Windknot's method of posting photos...

[michaelzim]

Windknot...I'm presuming I am not the only one who would like to post photos with a greater clarity and ease than the standard method for posting in HS Topix. So herewith a new post to ask for a few more details on your comment below in blue (copied from your TR):

"Now all I have to do is wait for photos taken on my phone to sync with Google Photos once I get back home, move them all into a publicly accessible folder, a relatively small amount of post processing, and then grab the individual links to put into the report."

OK, when I go to my Google Photos and open up a photo, at the top right there is this:

Top right of a Google Photo.JPG

I see no menu to do anything other than the "Share" icon at the very left which opens a new window...The top of this new window does not offer any help as it is for sharing with emails in my address book:

Share Window - Top.JPG

At the bottom of new window however, there is the "Create link" - is this what you use???:

Share Window - Bottom.JPG

If so, do you have to do this for each photo or have you found a way to download a whole bunch at once to an HS Topix post?
Maybe I am missing something re the "publicly accessible folder" thing?

Thanks in advance! ~ Michaelzim

[michaelzim]

Well, I tried this method and it does not work. All it does is create a link that then I can paste - but the photo itself does not show up in the post, just the link URL. So yep, I am missing something. Trying to make it "Public" did not work either.
P.S. I think there is a post somewhere that says HS Topix does not "work" with Google Photos.
Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

[windknot]

Hey Michael, good idea to start a new thread for this. I'll outline what I do to get my photos in Google Photos to show up here, but the uploading part is not really any quicker than for photos hosted on any other site. The part that is much quicker is that my photos now get automatically uploaded to Google's cloud from my phone, whereas in the past I had to manually do that part via SD card and computer.

To my knowledge we unfortunately can't link several photos all at the same time from a Google Photos album to HST. We can either share a link to a public album (very quick, but a suboptimal viewer experience), or take the following steps below for each photo you want to show up here (best viewer experience, but takes a long time to link all the photos):

1. Move the photo to a publicly-accessible album:



2. Ensure that the album has link sharing enabled:





2. Right-click on the photo in the album and select "Copy image address":



3. Paste the image address you copied into the HST text box within the {img} {/img} html (or you can use {rimg} {/rimg} (using the appropriate [] brackets instead of {} brackets -- I'm using {} here just to illustrate the html):

[michaelzim]

OK, let's see if I can get it to work. My first attempt following your directions failed...A retry now:




Nope did not work again. All I get is that tiny "Image" icon on the post here as per my illustration below. No photo!

Failed again....JPG

Oh, you can see that above my illustration now I see. Well double clarification that I do not seem to be getting it to cooperate. From what I can tell it should work as before I did your steps I did not even get that failed mini "Image" icon! Maybe it works better via a cell phone platform as I am doing this on my desktop - and indeed there seem to be differences with some other stuff I have tried before. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

So maybe we should call it a day Windknot, unless some other whiz can figure it out?! I'm at a dead end as have looked in and tried all the "options" seemingly appearing for me in Google Photos. A pity though as your photos in TR come out superbly!

Best ~ M.

[freestone]

I have always used Flickr but I thought I would try Gooogle according to Windknot's recipe. At first I was getting the same results as michaelzim but then made sure I right clicked and copied the image address (instead of simply copying the link) then pasted it using the img option. That worked.


Create a Shared Album.
Enable Link Sharing in Options.
Select the image you wish to post.
Right click then copy Image Address.
Paste between the brackets on the img option.

[michaelzim]

Trying the "Right click + copy image address" pasted between the HS Topix "Insert Image" brackets, etc.





BRILLIANT!!! Now it works.

Now just for the hell of it here is the same image posted via the "normal HS Topix method" as per the Attachment tab, etc. Let's see if the image quality goes to kukka:

DSC01154.jpg

Yep, noticeably less sharp and blurry!...Many thanks to both of you as I hope to use this method in future posts.

Michaelzim

[michaelzim]

OK, may as well make this a thorough review of the whole shindig while I wait for hurricane Hilary to exit... Herewith an attempt to see what the "quality differences" are with 3 different methods of inserting photos into an HS Topix post.

1. = Normal internal High Sierra Topix "Attachment" method - that gives not very sharp images.

2. = Hosted photo via Flickr.

3. = Hosted via Google Photos.

So here goes, with the same photos - (downsized by me from the original 10 MB to 500 KB using https://bulkresizephotos.com/en as HS Topix does not accept big MBs, etc.)

1. HS Topix internal "Attachment" method:

DSC01202.jpg

DSC01262.jpg

2. Flickr hosted:

DSC01202 by Michael Zim, on Flickr

DSC01262 by Michael Zim, on Flickr


3. Google Photos hosted:





OK, from what I can see the internal HS Topix method definitely gives a more blurred image, but there seems to be no differce between the Flickr or Google Photos hosted versions. Of these two the Flickr process is simpler and seems more foolproof. The only advantage with Google Photos is if one uses it anyway and does the automatic upload stuff from your camera. I do not, so would most likely choose Flickr to post from.
[P.S. WHY ARE THE HS TOPIX IMAGES CLEAR IF CLICK ON THEM??? Why can they not be clear in the smaller format Mods?]
By the way @grampy was the member who put me on to Flickr as I had avoided all the cloud photos sites, etc. I figured there would be lots of advertising with a free account at Flickr but it is almost non existent. Plus I will only use it for HS Topix posting.

Hope this is useful to anyone ~ Michaelzim

[windknot]

Thanks freestone for solving the issue -- I've accidentally grabbed the wrong link before too and also found that it didn't work.

Michael, thanks for the side by side image comparison. I hadn't even thought about viewing quality differing depending on where the photo was hosted, but I guess this is because I've always hosted my photos elsewhere and then just linked to HST. Agreed that there's no point/need to use Google Photos unless it's already part of your image storing process. I've used Flickr in the past and really liked it -- it's the automatic file uploading/cloud hosting aspect of Google Photos that seals the deal for me.

[SirBC]

I believe your conclusions are valid for the thumbnails, but that is likely because the HST thumbnail is simply smaller than the others. However, if you click on the thumbnails to enlarge, the HST image seems to be indistinguishable from the Flickr image and they are both 2350 x 1568 whereas the Google image is only 1323 x 883 (?).

My guess as to why the HST thumbnail is not as sharp as the other two is that the HST thumbnail and image are generated and hosted on HST whereas the other two are generated and hosted on their respective platforms. So the HST hosted images are run through the forum software which compresses and resizes the image to generate the thumbnail, but when clicked on it shows the original image. The compression and resizing is likely to decrease storage space on the server, and storage space costs money.

[michaelzim]

Yeah, this photos stuff is a trip...The irony being that when we see the reality out there in the high mountains it is all so vivid and clear, then looking at photos later they just do not seem to come up to that level very often. The sharper they are though, the more they look closer to "what it really looked like" etc. Hence it is a bummer that the internal HS Topix method leads to a blurry image - as how many people click on (or even know to click on) a photo to enlarge/clarify it?! It took me years to figure that one out.

@SirBC I suspect you are right as that sounds like a very probable explanation.
I have read somewhere that the HS Topix website and format is "ancient" and "outdated" which would maybe include stuff like what we are talking about here. However, that is all way above my skill/pay grade and I am just impressed as blazes that the mods look after the site and run it!!! Maybe someday the "younger generations" of members born into this internet era will grab it and renew it?...Any takers out there?!

Thanks again to all who brought light to this topic! ~ Michaelzim