Image Rendering Issues

[sdnative]

Larry, here is an example from a post Ollie just made. Depending on who is looking, and assuming my example displays correctly for you, a forum user could see the picture below and have no idea they are only seeing part of the image.

(WRONG)


What they should see is something like this, but the site doesn't reliable render this way...

(RIGHT)


Do you see what is happening here? No sliders, no way to know the image is cropped. Just a bad render.

(Edit: Typo)

I agree. I just loaded the page with the browser maximized. Everything looked great (at 1400x1050 resolution), I then made the window smaller, and the images were cropped without any means (scrollbars) to see the rest of the image. And these images aren't even that large! There is no doubt a problem with the rendering.

[raYGunn]

Well, have we identified the root cause, or are we just trying to fix the symptoms?

My guess is no?

That being said, I do not necessarily agree with posting large images in the first place.

I totally agree with this. Posting large images can be a hassle to other users. The best way I have seen it dealt with is the forum loads a thumbnail image, regardless of the true resolution of the image, and displays that with a note above that the image has been scaled and clicking the thumbnail will cause the large image to load. This solution ensures fast loading, the webmaster can specify the thumbnail size to tailor it for all users, and if a user so chooses they can take the time to load the large image.

[sdnative]

I know what your problem is: You're using a mac.

[raYGunn]

I know what your problem is: You're using a mac.

Haha! Hey now!

[sdnative]

touché

[OLLIE]

We are going to look into the image issue... The issue was just raised recently and we haven't even given Ken the opportunity to research it.

We'll let you know what we come up with.

[raYGunn]

The issue is a bug with the phpbb code. One reported workaround is a change to the theme/nomal.css which I tried locally to no effect.

/theme/nomal.css:

Code: Select all

body {
font-size: 10px;
}

.content {
overflow: auto;
}

The other fix is a mod to the forum code which would have to be installed on the forums server into the phpbb, and may already be there, I don't have a way to check. The mod checks image size and adds bars if they go off screen. phpbb, the forum code used here, also used to have this issue with long strings of text but that was fixed a long time ago.

The bug report, posted a year and a half ago, has images attached with the same symptom as the ones I posted. The developers decided the text and images issues were similar enough to link the tickets but they don't seem to have fixed the image issue.

Here are some links for Ken which I am sure he doesn't need...

Bug marked duplicate with image examples similar to ours:
http://www.phpbb.com/bugs/phpbb3/ticket ... t_id=11399

Reviewed unresolved bug:
http://www.phpbb.com/bugs/phpbb3/ticket ... t_id=12155

(Edit-Verified text overflow is not an issue)

[justjodi]

I know what your problem is: You're using a mac.

Haha! Hey now!

Looks like raYGunn goes both ways.

[raYGunn]

A few observations about the image issue:

There are two kinds of images posted on this site each with its own pros and cons. Users of this site are using both types.

OAUSA Hosted images:

Pros:
Display a scroll bar if they are large
Should load fast since they are hosted on the site
Can't be changed except by someone with access to the server

Cons:
Cumbersome to post
If OAUSA dies they are not archived
Shouldn't be hot linked to other sites

Hot linked Images:

Pros:
Easy to post
Can be linked to any forum
Take bandwidth from the host server not OAUSA

Cons:
Can be changed after posting (not a problem if it's a users own Flickr or Photobucket account)
Doesn't display properly in some cases on this site (scaling issue)

After testing this issue on Mac and PC on several browsers I have noticed the issue of scaling looks less bad on IE but is a problem in FIrefox and Safari.

Recommendations for image posters:

Don't post large images unnecessarily
Large images should be attached to posts so they have a scroll bar
Posts with lots of images should be hosted off site and scaled down

[ki6kui]

Hello raYGunn,

I have been reading through all the posts here, but let me summarize what you are reporting as the problem. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

1. When a large picture has been posted, you are unable to view the entire picture and there are no scrollbars to view the entire picture.
2. The picture is not automatically resized to fit the space in the post.

In your response, please indicate what browswer and version you are using as well as the board style you are using.

Thanks for your help in making this a better site.