To try and minimise loading time for those with slower connections, and because sometimes free image servers are not as fast as they could be, it would be helpful if everyone could try to optimise their images before posting. Not only will it speed up the page loading, but it will also reduce the time you spend uploading.

For Photoshop, using File>Save for Web… (ALT+SHIFT+CTRL+S) is the most efficient method, with the “JPEG High” preset being a good balance between size and quality. In many cases you can reduce the quality slider even further to 50 or below with little negative impact on the image.

To demonstrate, here’s a badly optimised image using Save As and the maximum setting – resulting file size 436K
Spoiler:


Same photo using Save for Web and the JPEG High preset with quality lowered to 50 – resulting file size 100K
Spoiler:


Other imaging software like PSP will have similar options and you’ll need to find the best balance between file size and maintaining image quality.

Another quick and easy way to resize single or multiple files is to use Microsoft’s Image Resizer, it’s also FREE. Once installed simply right click on your image or images, and select “Resize Pictures”, then choose your desired size and click OK.

Yet another option if you have a lot of images to post or still want to show off your megabyte monsters , is to use free hosting sites like ImageShack and ImageVenue which automatically generate clickable thumbnail images for you, and the required code, like this:

Code:
[ URL=http://img110.imageshack.us/my.php?image=saveforweb7ls.jpg][ IMG]http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/9358/saveforweb7ls.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
You can then cut and paste that into the thread instead of the full size version, like so.




Apologies to those who already know all this, but we do have a range of experience levels in here so hopefully it will be of use to someone.