Do you object to our new Image Size Guidelines

In this interest of keeping this site inclusive to all Irish internet users and in preventing large images breaking the formating of pages making them hard to read the admins have introduced guidelines for those posting images. Those guidelines are as follows:

1) Images should be no larger in any dimension than 800px
2) Images should be JPEgs
3) Images should be no larger than 200KB

Users can put links to any size image they like so it is simple and indeed encouraged to include a smaller image in the thread and provide a link to the large high-resolution version.

There has been some very vocal objection to this by a very small number of users. Perhaps there are many other users who share this objection but are not so vocal. Here is everyone's chance to have their say.

The question is simple, do you strongly object to these new guidelines?

I had to vote yes, not because I would have problems personally but I can see how some would.

200kb limit no problem, space costs money. No Problem there.

800px max - Problem. I see no good reason for this By doing this you limit users ability to show their images in their full resolution. Sometimes I see images posted here and think that the image is great but its shown so small it loses the impact. When I take so much time over an image the last thing I want to do is shrink it.

JPEG - Why? Once its under 200kb it shouldn't matter what format the images are in as long as its not some proprietary format like .psd etc.

Saying all that it doesn't affect those of us who host our images off site, but if you don't have an off site option then this is gonna hurt. I know flickr etc is free but not everyone can see flickr. Many people rely on corporate connections to view this site. Many corporate networks block photo sharing sites and for good reason.

In short I think the 200kb limit is enough, the rest seems unneccessary to me anyway.

Hi Dave,

JPEG - Why? Once its under 200kb it shouldn't matter what format the images are in as long as its not some proprietary format like .psd etc.

You are correct in that the other restrictions are enough. The jpeg format is very useful for posting pictures online, at decent quality there are not many compression artefacts and its file size is fairly small compared to other formats. Many of our users will know that and would typically not post say a png file, they typically are much larger than jpegs, on the site; however for users not so familiar with the different formats they may not know that jpeg will give them the best bang for buck, so we decided to just allow jpegs. In practice though I can't see us asking a user to convert an image to jpeg once it meets the other constraints - this is enforced by moderators not by the software so the boards wont stop you posting say a png. However if someone post a bmp file or dithery gif of their astrophotos they can expect a pm with some advice about formats

I understand your sentiments about the image scale too. Though if a user was to post say a 3000px image it would break the forum formatting on most screens etc. Given that it seems some limit is in order. Out of interest if you had to set such a limit what would you think was appropriate?

Cheers,
~Al

Given that it seems some limit is in order. Out of interest if you had to set such a limit what would you think was appropriate?

Al, to be honest no matter what you set the limit at someone will look to post a mosaic bigger than that. Why not set a guidline and if an image is causing a problem then ask the user to size it down or host it elsewhere. I don't mean any criticism in this but I'd personally rather not post an image than post one that has to be massively scaled down.

Just as an FYI, my smallest screen (19" LCD) has a standard 1280 horizontal res. I measured from the left edge of the main post area to the right hand side and it measures 942px. On my larger screen (20" wide LCD that same area measures 1256pixels. So I guess 800pixels would be fair for an onsite limit.

UKastroimaging have a great system in place where a user can upload a file and a thumbnail (around 600px) wide is automatically created. The user can then click on the image to see the full res shot. This would be ideal if it were possible here.

I prefer to look at the actual night sky,not at a computer monitor.

Brings to mind a famous poem:

When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
by: Walt Whitman

When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts, the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the learned astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars

I prefer to look at the actual night sky,not at a computer monitor.

So what your saying is you have nothing to add to this particular discussion?