A piece of advice for linking from Windows Live

[elrobbo]

In case anybody is interested, (for us Noobs, at any rate) I read somewhere in these fora that it is preferable to link an image from an outside webpage than to upload it directly to this site.
Although I don't use it often, I have found that Windows offers a free storage space known as ' Windows Skydrive' that gives you up to 25 GB of online storage space for free.
You can link your existing Hotmail accounts etc to this 'Windows Live' space.
Mind you, there are also many other sites that offer free storage space that you can sign up to and use.

Last night, I managed to upload images to the SkyDrive site and link these images into a thread on this forum.
One aspect that you need to be careful of is that you must ensure that the folder in which you have placed your photographs is designated as 'public' in the SkyDrive folder's permissions settings.
After successfully linking the photos to this thread, I then tried changing the permissions settings to 'private'.
Interestingly, I was still able to view the photographs in these threads, however, this morning they were not able to be viewed until I made the folder in SkyDrive public again.

That's all, folks!

[I @ M]

Thanks for that elrobbo, I hadn't heard of "skydrive" until now either and I am sure there will be others that may be able to make use of it to post on AP as well.

[elrobbo]

No worries, I@M!
Glad I could be of help!

[Kym]

Ok...

Tried it... (edit Click on the image and use that link when the image shows by itself)
[IMG]http://2rlpgw.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pe-0KAjtV4DMcXUF7xNTsPpbOr4kKZ1kmpCoiREgNcx-ZFwOlRQd4wCL1sMCl9aHKcGteIbbv2bXNlZ3AuhpNZ8lIz0B0szzi/RedWattlebird.jpg[/IMG]

Gives..

[elrobbo]

You're right, Kym - I forgot to mention that you had to right-click the image and copy the location, and NOT use the web location entered into the box at the side!
Glad to see it worked for you!
25GB is a good-sized storage considering it's for free!

[elrobbo]

BTW, is that a Mallee Fowl, Kym?
We don't get those critters up here (...if that is indeed what it is)!

[ricktas]

After successfully linking the photos to this thread, I then tried changing the permissions settings to 'private'.
Interestingly, I was still able to view the photographs in these threads, however, this morning they were not able to be viewed until I made the folder in SkyDrive public again.

That's all, folks!

That aspect is a 'caching' issue. When you first viewed the thread on AP after uploading the photos, your web browser caches a copy of the photo. When you revisit the same page your browser does a few checks and uses the cached copy of the photo, rather than re-loading it (its all about making your browser keep your internet downloads as minimal as it can). But when you visited the next day, the browser decides to check the thread for changes, and tries to download the photos again, which it can't at that time cause you have it set as private.

So sometimes you can see stuff that is no longer on a website, cause your browser is using a cached version on your hard-drive to 'build' the web page for you to view, thus even though you had set it to private you could still see them for a while (as would any other member who's browser had temporarily cached the photos).

[elrobbo]

Cheers Ricktas!
: )
I was generally aware of the caching, although your explanation makes it very clear and easy to understand! It just caught me out as I thought, for a moment, that I might even be able to post the images with the Windows Live folder permissions on private. I notice that when you set the folder settings to private, it switches to a secure server address (https) which is why the http link doesn't work. You can allow access from certain email addresses but I don't think you can allow it from a website...unless someone has managed to figure that out in the meantime, that is!
Thanks again!

[elrobbo]

Just a couple of other sites that also offer free online storage.
Make sure you read the terms and conditions as some will expire if inactive for a certain period (e.g. 1 month).
Some also have limits on their upload sizes.

Windows SkyDrive (25GB)

ADrive (50GB)

4Shared (10GB) expiry

Box.net (1GB)

DropBoks (1GB)

MediaFire (Unlimited)

Be aware that there are many choices in this field, but just make sure you ALWAYS read the fine print!

Happy storing~!

[Kym]

Red Wattlebird http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...ad.php?t=50385