[Guide] How to post screenshots in your forum posts

Discussion in 'Player Guides, Tips and Tricks' started by ShelLuser, Feb 15, 2016.

  1. Hi gang!

    I know, I know; this topic has been discussed several times before and it even has its own wiki page already. Well, just consider this a friendly challenge because I think I can do better ;) And I know some guides are better off on the blog (or maybe I should request a redo of that wiki page) but first I want to have some fun :)

    SO today I went over the forums and noticed a thread where someone asked "if you know how to get a screenshot onto here plz comment it!". I can do better than that, I can do much better. So our challenge, should we agree to accept it (which I already did for you guys) is to get this picture onto the forums:

    Find the original thread here.

    Preparations

    Image viewer

    Before we begin I'd advice you to get some kind of image viewer. It can make your life a lot easier; also because you can view an image before you post it and most of them will also allow you to add some effects to an image. For example to blur something out or to enhance an area. On Windows my suggestion would be IrfanView. Its free, relatively easy to use and perfect to help you upload screenshots. On MacOS there is a program called Preview available by default which should also be able to help you out. Note: this is hear-say on my part since I'm a Windows user.

    Screenshot location

    Next it also helps to know where your Minecraft screenshots are being kept. There is a very easy way to find out. Go to Minecraft and open the main menu (if you're playing Minecraft just press escape, otherwise simply follow these steps from the main menu):
    • While in Minecraft go to the menu and select: Options => Resource Packs...
    • Now click on "Open resource pack folder"
    Your file browser should now open. Go one folder above it and you'll be in the main Minecraft program folder. Here you should see a folder called "screenshots" which contains the screenshots you might want to use in your posts.

    Step 1

    Load the image you'd like to upload in the image viewer and check if its really what you want. For example, in my case I resized the image to 800x600 so that it would fit better in this tutorial post. In another (upcoming) example I added a small red box to the image in order to enhance on the area which I want you guys to pay attention to.

    Step 2

    Go to the Imgur website and press the big blue "Upload images" button on top of the screen, here is an example of said button:

    Now you'll get an upload screen which allows you to use several methods to upload the image. First you can open a file browser, navigate to your screenshot folder and then simply drag and drop the image you want to use in your browser (while it shows the Imgur upload screen).

    An easier way is to copy and paste it. For this to work simply press control-c (Windows) while viewing the image in the viewer, then press control-v when you have your browser with the imgur upload screen active. Like so:


    Step 3

    After you uploaded the picture you'll be in an Imgur screen which will show you the image you uploaded on the left, and several URL's on the right, it should look something like this:

    Pay extra attention to the (previously announced) red rectangle ;)

    All you need in order to use this image in a forum post (such as this one) is shown in the red rectangle (note: I added that to the image, so don't expect to see this in your browser). This forum uses so called "BBCode" to format all the posts. So if you simply copy the contents of that "BBCode section" then you'll have everything you need to get the image in your own post.

    Step 4

    Use the "BBCode" in your own post. Here is what it looked like when I inserted the first image of this guide:


    Step 4a (optional)

    Another method to add the picture to your post is by clicking the tree icon on top of the toolbar, then using the Image link or direct link (the two top options in the Imgur image screen). This has the advantage that your image will be immediately shown in the post you're writing, and that helps you to see how things will look before posting them.

    This was suggested to me by EnderMagic1 below.

    Step 4b (optional)

    And yet another step is to right click on the image as its shown on Imgur and selecting the copy option, then you can paste that directly into your post on the Empire using control-v.

    This was suggested by fBuilderS below.

    And there you have it!

    Shell's 4-step plan to get your screenshots into your EMC forum posts.
  2. Isn't using the tree icon and the direct link easier? Maybe you should add both ways.
    ShelLuser likes this.
  3. I'll keep it into consideration for now. I'm not too sure if it is easier because all it basically does is create the same BBCode. So instead of simply copy and pasting you're now copying, clicking a button (tree icon), pasting in the URL, clicking ok and then you end up with the same result.
  4. 1st I just right-click copy the image from imgur and paste it into here; it works
    2nd you can hit 'edit profile' on the launcher and click open game directory. You can also open up 'run' and type %AppData%
    ShelLuser likes this.
  5. So now I got 2 alternative methods ;) I'll be sure to give this a try as well, and if that works out... Who knows :)
    gladranger7 and fBuilderS like this.
  6. But, if you do that, you get to see the picture before you post the thread. Thats why I do it, to make sure everything is clean and right. :)
    ShelLuser and PenguinDJ like this.
  7. Now I see what you're getting at. True. But as always there are more ways to do that. To check how things are going to end up I always use the 'Preview' button at the bottom of the editor. But I still agree: having the picture already in the editor also helps.

    So it's decided; I'm going to update the post later today and add both your suggestions to it (yours and Builders).
    gladranger7 and fBuilderS like this.
  8. I'd really prefer if people logged in to imgur first, so pictures wouldn't disappear after 6 months.
    Nice guide, though! :)
    ShelLuser likes this.
  9. And a small bump. I normally don't bump my tutorial threads but in this case I did promise to do a small update which got postponed a bit. So now that I added your suggestions to the post I figured one small bump wouldn't hurt ;)