[admin]

We have decided not to include a “sew and show” forum here because the Oliver + S Flickr group already serves that purpose. Please continue to post your photos of finished garments to the Flickr group, not in the forums.

That said, there may be times when an image would help illustrate a point you are making in a forum post. If that’s the case, here’s how you can include an image in a post.

1. Upload your photo to a photo-sharing site such as http://www.flickr.com/ , http://imageshack.us/ , or http://photobucket.com/ .
2. Obtain the URL for a version of the image that is less than 500 pixels wide. (If the image is wider than that, it will not display completely.) You can typically obtain the URL for an image by by right-clicking on the image, selecting “Copy Image Location,” and then pasting what you have copied.
3. In your post, type this code–exactly as it appears here:

   <img src="[Insert location here between the quote marks, excluding brackets]">

Your image will appear in-line with the post like this.

[sews4kla]

I have a comment and pictures that I would like to post but I don’t have a photo sharing account. How can I post comments with pictures? Could I email pictures to you (oliver and S contact email or April930s email address)?

[admin]

I would recommend that you create a Flickr account. There is no cost to use their service. Once you have your photos uploaded there, you can use the instructions above to include images with your comments.

[Megan]

I neither want nor need a Flickr account (or any other photo sharing services). My online life is already quite rich and complicated without any such service, even besides the fact that Flickr is annoying as all getout and I hate visiting it. I don’t really understand why Oliver+S wouldn’t want to expand options by which users share their work. I was all excited when I got the latest newsletter and there were blogs posted instead of just the usual annoying Flickr links. There’s really no plan other than to insist that everyone use Flickr? That’s very disappointing. I don’t really understand why Oliver+S is so obsessed with Flickr.

[KarenK]

I can relate to your frustration with having to create another online account, it seems like every website requires it these days.

Many, many fabric and pattern designers on the internet have a Flickr group for sharing finished projects because it is so commonly used, as well as easy to navigate compared to other photo sharing sites. I don’t think O+S is unique in its use of the Flickr as the sole means to share photos.

[admin]

We do not have the technology infrastructure in place to allow users to upload and host images on our server. (It’s not a trivial thing to do to keep spam and obscene images out of those environments if you open them up for anyone to use.) Since there are so many good (and free) image hosting services (Flickr is only one) on the Internet already that do it so well, we won’t be custom building that functionality for our site. We’re focusing our resources on developing new products that our customers want, not on technology utilities that already exist and that so many of our customers already use.

[Megan]

It never occurred to me that you’d build functionality to have people upload pictures to the site. I just meant a forum where people can provide links to their blog posts or personal websites that showcase their work. I guess I just find photographs of minimal interest, and prefer to read what people have to say about projects. I don’t really find clicking through slow-loading photos on Flickr (in the vague hopes that someone wrote a caption) to be very interesting. All the photos kind of look the same, and they take too long to load. I guess I have a short attention span or something: I’d rather scroll though the whole blog post in one go.