Pictures in posts and font sizes.

Just to clarify, I use a laptop with Linux – no Windoze here!

Probably a couple of daft questions here, but I cannot see how to add a picture into a post I’ve done.
My pics are usually from text with .odt from LibreOffice but I can convert them to .docx or .bmp easily.
Or .bmp from a scanner.

The other question is, can the font size in a post I’m writing be changed? I find it far too tiny to see write and read and have to [copy] and [paste] with Arial 13pt using LibreOffice, as I've done here.

Mike.

Hi Phil,

Your pictures must be in .JPG format (you should be able to convert your .BMP to JPG using for instance GIMP), posting pictures is explained here.

Thor

PS  This was written in LibreOffice Writer and pasted into this post using Ctrl V on the keyboard

LibreOffice Writer

Text imported into ME forum post using the Word paste icon

Edited By Thor on 18/03/2021 13:00:13

Phil raises an intersting point on font size as I have tiny fonts in the messege box. By the way Im using windoze 7 and Brave browser.

Regarding small fonts there is an icon 4th from the right in the upper toolbar of the post editing window that looks like a rectangular bar in perspective or, if you have that kind of imagination, a pencil eraser.

Selecting your text and clicking on this will publish your text in the standard size and font.

I'm a Linux user and I just change the zoom size of the web page I'm viewing and currently use 130% this is the easy way. I have yet to find a linux photo editor I like so I either use smart phone to edit image or turn on my trusty windows pc and use PSP.

H

Install Xviewer which can be used to view a number of formats and you can save from it in .jpg format.

Russell

Re. "The other question is, can the font size in a post I’m writing be changed? I find it far too tiny to see write and read and have to [copy] and [paste] with Arial 13pt using LibreOffice, as I've done here."

If you're one of the myopic dinosaurs like me using Windows and a wheeled mouse, then hold down the Ctrl key and rotate the mouse wheel.

Is it just me or does anyone else find the operation of this counter-intuitive? When I rotate the mouse wheel towards me I expect the text etc to "come towards me" i.e. get bigger. Instead it gets smaller. .... and vice-versa.

Trying that now, Nick.

I'm certainly one of those, but as my laptop is probably just as ancient, I use Linux and a floaty mouse!

Mike

It just says :Remove format"

Thor's post almost says it all:

• Posting pictures explained here.
• Only jpg can be uploaded, not bmp, gif, pdf for whatever
• The editor doesn't allow fonts to be changed directly, but you can paste fonts in.

Other info:

• jpegs are resized by the forum down about 500x600, and - if the orientation is wrong - only a moderator can rotate it, and only in a post, not the album copy. Otherwise, delete from the album, rotate at home with gimp, photoshop or another photo editor, and reload.
• Importing fonts by pasting them into the web editor can massively increase the size of the post because the font is copied as well as the text, and fonts can be be rather large. As posts are limited to a couple of thousand characters, and the font specification is part of the message, you may run out of space! The 'Remove Format' button (blue box, top line fourth from right' ) will remove alien fonts and other confusing format info that might have been copied from a word processor, and which sometimes messes up post layout.
• In the event of a cock-up, there's only about 20 minutes to correct mistakes before the owner is locked out.

The restrictions may be fixed soon because moves are afoot to upgrade the forum software.

The easiest way on Linux to convert images to different formats is with the imagemajick package. On ubuntu,

• open a terminal with ctrl-alt-t
• Type:
  • sudo apt update
  • sudo apt upgrade
  • sudo apt install imagemagick

Then:

convert filename.bmp filename.jpg

does what's expected - convert

Explanation for Windows users terrified of the command line:

'sudo' means 'run the next command with administrator privileges'
'apt update' means 'make sure the list of available software repositories is up to date'
'apt upgrade' means 'bring the system up to date by applying any outstanding software upgrades'
'apt install imagemagick' means 'download and install the imagemajick software package'

Dave

edit pesky smileys!

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 18/03/2021 16:36:37

If using Windows, for managing and processing images, Faststone Image Viewer is free, very easy to use, versatile and powerful. Navigation is similar to Windows Explorer, but double clicking an image brings it up in full screen. Then hover the cursor at an edge, and editing menus appear. To convert to jpg (or whatever) just use “Save as” to select saved image type.

Advanced features include batch processing and renaming, and very straightforward tools to move (sort) images to one of several folders.

There are a number of similar free image applications, but of these, I find Faststone the easiest and most comprehensive to use.

Not sure that's the easiest way for beginners! Yes Imagemagick is a very versatile bit of software but is command line only. Perhaps an easier way would be to install Converscreen which acts as a graphical front end ti Imagemagick and will convert and resize almost any image format. Even works on Windows as well!

Russell

It's the great debate Russel. The advantage of a GUI is the operator doesn't have to remember a shower of options, and instead chooses menus, selects from lists, sets radio buttons, and fills in a form. And any decent implementation will provide good online help too.

Nonetheless, provided you know what you're doing, command line methods often faster to invoke and more efficient in operation. They do away with a multitude of overheads, but unfortunately the command line does require the operator to understand the manual, which is often hard work. The big advantage of commands is they can be scripted, making it possible to fully automate complex processes. For example, from the command line, it's quite easy to select and convert groups of files. For example, creating a thumbnail gif of every jpeg on my computer would take weeks of manual pointing and clicking with a GUI, and minutes with the command line.

Like all other tools, horses for courses, and ust as one wouldn't buy a lathe just to make one M4 sctew it would be daft to learn command line methods for occassional tweaks, But for many puropses the command line usefully powerful, and not as scary as it first appears. Lots of people still love MS-DOS...

Dave

Thanks to all, but most ways seem to need too much of a long-winded faff or need extra packages to be installed, so I'll just not bother with graphics until the ME software is updated.

As for text, indeed I do most in LibreOffice and Copy and Paste into here.

Probably the wisest course of action.

Neil

"Nonetheless, provided you know what you're doing, command line methods often faster to invoke and more efficient in operation."

Agreed Dave. When I first started using Linux (in the mid 1990s with Red Hat Linux) I spent many happy hours with the manuals and still occasionally refer to Blum's 800 page "Linux Command Line and Shell Scripting Bible".

Russell

Russell, that book looks like just what I need, so I've ordered it via Amazon.
The LibreOffice "Getting Started Guide" which I got a few years ago I found wasn't that good, albeit being quite long. If only it had an index ...