Can I upload images directly to my webpage without converting them to jpeg?

[mystmyst]

Is there a way I can draw pictures here?

For example, if I want to show mass M on a 30 degree slope. Can I draw it here or can I only scan the image and post a link?

And let's say I scan an image, is there a way the picture will appear on the actual thread without having to click on a link?

 

[Borek]

You can either attach picture to the post, or upload it to some external server and use [noparse]put url here [/noparse] to embed the picture in the thread.

For example

[noparse][PLAIN]http://www.bpp.com.pl/IMG/Newton.png [/noparse][/URL]

gives:

[URL]http://www.bpp.com.pl/IMG/Newton.png[/URL]

Please remember that pictures wider than about 700 pixels will break forum formatting and can be deleted. 650 px is optimal.

 

[mystmyst]

or upload it to some external server and use [noparse]put url here [/noparse] to embed the picture in the thread.

For example

[noparse][PLAIN]http://www.bpp.com.pl/IMG/Newton.png [/noparse][/URL]

gives:

[URL]http://www.bpp.com.pl/IMG/Newton.png[/URL]

That's exactly what I want to do! Thanks.

But how do I upload an image to an external server? Does it have to be .png? Can it be .tif?

Clearly, I'm not computer savvy ):

 

[Borek]

png, gif or jpg are the best formats.

There are several services that allow upload of images, like imageshack. You just have to register. You may want to check several services before selecting, but to be honest I can't be of help here, as I am not using them. Remember that not all of them allow direct use of pictures on other server than their own.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Image_hosting

 

[jtbell]

But how do I upload an image to an external server?

That depends on which server you're using. I've never used commercial image-hosting sites like imageshack, but they probably provide a way to upload from one of their pages. If your Internet service provider offers web-hosting services, they may provide a similar service.

I have Web space on a server at my college, which doesn't provide any fancy tools. The traditional method for uploading to such a server is an FTP client program on your computer; there are free ones for Windows and Mac OS. I use the 'scp' command at the Unix command line. It's in most Unix and Linux distributions.

Does it have to be .png? Can it be .tif?

I use .jpg for photo-type images and .gif for line art (it compresses to make very small files). I don't use .png but I'm sure it will work also. So will .tif, probably, but I don't recommend it because those files are usually a lot bigger and take a lot longer to upload and download.

If you make a drawing by hand and scan it, you can use an image-editing program to produce a very small file which uploads and displays quickly. I use Photoshop but most any cheap or free image editor will probably do the job.

1. Adjust the brightness and/or contrast levels so as to make the background perfectly uniformly white, getting rid of the irregularities in the paper (paper fibers etc) which often show up in high-resolution scans. This makes the file size smaller because it doesn't include irrelevant detail. I use the Levels command in Photoshop, and drag the white-point slider from 255 (the maximum) down to about 230. I also drag the black-point slider from 0 up to about 60 to improve contrast (make the lines darker). The best settings depend on the output from your scanner, so experiment a bit until you get something that looks good for you.

2. Re-size the image so it's no more than about 700 pixels wide, as Borek noted.

3. Save it as a .gif file.

 

[Danger]

I use Imageshack, but it has one drawback. Since it won't accept output from Illustrator, I have to filter it through Photoshop to translate it into a jpeg before uploading it. It really is a very nice, and free, site.