Can we increase the photo size limit, please?

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I was assuming this forum ran PHPBB software, but yes- it should resize the image, so it won't be unfriendly to the poor guy in the cabin in the woods. I live on an island that could almost qualify as third world and I have wireless Internet. It would just allow you to download the image without resizing. It is a pain to resize, and it takes up a lot of hard drive space to store extra images. Also for the iPad the resizing apps cause pixelation of the image, and as someone mentioned, I am not going to download some third party software to do this.

Just asking in in hopes of making it easier. These days even phones put out rather large images. I would post a lot more if I could more easily post pics. Millions of hits but comparatively few posts- just an observation.

[Keith Outten]

Unless there has been a change in recent upgrades vBulletin will do minor adjustments to files when they are uploaded. I don't know what the limit is of if Aaron has the ability to adjust the max size allowed. I can ask him but I'm sure that if the software is capable of an auto adjustment he has already set the size limit based on our average traffic and data transfer.

I sent the specs for our new primary server to Aaron several weeks ago, we need to upgrade soon to improve performance and stay ahead of the load as growth is a constant here. He hasn't been dragging his feet on this one as he just finished his final disertation at William and Mary which took precedence to his work here. FWIW he is now Dr. Aaron M. Koehl so congratulations are in order, we are very proud of Aaron's educational accomplishments and happy that he will have more time to spend here.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Congratulations Dr. Koehl!!! My wife is getting her PhD, which I'm pretty sure stands for "Pretty hard degree." William and Mary is no easy place to get one, so many congrats, and if I were you I would correct everyone I met when they addressed me... "Thats DOCTOR Koehl, thank you." You paid a lot of money and spent a lot of time on that title. :-)

[Phil Thien]

Congratulations Dr. Koehl!!! My wife is getting her PhD, which I'm pretty sure stands for "Pretty hard degree." William and Mary is no easy place to get one, so many congrats, and if I were you I would correct everyone I met when they addressed me... "Thats DOCTOR Koehl, thank you." You paid a lot of money and spent a lot of time on that title. :-)

+1 on the congratulations!

Fascinating dissertation topic, too, and I had never given it a second of thought.

I do insist on referring to people with PhD's as "Doctor." If I work with them long-term, I will shorten that to "Doc." Like when I see the CID on the phone is one of them I'll answer "Hey Doc." I do think it is important to acknowledge the achievement and cringe when I see others addressing someone with a PhD informally, especially in a public setting. I see it all the time, though.

[Jason Roehl]

+1 on the congratulations!

Fascinating dissertation topic, too, and I had never given it a second of thought.

I do insist on referring to people with PhD's as "Doctor." If I work with them long-term, I will shorten that to "Doc." Like when I see the CID on the phone is one of them I'll answer "Hey Doc." I do think it is important to acknowledge the achievement and cringe when I see others addressing someone with a PhD informally, especially in a public setting. I see it all the time, though.

I'm kind of that way, too, Phil. However, more and more, I am coming across people with advanced degrees who prefer to be addressed informally. I did an after-hours repaint of a dentists' office last fall, and every time I called the dentist "Doctor Smith", (not his real name) he would say, "Please, just call me 'Dan'" (his real first name).

I've also noticed that the younger generation is less likely to use "Mr.", "Mrs.", etc. Even at 40, I still look for my father when I hear someone say, "Mr. Roehl" because I don't hear it that much.

[Phil Thien]

I'm kind of that way, too, Phil. However, more and more, I am coming across people with advanced degrees who prefer to be addressed informally. I did an after-hours repaint of a dentists' office last fall, and every time I called the dentist "Doctor Smith", (not his real name) he would say, "Please, just call me 'Dan'" (his real first name).

I've also noticed that the younger generation is less likely to use "Mr.", "Mrs.", etc. Even at 40, I still look for my father when I hear someone say, "Mr. Roehl" because I don't hear it that much.

Yeah I agree many of the guys with whom I work don't want to be called doctor, but they seem to accept "doc." Although one of them told me I say "doc" because I can't remember all their names (I do IT work in some hospital groups). Of course, half the time their name is right on my phone (CID) or their jacket, so that just isn't the case.

I do have a few clients that refer to themselves as "doctor [last name]" when they call. They are asking to be addressed formally. They tend to be older, I'd say, and I supposed it is a PITA for them because so many doctors are so informal now.

Sometimes people used to address me as "Doctor Phil" which always made me cringe (because I really can't stand people that fake their achievements and I never even finished my four-year degree). Luckily the Dr. Phil TV guy put a stop to that, now calling me Dr. Phil would no longer be an honorary doctorate but some sort of comparison to the TV guy. Although a guy at the hardware store started calling me Doctor Phil about a year ago and this went on for a few visits until I think someone explained that I could be taking it as an insult.

I will just go on to add that I've never run into a person with an advanced degree with an ego problem, either. And I've worked with quite a few, including a guy with the trifecta from MIT (undergraduate, masters, PhD from MIT--that is impressive). I'd actually say that most of these guys feel like they have nothing to prove, they tend to be pretty humble, down to earth guys. Perhaps when you are that educated, you figure out just how much you don't know.

Edit to add: On some occasions, I've seen hospital employees that are not MD's wearing lab coats embroidered with their names without an "M.D." I'm talking about people from the IT department, LOL. Iit has always struck me as very strange, though I've never called anyone out on it.

[Aaron Koehl]

SawmillCreek can and already does resize images that are too large in the horizontal dimension to prevent scrolling. The maximum horizontal dimension before auto-resizing is 1200px. It also downsizes an image whose file size is too large (currently > 225K), and saves at a reduced fidelity (about 75%). We have a hard limit of about 1MB before resizing takes place.

However, a 5MB jpeg is just huge, and storage isn't the primary issue. If it takes you a full 1.5 to 3 minutes (depending on server load) to upload it, that consumes a web server process that could otherwise be used by literally thousands of other users. Even if there is extra bandwidth capacity (which we have), a user's connection speed (your peers) on slower carriers and connections will cause a process to be consumed for much longer.

SawmillCreek is a long way away from $25 web hosting, with bills reaching well into the thousands. When you're dealing with thousands of concurrent connections, both the math and infrastructure considerations become very different. Throughput is important. Amazon and Facebook are able to accommodate huge picture uploads because, frankly, they have deeper pockets and more servers.

We could offer this service down the road, but not at our current price point and donation schedule.

(1) You have to download/install software. Download it from one of the wrong download sites, you get malware with it.
(2) You have to know an appropriate size. Someone may go too small, pics look like carp. Someone could try too large, have to start all over.
(3) You now have to copies of the same image.

Why do you guys think eBay and Craigslist (and others) are making their systems auto-size images? Answer: They're trying to appeal to the largest possible user base.

Again, I will just go on record as saying I don't know vbulletin can do this. I sort of suspect it cannot, otherwise I think Keith would have it turned on already.

[Phil Thien]

Too bad three isn't a way to do the resize client-side in javascript (or something).

[Aaron Koehl]

Phil,

That's a very good idea. It is technically possible using HTML5 and canvas to do it client-side.

Too bad three isn't a way to do the resize client-side in javascript (or something).

[Phil Thien]

Phil,

That's a very good idea. It is technically possible using HTML5 and canvas to do it client-side.

Yeah I had done some googling and saw the technique. But I figured if it was practical, that it would have already been implemented in the VB code, or in an add-on module.

OTOH, maybe you could write an add-on module and make some do-re-mi selling it to other VB sites.

OTOOH, I question HTML5 support on portable devices? You'd know a lot more about that, than I. If the client-side resizing wouldn't work on (say) an iPad or Droid device, it may not be worth the bother. This is one of your areas of expertise, though. Certainly not one of mine.

[Dan Hintz]

SawmillCreek can and already does resize images that are too large in the horizontal dimension to prevent scrolling. The maximum horizontal dimension before auto-resizing is 1200px. It also downsizes an image whose file size is too large (currently > 225K), and saves at a reduced fidelity (about 75%). We have a hard limit of about 1MB before resizing takes place.

When trying to link to a pic's url (and select the option to download the pic) for threads here, I often get the error that the image is too large. It's not, unless your limits are set unbelievably small. Next time I come across that (it's not often I grab pics off of the web, so it may be a while, and I will likely forget) I'll send a note with a link.

[Todd Willhoit]

Too bad three isn't a way to do the resize client-side in javascript (or something).

This would be ideal, and a huge time-saver if one could select multiple images.

Links to pictures that are hosted elsewhere become a problem...

This is the very reason automated server-side or client-side resizing would be beneficial. I believe the reduced hassle would encourage users to upload images rather than linking out, killing two birds with one stone.

Although it is a less attractive solution for several reasons, another option could be to permit contributors to upload larger images which are then resized at the server.

(2) You have to know an appropriate size. Someone may go too small, pics look like carp.

carp1.jpg
I hate it when that happens!

[Kent A Bathurst]

I'm not all that sure I want photos of my stuff in super-fine resolution. I get enough grief from Harold about my Tigers; see no need to add fuel to that fire with infinite detail of my "joinery"........