Compression of attachments

[Ivan Maly]

The forum system overall is distinctly above average, and the look-and-feel is very appropriate. I noticed however that the images I upload get additionally compressed by the forum system. I am not certain it happens every time, or perhaps it simply looks OK with some of the uploads. But, for example, the labels on the sketch attached to my latest post "IC 1613" in the main forum are only borderline-legible (they are 100% sharp in the JPG file I was actually uploading). I realize this may be impossible to change in the forum software, but the automatic compression is not an optimal setting for our specialized forum.

[Dragan]

Ivan,

Thanks for the feedback. We need all the feedback we can get, good AND bad, to help us improve DSF for everyone.

As far as your concern goes, I'm not aware of any additional compression by the forum software. I'll have to do some investigating. I personally have never experienced this. Have have you experienced this before?

Can you do me a favor? Please email me the original file from your IC1613 post. Email it to dragan AT darkskiesapparel dot com.

Thanks for the heads up!!

[Dragan]

Ivan,

After some digging I may have figured out what was going on. I just may not have a permanent fix at the moment.

At first I discovered that different attachments had different file size limits. I changed the default limits on all the different file types that DSF allows and tried uploading your original file. I was confident that I fixed it. Well, that didn't work. Your particular uploaded file definitely looked different than the original that you emailed me. Not understanding why, I looked further

It turns out that our software may have a quirk. It seems that it likes to automatically darken files with jpg, jpeg & jpe extensions. Since we deal with mostly black and white images, it's probably just gone unnoticed. Further investigation shows that GIF files do not get darkened.

I realize that your uploaded file looks as if though it was compressed. But when I converted your file to a GIF and uploaded it, it showed no artifacts that your original uploaded file does. Here is what I'm talking about:

864

I did not change the file size nor did I adjust your image in anyway. All I did was change the extension via Photoshop.
So until I figure out a more permanent fix, manually changing a file to GIF to help preserve its quality just may be necessary.

Now mind you, I am not schooled in vBulletin software nor computer programming so I'm doing the best I can. :thinking: I'm sure someone with more experience than I can probably fix this in 4 seconds flat. Until then, I will continue to look into this and try to find a more permanent fix.

Thanks again for bringing this to our attention. Jimi and I really want DSF to be the best it can be and feedback is important!

[Ivan Maly]

Thanks!

Incidentally, what are our file size limits? Our FAQs say the limits are indicated in the attachment dialog window, but I don't see them there.

[Dragan]

Ivan,

There is no limit to height and width of an image but there is a 20mb file size limit.

Pretty generous actually!

[Ivan Maly]

Dragan, the original JPG (which you now have via email) is ~120Kb, and the one I have now downloaded from my original post is 17 Kb. Not the thumbnail, mind you - the actual picture opened on its own page. Can this explain the very uncommonly generous stated limit for attachments? Meaning the system will accept almost anything but drastically compress it - whether it is large or small.

[Ivan Maly]

I have deleted my test posts from this thread and am reposting here the main points of my last post, which got lost due to the hackers' attack.

1) The file size limits that the system is presenting to me are 20 KB (all file types). Anything above this size (JPG or GIF), in the cases when it actually gets uploaded successfully, gets converted by the system (with no warning) into a JPG with a size under 20 KB. The converted files then clog some kind of hidden buffer and may be reposted by the system (without any warning or notification) instead of any new attachments I may be trying to upload. The issue with the apparently clogged buffer is clearly a bug, but it seems triggered only when the "administrative" compression is imposed on my uploads.

2) I did not have any of this weirdness before on this forum, including the file size limit. It is conceivable that the system slammed me with these restrictions (without any notification) because I have been posting sketches (typically 600x800 ~100 KB or less, never significantly larger) with some regularity.

My current "personalized" attachment size limit and the quality of the "automatic" conversions make attaching anything pointless.

[Dragan]

I have deleted my test posts from this thread and am reposting here the main points of my last post, which got lost due to the hackers' attack.

1) The file size limits that the system is presenting to me are 20 KB (all file types). Anything above this size (JPG or GIF), in the cases when it actually gets uploaded successfully, gets converted by the system (with no warning) into a JPG with a size under 20 KB. The converted files then clog some kind of hidden buffer and may be reposted by the system (without any warning or notification) instead of any new attachments I may be trying to upload. The issue with the apparently clogged buffer is clearly a bug, but it seems triggered only when the "administrative" compression is imposed on my uploads.

2) I did not have any of this weirdness before on this forum, including the file size limit. It is conceivable that the system slammed me with these restrictions (without any notification) because I have been posting sketches (typically 600x800 ~100 KB or less, never significantly larger) with some regularity.

My current "personalized" attachment size limit and the quality of the "automatic" conversions make attaching anything pointless.

Hey Ivan,

I didn't forget about this nor you. I'm still trying to help improve security of the site. I'll get to the attachment issue asap.

My promises.

-Dragan

[Ivan Maly]

Thank you, Dragan.

[deepskytraveler]

Dragan,

With my recent OOTW posting I have encountered the same situation as Ivan. I have an annotated image that I want to upload at full resolution, ~130K, however it is being automatically compressed during upload and at the resultant 18K the annotations are not large enough to read. I read this thread but I'm still not clear on the workaround - is it converting the JPG to a GIF prior to uploading?

Mark

[Dragan]

Ok, so after MUCH research I think I figured it out. Turns out the restriction was a tucked away setting deep in the vbulletin forum software. I thought I had it fixed some time ago and when noone griped about size limitation, I thought maybe it was fixed. I'd like to thank Mark for bringing it back to my attention. I had no clue so I'd like to apoogize to the group.

Either way. Give it a shot. If you've had a image come through compressed, feel free to go back and edit those images. It should work just fine.

Mark, I've taken the liberty to edit your recent OOTW with the file you sent me. You'll see works fine now.

Thanks everyone!