Automatic Image Resizing on the Forums

Mouse

This feature is starting to get irritating, particularly when browsing the mapping forums.
It would be nice if there was a way to turn it off.

quazilin

I agree.

Depot

Don't the images return to full size when clicked on?

Thansal

they open in a new tab for me.

Depot

Yes they open in a new tab.

The description for this in the AdminCP pretty well describes why this is an excellent feature, especially in the Mapping Forum,

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->any images posted with the [IMG] tag will be resized <u><b>to prevent large images from breaking the layout of your board.</b></u><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
How many times have we all seen oversized images posted that borked the entire page? Far far to many I'd say.

Mouse

How many times have we seen reasonably sized images (800x600 for example) resized without regard for the current user's viewing resolution?

Yes, large images sometimes require users to scroll to see them. But in the mapping forums - particularly in screenshot threads - large images are par for the course and almost expected. Which is why I'm suggesting - not that the automatic image resizing be removed entirely - but that users are given the option to turn it off.
It unnecessarily complicates viewing large images, something that some users of this forum do quite regularly.

Depot

Several I'm sure. Unfortunately there is no method to selectively resize only images larger than that.

It's to bad that a few bad apples spoil it for everyone, but an oversized image screws the page up so badly I don't know of another solution. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/confused-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="???" border="0" alt="confused-fix.gif" />

puzl

How does it screw the page up? Does it just merely look bad, or does it render the site unusable? I can probably count on one hand the number of times large images have caused any significant problems for me on these boards, and that is because the moderators have always been able to apply the human touch by deleting them where appropriate. I know I never delete a large image in the mapping or creation forums, but I would do it without hesitation in off-topic or ns gen disc.

Depot

How it screws the page up was already quoted by IPB above, "to prevent large images from breaking the layout of your board." When this occurs it simply looks like crap, no matter which forum it occurs in.

puzl

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->but an oversized image screws the page up so badly I don't know of another solution.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

One solution to the problem is to just accept that large images mess with the page layout and get on with it. I'm not sure what functionality a user is deprived of because there is a large image on the screen. Horizontal scrolling is a basic part of document management and even the most basic of tools ( e.g. internet explorer, firefox ) utilise the feature.

Depot

I don't like doing that puzl, and shouldn't have to. Why should viewers be inconvenienced because the image poster is to lazy to downsize an image?

BigD

<!--quoteo(post=1650631:date=Sep 19 2007, 10:28 PM:name=Mouse)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mouse @ Sep 19 2007, 10:28 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1650631"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->This feature is starting to get irritating, particularly when browsing the mapping forums.
<b>It would be nice if there was a way to turn it off.</b><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I think this discussion is missing the point.

On a side note, I just loaded up the "Post your screenshots thread" to check, and yeah, it doesn't automatically resize images for me. (With much side-scrolling to be had on my 1024x768 screen.) All images are in their glorious original size for me.

I'll look through my control panel to see if I found some switch somewhere at some time, though I don't recall ever turning it off.

Edit: I jumped the gun, after they all loaded, (and after I switched back to this tab) they all shrunk. TRYING TO MAKE ME A LIAR NOW, EH?! EH!

Edit: Tried it again. The last thing (at least in opera) that my browser does is shrink all the images so I got to see them in full size. This seems to usually be enough time for me to see the new images and move on, so that's probably why I never noticed/paid attention to the shrinking before.

<u>On THAT note</u>, the layout <b>isn't</b> broken for me. In fact, <b>I'd say IP Board handles it quite well, only making you scroll for the posts that are wider than the layout.</b> (This means that a huge wide image doesn't make every other post above and below it stretch out to that width, making it a pain in the butt to read.) At any rate, yeah, even if it were possible to turn this off on a user by user basis, turn it off on a thread by thread basis or a forum by forum basis, that'd be great. (Particularly for the screenshot heavy mapping and customization forums which are useless without pics!)

Picture to show what I mean.

<img src="http://bigdxlt.googlepages.com/nobreaky.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

Oh the irony.

Edit: This image isn't shrinking for me at all...

Edit: There it went. TRYING TO MAKE ME A LIAR AGAIN! ######S!

puzl

Maybe they want to load up a high res version of the image to better represent the hours of painful work they have put in?

I see nothing wrong with this, and if you don't want to move a scrollbar to see their work, then that's fine, I suggest you press the back button instead.

Depot

The powers-that-be spent a hefty chunk of change to purchase their IPB license, and probably did likewise to get this skin made. If not they still had to create it, and have a lot of work left to do on it.

I just think it would be a shame to disable a feature that would force a page outside of its normal dimensions and bork the theme. High def images can still be taken and posted, just not in a mammoth size.

Comprox

First, the skin was not paid for. I made it, and then Flayra and Max spent a lot of time making it actually good <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />

Second off, as BigD pointed out: it only "breaks" the posts that have the images. I really don't like the resize feature as well and since it only affects the posts they are in, I would love to see it turned off as well. just because they paid/worked for a feature doesn't mean it is always needed.

Depot

Actually that's incorrect - not only do they affect the posts they're in, they affect the entire page that the oversized image is on.

Nice work on the skin prox... I hope they finish it soon. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />

TychoCelchuuu

Just make it toggleable. Then everybody wins.

Depot

I'll put in a request for that.

BigD

Okay, I think I see where the confusion here stems. From what I can tell, IP boards don't have something like that as an option, it's either on, or it's off across the board. This is the kind of feature either a plugin maker could maybe provide, or to <a href="http://forums.invisionpower.com/index.php?showtopic=228314" target="_blank">request to be put into the next version of IPBoard.</a>

Anyway, from what I can tell, disabling this does <i>not</i> hurt the rest of the page layout, at least in Opera. Maybe it screws up internet explorer, but that browser is dumb anyway. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />

Depot

I've already requested a mod just to see if it's feasible.

Using IE or FF if there's an image say 1300x700 in a post, without re-sizing it will spread the entire page of posts horizontally to its size. This is why resizing works well.

Scythe

I also find this bloody annoying. Especially since most of the time it scales it to 98% which does naught but introduce nasty zoom aliasing fuzz everywhere.

Down with image resizing! Or possibly just change the threshold at which it resizes stuff.

--Scythe--

Depot

Maybe Max could incorporate his famous zoom-a-matic into this?

Kouji_San

Perhaps a resize without popup, just a resize inside the forum when clicking on it? Popups are annoying as hell. Or if you must keep the damned popups at least give it a darker background for better contrast (forum BG?).

puzl

Mods/plugins/codehacks should only be used sparingly to make the upgrade and maintenance effort easier. This feature/issue is not serious enough to warrant under the hood tinkering with IPB. The cleaner your forums are the better. I think that although preference is the major factor at play here and no one solution will please everyone, it is preferable to simply pick an option in the configuration and go with it.

Depot

Mods/plugins/codehacks exist in abundance for IPB and the majority of board owners are simply ignorant as to what can be accomplished, how much easier it can make their lives, or even how to reduce bogus/bot registrations and increase security. Upgrading is the only downside of it, but still well worth the time and effort. Try upgrading forum versions then editing multiple files each for each of 25 plus mods installed, and several tutorials... been there done that, on my own board and as support for many others. Some mods are visible, others work behind the scenes, many enhance the members use and make the admin's lives much much easier.

I agree that in this case it's not necessary though. I have seen no real issues with image resizing and it's certainly not worth changing.

The mod I requested to have this configurable via UCP hasn't even gotten a nibble although many views. This tells me it would be rather involved and probably wind up being a custom mod for money. Oh well...

Drfuzzy

I like it how it is, use a less ######ty browser setup and it might work good kthx <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />