I posted this on carolma's garden thread, but it's more appropriate here ... Here's why I like google's picasa web more than the tinypic.com option: If I select a small size for my photos when I post them via picasa, you can click on them and be taken directly to the larger size photo in the picasa album. If I click on a small tinypic photo, I end up at a page that offers me an account at tinypic; the original photo is nowhere to be found. The small size Carol used (320px x 221px) seems really useful for threads where there are a lot of images. I often use an old laptop with limited graphics memory, and loading an image-heavy thread takes a VERY long time, and makes my computer behave badly. So, yes, the photo-hosting site is a personal choice, but there are a lot of details to consider when you choose!

Another web place to host pictures is with your ISP. My ISP gives me free webspace as part of my account. Its not a ton of space and its not easy to see how much space is left with my ISP. Yours may vary. Uploading can be super easy. I had an FTP client built into my desktop (cuteFtp) that was integrated with Windows explorer such that I could right-click on the file and have an option to Upload to My webspace. (I had to pre-size by hand though.) Then when I upgraded my desktop, cuteFTP was no longer working and I never got around to figuring it out. I have other FTP clients I can use to move files there. Nearly as easy, but no right-click. Probably ISP webspace is not for the average user, but a potentially easy option for some.

That's an interesting observation, steve_mass; I suppose the aims of posting can be very different in other forums. In the Building a Home forum, people often want to be able to post a building plan with enough detail so they can read the dimensions (small text). It also may be their first post so Tiny Pic is often recommended by that forum as the easiest way to get photos online. In the New England forum a thread will often get long with photos posted by many people. One big photo will disrupt everything after it, making the whole thread difficult to read. Close detail isn't necessary, even for plant identification since the ID is likely to be more a case of identifying a species, not a specific cultivar (hostas can be very similar). Picasa is very popular here in New England, possibly because of the enthusiastic support of some of the regulars (as well as its many fine features before I get flamed). Including a pic in the message is the gold standard, but this is a pretty relaxed forum and I think people would rather see a link in the box than not see a pic at all. Claire

I am not linking to an external source just making HTML within the editing box given by Garden Web. So here's my dilemma. I can remove to extra bullets above the pics using (p) but I have to run all of my script together as follows: This is how it looks now with an "invisible" line of equal signs so that I can keep my entries separate. (a href="http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m114/nettasaura/seedtradepics/33247996.jpg" target="_blank") (img src="http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m114/nettasaura/seedtradepics/th_33247996.jpg" width=60 height=60)(/a) (b)AGERATUM(/b) '06(T) - "Blue Mink" - (i)(ageratum houstonianum)(/i) - blue - 2 packs/30 seeds each =========================================================== (a href="http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m114/nettasaura/seedtradepics/AlyssumRosieODay.jpg" target="_blank") (img src="http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m114/nettasaura/seedtradepics/th_AlyssumRosieODay.jpg" width=60 height=60)(/a) (b)ALYSSUM(/b) '06(C) - "Rosie O'Day" - (i)(lobularia maritima)(/i) - pink - 1 pack/50+ seeds each =========================================================== Apparently in order to get rid of those top bullets I have to run everything together like this. And as you can see that would make it very hard (especially in that narrow editing box you are given)to make quick and efficient trades when I have to dig through all of this with no separation for entries...and I have an update of at least a hundred items coming in the next few weeks. (a href="http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m114/nettasaura/seedtradepics/33247996.jpg" target="_blank") (img src="http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m114/nettasaura/seedtradepics/th_33247996.jpg" width=60 height=60)(/a) (b)AGERATUM(/b) '06(T) - "Blue Mink" - (i)(ageratum houstonianum)(/i) - blue - 2 packs/30 seeds each(p)(a href="http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m114/nettasaura/seedtradepics/AlyssumRosieODay.jpg" target="_blank") (img src="http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m114/nettasaura/seedtradepics/th_AlyssumRosieODay.jpg" width=60 height=60)(/a) (b)ALYSSUM(/b) '06(C) - "Rosie O'Day" - (i)(lobularia maritima)(/i) - pink - 1 pack/50+ seeds each(p) So do I just have to live with the extra bullets in order to make my life easier? Thanks, Netta