Sharing photos on the forum & Etiquette (Please read)

[KRae]

I'm so relieved. Mine are apparently all ready JPEGs.

[Joria]

This is really confusing to me.  I downloaded Irfanview but using it is not that simple to me, even with the tutorial.  Oh for the days when we had our own photo gallery.  So much simpler then.  I do use a lot of pictures for my stories, so if I can't get this figured out I regretfully, simply won't post stories anymore, or pics of my builds either.  I know, and accept, it's best for the community as a whole.

EDIT:  I THINK I've got it.  When you convert from png to jpg it makes the picture smaller, right?  So you don't have to go into any "Advanced" stuff to set the pixels?

[Deklitch]

@Joria  - I have just checked a couple of your pictures and they are jpgs, not pngs, so you should be alright to continue posting your stories and creations. I did just check ones in your runaway teen story, not your Sims 4 ID/Creations threads, so you may want to check those as well if you are concerned.

For anyone concerned about your images being of the incorrect type, it is a simple process to check image types! Here's how I do it:

1) Go to the post that has the image you want to check.

2) Right click the image you want to check.

3) Select Open Image, View Photo Info or Properties from the drop down. (Depending on what browser you have.)

4) In the pop-up box that comes up - look for the word Type: If this says PNG Image, then your image was saved in .png format and will need to be changed to a .jpg format.

5) Repeat the above 4 steps for a few more pictures in one of your posts to ensure that it wasn't a one off jpg file, but provided you save the pictures in the same way each time, they should be the same format. (Note the SHOULD, not WILL in that last sentence)

A disclaimer: I am using Google Chrome on a Windows 10 operating system on a PC. I believe that the process should be the same as above if you are using a different browser, operating system or a Mac, however that would need to be checked to be sure.

@Carl @MrsFlynn If the above steps should be useful, please feel free to add them to the first post in this thread/other threads.

[Joria]

@Deklitch :  It may be the difference in your browser.  I use Firefox and when I went and checked most of my pictures in my stories are png.  In Firefox you simply go to the picture in question, right click in the picture which gives a box, chose View Image Info.  About in the middle of the box that brings up it tells you what kind of image it is, whether jpg, png, or whatever.  Thank you for posting that though because I never would have thought to check that way.

Interesting thing about using the Irfanview is it not only changes your png to a jpg but saves the original.  If you save the changes to the same folder you took them from then you have to sort them out to remove, or save, the original png pictures.
My suggestion would be to create a new folder to save the jpgs to so you avoid the sorting out step.

[Playalot]

@Joria I've just had a quick look at your dynasty pics, they are all jpgs as far as I can tell. I just choose some chapters at random so I haven't checked them all, but I'd imagine that they all are jpgs as you most probably edit etc all your pics the same way.

[MarianT]

I'd suggest adding a subfolder to your screenshots folder, and making that the destination for your .jpg files. A word of warning, though -- you have to clear it out each time as the next batch you do won't overwrite the pictures that you have in there, nor will it add on at the end. In other words, if you did 5 pictures the first time and 7 the second, when you check your subfolder, you'll have the 5 pics from the first time and the last 2 from the second.

[Carl]

@Deklitch Thank you, I've added them to the first post.

I appreciate all of you who are trying, if some just can't do it, it's OK. It'll make it easier on people on mobile if even SOME of the images here are converted. If it doesn't work out, go ahead and keep posting your stories as you were or ask one of us for help with the step you're having trouble with. If there's a call for it, I'll consider making a tutorial when I have more free time. I think once you fiddle with it a bit, it should be much easier after the first successful attempt.

[Joria]

Thank you, Carl.  That takes the pressure off.  I just uploaded a new chapter in my dynasty so if folks would check those pics out please?  I used the Irfanview thing with them.

[Carl]

@Joria I see nothing but jpgs for you, which is cool.

Mediafire and the like probably prefer that, since it lowers their costs. I'm not sure why some of them do uncompressed images by default, but I guess in some cases it's important to maintain the original quality

[Joria]

Thanks for checking, Carl.  Now I'm confused, (again, or maybe a perpetual state of mind), as to why when I check the pics, ones I have not altered, they say png format but others see them as jpg.  Oh, well, not gonna complain.

[Carl]

Maybe the ones on your hard drive ARE PNG, but when you upload them to other sites they are automatically converting them to JPG in order to conserve disk space and bandwidth - it'd be bad for their business if all files were large, so unless someone specifically requests it they are going with the lower file size for those 2 reasons.

I honestly wish I could still operate our own gallery, it is just that my server actually doesn't have an awful lot of disk space and the gallery would push me to gradually need a higher priced one.

Maybe one day I'll make an images only server and let people do that again, but it depends on my own success with guides and having someone dedicated to moderating the images. I'd definitely give back to the community in that way, since Sims really kicked off my career.

[Joria]

Carl, luv, you are already doing a LOT for us.  Don't sweat trying to do more.  Most of us, including myself, have a fine place for keeping our images.  Because I know I would use a lot of images, I actually buy the Mediafire professional thing annually.  It's worth it, especially with their new ap for sharing with android things.  The gallery was fabulous for me, especially when building UC, but really, it's more a matter of wanting an "easy button" and laziness.  No pressure, dude!  We appreciate what you do as is.

I'm going to check my Mediafire files and see what properties it shows there.  I don't need extra space being taken up on my pc either so it would be good to have all my pics jpgs. 

[Magpie2012]

@Carl if you ever did that and needed volunteers to moderate the images, I'm sure a ton of us would jump at the chance to give back to a site that has given us all so much (I know I would), so finding a PicTeam would never be that difficult to do :-D

[Playalot]

Maybe the ones on your hard drive ARE PNG, but when you upload them to other sites they are automatically converting them to JPG in order to conserve disk space and bandwidth.

I was thinking about this yesterday. It seems strange to me that photobucket doesn't do this. So I'm currently looking at other photo sharing/storage options. Hoping this will cut out the need for the third step.

[KRae]

I use Photobucket, and mine are all JPGs. I copy the photos using the second link from the bottom "img".