How do I set the height and width of images that I post in forums, like this one that uses those funky brackets instead of standard html?

Not sure I understand what you're asking -- normally, I just grab the original image and re-size it down to the required image size.

Generally that's not accounted for with the simple BBCode tags that are used.  Not that I blame them.  BBCode can be enough of a headache without giving all of the options that HTML allows.

You need to save a copy of the image, resized to the size you want to publish it at. Save it at 80% quality .jpg

A suitable size for a forum might be 250px x 187px for a digital photo. Don't go any bigger than 600px although your readers will start throwing rotten tomatoes at you through the screen once you go beyond about 500px on the long side.

Do not, whether on a web page, an e-mail or a forum, attempt to send/publish an image at it's full file size of say 1600 x 1200 or bigger. This is sometimes done by resizing the image size using the html, which seems to be what you are asking about.

You just publish the image, don't try and call up a size for a forum or e-mail.

Now, how to resize the image. You'll have a graphics viewer with windows. This will do the job.

I use IrfanView. Free download. Good for everything.

* Batch resize, convert and rename.
* Edit colour and contrast/darkness.
* Make panoramas.
* Thumbnail and html generator.
* Make slideshows with music.
* Cure the common cold.

Regards,
Laurie.

Yeah, I got photo shop, so resizing isn't an issue. I was just wondering if there was a way to specify the dimensions within the img tags used in the forum post. I guess not....

Man... seems like I'm running into all kinds of problems lately. Can't properly open sized windows with java, can't size images with code in posts.... wonder whats next.

MrStitch wrote:

Can't properly open sized windows with java, can't size images with code in posts....

You don't really want to size an image with code .  The "delicate algorithm" implemented for considering the individual pixel colors is absent entirely resulting in a yukfest for image quality which gets even worse if you don't calculate the proportionate dimensions well.

TA and Laurie are on the money about resizing first for the intended use.

Hi,
you should better not use coding in order to size your forum images. As described in previous replies to your post above it is recommended to size the picture with any appropriate grafic software beforehand. This usually takes less than half a minute or so only... 

Coding always bears the risk of unpropper page or post coding, with the danger of browsers or search engine spiders to get stuck while trying to interprete your page or the post entry with the image in. Always try to head for clean coding, means it is much better to change the image itself (beforhand) than trying to code the hell out of it.

Sizing images is also a question not only of dimensions but of KB size. The larger the image, the worth it will be for page or post download speed. Coding doesn´t help at all when it comes to this.

A nice wierd one for you to use

<img src="..." style="width:xpx; height:ypx; border:#FF0000 1px dashed; padding:2px 2px 2px 2px;' />

I use the gd library in PHP to resize uploaded images. I wrote a function that takes image(s) from form, works out the aspect ratio, resizes to maintain a miximum width, or height, creates two new images (one a thumbnail) saves the images in various places and returns the path to each image.

I do have photoshop, but not everyone has access to image editing software like that

I think Paint Shop Pro (Jasc Software?) costs about a fouth as much as photo shop.

You can probably even get a copy of a one or two year old version on ebay for $25 or so.

It has tons of tools. Easy to use especially if all you need is resized. And more importantly for webmasters it has a "slider" that lets you view image quality vs size to determine where the best trade off is as you save to .jpg

DMX wrote:

I think Paint Shop Pro (Jasc Software?) costs about a fouth as much as photo shop.

You can probably even get a copy of a one or two year old version on ebay for $25 or so.

It has tons of tools. Easy to use especially if all you need is resized. And more importantly for webmasters it has a "slider" that lets you view image quality vs size to determine where the best trade off is as you save to .jpg

yep, love psp

did you know that the letters JASC are the initials of the name of the guy who writes it all?

Northie wrote:

Did you know that the letters JASC are the initials of the name of the guy who writes it all?

Nope, I didn't.

I really like the program. It does everything I need. Pretty inexpensive considering what you get and users could probably find a little help with most issues if it were needed...