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Important Changes to Screenshots and Forum Image Improvements


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Posted

Here at DevStrike, we have two announcements that we feel will be more accommodating for members and improve the overall quality and ease of use of the forum and its members.

New Policy on Screenshots -

The first deals with a change in the forum rules for screenshots, primarily those screenshots of “team” results. Previously, we required blocking out team members other than yourself. There are, in some instances, legitimate reasons for doing so. However, this has been tricky to enforce for various reasons.  We want to handle issues even-handedly for all forum members, thus the change.  

Therefore, going forward, on a two-month trial basis, we will not require hiding team members' names in screenshots. However, our rules against individual and team member shaming remain intact. This includes the original post and any follow-up posts in a thread. So, if you are inclined to comment negatively on an individual team member or the team in general, don’t. Focus on your own efforts in reference to your screenshot. Viewers of an image can make their own assumptions about a team or individuals without the need to post a comment.

With this change, there is one thread where this could be problematic: the “Carry Harder” thread. Screenshots posted in this thread usually highlight your efforts and perhaps the lack of effort by your teammates.  If you are going to comment on a poor team or individual performance, it is more than wise to hide names.  Use your best judgment here, not only with the image but also with any comments.

The bottom line is that some screenshots may require hiding names or team members - again, use your best judgment on this matter.  This change should save members time and effort in most screenshots posted on the forum.

Overall Improvements to Image Quality -

The second announcement is the forum’s improvement in the quality of images you post (currently implemented). Any images you post within the discussion should be of better overall quality. More importantly, a higher-resolution image will appear if you click on an image.

An example is a post with images by @OT2_2 screenshots. If one wants to see more detail of the images in the original post, clicking on the image will produce a much higher-quality image.  Try for yourself!

The improvement in image quality is based on a standard PC monitor resolution of 1920 x 1080 (a high-definition image). If using a higher resolution, any downsizing should not significantly impact higher screen resolutions (see the example of 3440 x 1440 below).

Screenshot2024-08-31144620.thumb.jpg.f7b62b5cc083d22f741d097966448941.jpg

In summary, when pasting an image into a DevStrike! post, to achieve the best image quality, consider the following:

•    To achieve the best image quality of images for immediate viewing, keep images below 800x 800 pixels. Here, clicking on the thumbnail will not show a better quality image.

•    If you need more pixels (larger image, with lots of detail in it) do not exceed 1920x1080 pixels (dimensions of most monitors, today). Your image will have a lower quality thumbnail, but will look great when clicking on it.

•    If you need even more pixels (larger than 1920x1080) you will get a reduction in quality. If you want to avoid this, consider using an external image database for hosting (see here for further info). 

More technical information regarding new resolutions can be found here.  

Special Thanks to forum members who contributed valuable, constructive feedback on these issues.

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Posted

I would encourage posters to use a free offsite image hosting service, purely to ease the data storage requirements for the site. There are lots of them around but if you need a pointer go look at my posts in best coop games, the screenshots in my posts are hosted offsite, and if you right click them and open the image in a new tab this will show the URL in the address bar of your browser, the root of which will take you to the site in question. If you need more explicit help PM me.

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Posted (edited)
42 minutes ago, Efros said:

I would encourage posters to use a free offsite image hosting service, purely to ease the data storage requirements for the site. There are lots of them around but if you need a pointer go look at my posts in best coop games, the screenshots in my posts are hosted offsite, and if you right click them and open the image in a new tab this will show the URL in the address bar of your browser, the root of which will take you to the site in question. If you need more explicit help PM me.

And to add to this the amount of data we get on our account is not infinite so if you post a lot of images and other stuff that you upload directly to Devstrike you will run out of room in time. We can't delete uploaded stuff either so once full you are full for good.

Definitely off site image hosting is the way to go (I use imgur.com).

Edited by AdmiralThunder
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Posted
21 minutes ago, AdmiralThunder said:

We can't delete uploaded stuff either so once full you are full for good.

Actually you can. From your profile dropdown menu, select "My Attachments"

image.png.e86ba2fbc0c4ddd7e1dd2fc1c0dfca4c.png

You see all the images you uploaded. You can sort these by size, for instance, then click the right-side checkboxes for those you want to delete. The bin symbol appears when you click the checkboxes.

 

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Posted
2 hours ago, HogHammer said:

So, if you are inclined to comment negatively on an individual team member or the team in general, don’t. Focus on your own efforts in reference to your screenshot. Viewers of an image can make their own assumptions about a team or individuals without the need to post a comment.

a0e8d028-9bef-4d42-bee4-95f841999b18_tex

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Posted
2 hours ago, I_cant_Swim_ said:

Actually you can. From your profile dropdown menu, select "My Attachments"

image.png.e86ba2fbc0c4ddd7e1dd2fc1c0dfca4c.png

You see all the images you uploaded. You can sort these by size, for instance, then click the right-side checkboxes for those you want to delete. The bin symbol appears when you click the checkboxes.

 

Thanks. Must be a new thing or something that got enabled after the forum was started. I actually looked into it way back when I realized we were limited to what could be uploaded and in my research of Invision forums it was something that wasn't possible (they didn't want threads being impacted with images removed) or it was up to the Admins to somehow enable it. Glad to see we can do it here. Thanks for the info.

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Posted

In addition to improvements to the overall quality of images posted by forum members here on DevStrike and changes to screenshot guidelines posted to the forum (both changes detailed above), we have now DOUBLED the amount of image storage for forum members (effective today, September 1, 2024)

14 hours ago, AdmiralThunder said:

Definitely off site image hosting is the way to go (I use imgur.com).

^^^THIS^^^ is absolutely a very good option.

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Posted

As for images, could I also respectedly suggest that our distinguished members avoid to capture the integrity of their screen and take only the relevant zone ?
This would probably give smaller images in terms of size and more readable ones.
Simple suggestion

Some tools do this very well and Greenshot for instance is very easy to use, is free and under GPL licence if I remember well.
Been using it for years now and have never been disappointed.

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Posted

Yippie!

This is the best World of Warships patch in years!

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Posted

What about having a new section of the forums for sharing epic fails? Purely for educational purposes, of course. Wouldn’t be for entertainment at all.

Posted
On 9/1/2024 at 12:56 PM, Silence_CN said:

As for images, could I also respectedly suggest that our distinguished members avoid to capture the integrity of their screen and take only the relevant zone ?
This would probably give smaller images in terms of size and more readable ones.
Simple suggestion

Some tools do this very well and Greenshot for instance is very easy to use, is free and under GPL licence if I remember well.
Been using it for years now and have never been disappointed.

I have recently been re-sizing the original image by using the Microsoft Paint application.
Original image 100% can be comfortably re-sized to become 30% for upload, to reduce storage utilization.

Posted
44 minutes ago, MBT808 said:

What about having a new section of the forums for sharing epic fails? Purely for educational purposes, of course. Wouldn’t be for entertainment at all.

Are you volunteering to create the topic?

Posted
2 hours ago, MBT808 said:

What about having a new section of the forums for sharing epic fails? Purely for educational purposes, of course. Wouldn’t be for entertainment at all.

Actually, something very much related came up today in a discussion.  I'm sure something along the lines of your suggestion can be done.  We are just looking for the right place to highlight various screenshots and topics.  Stay tune...

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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, HogHammer said:

Actually, something very much related came up today in a discussion.  I'm sure something along the lines of your suggestion can be done.  We are just looking for the right place to highlight various screenshots and topics.  Stay tune...

4 hours ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

Are you volunteering to create the topic?

I'd love to, but I don't really think I'd have the time to dedicate to running a whole topic. Though I would like to suggest a name:

Detonation

A sub section collection of the funniest, worst, and most baffling replays the Devstrike community has to offer!

in the same vein as this forum, this subsection would be titled after a frequent achievement that usually follows a common player failure: forgetting to mount a Juliet Charlie on a destroyer before setting sail.

Edited by MBT808
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Posted
8 hours ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

I have recently been re-sizing the original image by using the Microsoft Paint application.
Original image 100% can be comfortably re-sized to become 30% for upload, to reduce storage utilization.

Greenshot can do all the following, included to send the image to Paint 🙂 (the native Image Editor is not really good tbh)

image.png.5b64ad3b5f138b9ffdb74978ec563722.png

I use it everyday in my job when I have to write procedures. Nothing better than an image sometimes. 🙂 

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Posted
On 8/31/2024 at 5:53 PM, AdmiralThunder said:

And to add to this the amount of data we get on our account is not infinite so if you post a lot of images and other stuff that you upload directly to Devstrike you will run out of room in time. We can't delete uploaded stuff either so once full you are full for good.

Definitely off site image hosting is the way to go (I use imgur.com).

How do I get the image from imgur to display here?  Any help would be appreciated.

Posted (edited)
49 minutes ago, Captain Slattery said:

How do I get the image from imgur to display here?  Any help would be appreciated.

Do you mean see them from other people or post your images in your thread?

If you mean post them...

  1. Copy the image link off imgur (just click the Copy Link button on the image or if you open the image links use the top one called share link which is https : // imgur .com / image url - I broke it up so it wouldn't make a bad link)
  2. Make your thread here
  3. When ready to add the image click the Other Media button
  4. Select Insert image from URL
  5. Paste the imgur link code 
  6. at the very end of the code add .jpg
  7. Click insert into post

So you need a link like this: https://imgur.com/Z1jhtUo and then you add .jpg on the end to get this...

spacer.png 

You can also paste the code from imgur into something like Notepad and add .jpg on the end and then copy the edited code and paste it directly into your thread post without using Other Media. Either method works. Note you can't paste the code directly into the post and then add .jpg on the end. It won't update the link and you need the .jpg at the very end for it to show here. I just use the Other Media method outlined above as it is quick and easy.   

Edited by AdmiralThunder
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Posted

@AdmiralThunder, thanks so much for the instructions.  I appreciate it, sir!

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