, one day at a time as the challenge unrolled over the month.

From a personal point of view, if your thumbnails all ended up linking to the flickr originals, I wouldn't be too disturbed. After all, the idea is that I would browse your images from one central location. If I want to see a bigger version, I click on it. Whether it appears in a flickr page or a dyxum page makes very little difference to the image content    Using Argote's Flickr Poster, it would be very easy to build a dyxum post full of thumbnails linking to flickr pages.

What do the mods think about this?

Thanks Guys
Thanks for the explanation now I understand the reasoning I'll try harder in any case I've been trying to do it my way this this morning but I now can't get Flickr to offer me the URL anyway.
So do I pick the URL off dyxum, then edit it (really don't get how to do that bit)& then re-insert it in the Thumbnails thread using the green tree logo as normal ?
Also - a more general Q - how do I put in the link to Flickr that they require - another blank in my education !
Sorry for being thick....
Many thanks
RT

Richard,

Here's how I do it... (Using firefox)

Start with a template in a blank text file (on Windows Notepad):
[ URL = dyxum_page ] [ IMG]thumb[ / IMG][/ URL]
Find your page post with the main image. Click the blue blob at the top line of the post.

The browser then shows the full page link in the address box.
Click into the address box. Press ctrl-a on the keyboard to make sure the whole adress is selected.    Press ctrl-c (which means 'copy')

Go the template delete 'dyxum_page' then leave the cursor there and press ctr-v (which means 'paste') and the address in full magically appears.

To get the address for the Thumbnail, I use Argote's Flickr Poster. It brings up little thumbnails of all your recent uploads. Choose the relevant thubmnail, right-click it with the mouse and choose 'copy image location'. Go back to the template. Delete 'thumn', leave the cursor there then press ctrl-v and the thumbnail address appears.

Hey presto, one is done! (Don't leave any spaces in that special code...)

I tend to leave the whole thing as a work in progress in Notepad on the computer then paste the whole lot into a forum post.

I hope that helps - the Argote Flickr thing makes life a bit easier....

Thanks again - I can feel a lot of "screaming at the computer" coming on this evening but I will persevere !
Fantastic bunch you are !
RT

Just a small trick discovered by Brian (bonneville) who noticed that the thumbnail I posted "jumped" to a new browser's window/tab instead of opening the post in the same window. This can be handy if you want to keep your currently opened thread and take a look at the photo.

To be honest I have not noticed that difference until pointed out by Brian and that made me scratch my head - what is so special about my thumbnail that it opens separate window ...

Well, I think that it is caused by the way in which the link to the post is constructed, namely you can use the "absolute" link or "relative" link.

The absolute one is e.g.

[URL=http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/oktoberfest-2015-day-1_topic115228_post1386092.html#1386092 ] [IMG]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5654/21858258705_47f1bc0e5a_m.jpg[/IMG] [/URL]

whereas the relative one has the server/directory part removed (i.e. what I marked in red above):

[URL=oktoberfest-2015-day-1_topic115228_post1386092.html#1386092 ] [IMG]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5654/21858258705_47f1bc0e5a_m.jpg[/IMG] [/URL]

The difference is only visible when you click on the thumbnail - try it yourself on thumbs below.

Absolute:


Relative:


EDITED:
The "relative URL" trick will only work for links which are Dyxum based, i.e. you cannot get such link to an external web page as it is always to be "absolute"



Edited by MiPr - 01 October 2015 at 19:50