I have issues

[jpskewedthrone]

Computer issues. Regarding snerching pics from the internet and using them in my blog posts. I was hoping someone more computer savvy than me could explain what's going wrong.

With my old computer, I'd find the pic I'd want online somewhere, right click on it, save it as a jpg file, upload it to my server, and then refer back to it in my blogs posts with the proper HTML code. Everything worked fine.

With my new computer, when I find the image and right click on it, I no longer get the option to save the pic as a jpg file. To get around that, I've been emailing the pic file to myself, then downloading it as a jpg file. I upload that file to my server, refer to it in my blog posts, and when I view the blog post, I can see the pic just fine. However, numerous people can't it seems. In fact, it seems to have something to do with the browser, since pbray did some testing for me and she could see it when she was logged onto AOL and looking at the blog through there, but not when she was using Explorer.

So, does anyone know what's going on here? I'm assuming that it's something I'm doing to get ahold of the file, since the only options I get when I right click to save it are art files and btmp files. What do I need to do to get the jpg files from the web directly? Any suggestions?

Comments

[effervescent.livejournal.com]

I know that one shortcut that you can use is to type in .jpg after the filename, that can force your computer to save it that way.

Looking at google, it appears that it could be a cache issue (http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=can%27t+save+pictures+as+jpg%3F&btnG=Google+Search&meta=). There are a bunch of links to various websites, there, so you can take a look. The Microsoft infopage was also linked (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q260650), too.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

I tried the jpg thing after the file name already, but thanks for the suggestion. I think we've discovered it was an AOL issue. Thanks!

[hominysnark.livejournal.com]

No, it is not respectful to the image owner--it's called hotlinking, and it costs the image owner bandwidth on his or her server.

Joshua, the best advice I can give you is to stop using Internet Explorer, but failing that, what kerrikins said above should work fine--when you're saving the file as, just type dot whatever file extension you want, and that should do it.

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

I was completely ignorant of the hotlink issue! I do it all the time. Well, not any more, eh?

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

I didn't know about the hotlinking either, although I've never done it that way. I've always downloaded it to my own website. It's probably a control thing. *grin*

I'm only "stealing" the cover art of books to help advertise the books. I know that the agreements with the artist for the covers states that authors and publishers can use the cover art for the purposes of publicizing the book, as long as it contains the title and author and such, so I think I'm safe in what I'm "stealing" in terms of copyrights and such.

[hominysnark.livejournal.com]

I discovered it when I was attempting to view a pic on someone else's site and the original owner had replaced with a graphic that read, essentially, "This person is a thief who is stealing bandwidth from me by not knowing squat about the internets." That's actually a pretty polite response, considering some of the other hotlink-replaced graphics I've seen.

And then I had my own hotlinker, whom I tracked down with the help of StatCounter and Babelfish, as it was a Dutch website and I don't speak Dutch. I explained the issue as politely as I could (in Babelfished Dutch, which I'm sure was highly amusing) and they immediately removed the hotlink.

I don't think most people are aware of hotlinking, and most also seem to be willing to knock it off once it's explained, but there are a lot of idjits out there who just don't care.

[deborahkalin.livejournal.com]

It's respectful to the image owner too.

Actually, if I'm reading you right, that's called hot-linking, and it is decidedly not respectful to the image owner, since it leaches bandwidth. Which is expensive, and usually capped.

It is far more respectful to the image owner to do what Joshua has been doing previously, and upload a copy of the image to their own server, and use their own bandwidth.

[jtglover.livejournal.com]

Whatever one's feelings are about the ethics of it, it's a good idea to make very sure that the image you link to remains the same a few hours after you've posted it. If the original site owner really dislikes hot-linking, they'll change the original filename and send the link you're using to something that is NOT what you think it is. I.e. you think you're linking to pictures of unicorns, and the next time you look at your web page, you've got, say, explicit horse-on-man action.

[deborahkalin.livejournal.com]

ahhh...see, sites like youtube/ichc actually encourage hotlinking by giving you the link you should use. i'd forgotten about that.

[deborahkalin.livejournal.com]

good point, stealing pictures without accreditation isn't particularly respectful. I should have clarified, perhaps, when uploading the picture to your own server you should always caption it with a link back to the original owner, or in some other way identify copyright/ownership.

[jaxom92.livejournal.com]

I highly recommend using Firefox as your internet browser. When right clicking on images with Firefox, you get an option "Save Image As..." which opens a dialog box where you can choose what file format to use.

As to why your problem exists, I do not know enough to even speculate.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

I was using the "same image as" on the right click thing. Apparently, it was an AOL issue that I've fixed. I think. We'll see. Thanks for the help!

[jaxom92.livejournal.com]

Glad to here it's fixed.

[rkbwrites.livejournal.com]

(stupid reply button, one more time)

Yehhhh, hot linking: bad. Hosting it yerself: Good.

I had a thought: You said you've been downloaded these photos then uploading them to your server. You can see them, we can't seem to.

Idea 1:

Save a image to a folder.

Upload that image to the server.

Then rename the folder (on ur puter, not the server).

Post image address to the blog and let's see which browser can see it.

I still get the feeling it's your server folder ur using for the images....

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Apparently when I downloaded them with the AOL browser, it put some kind of tag at the front of it, which made it impossible to see unless you were using AOL. *sigh* I think I've fixed it. Thanks for the help!

[sizztheseed.livejournal.com]

I don't know how much help this is, but I saw that two of the files, if viewed in raw data format, show 'JG' as the first two bytes. That would imply they are being saved as AOL art files, which I believe (without researching it) is a proprietary format. My guess is that it wouldn't be comprehensible to any browser other than AOL or some AOL client. My GUESS is that AOL mail servers are involved, yes? If so, they might be doing the nefarious graphical corruption.

SO.....

Now, I don't have Vista OR AOL to test with, so all I can suggest is that you might want to try the Firefox option.jaxom92 suggested.

You can get Firefox at http://www.mozilla.com/

Frankly, it's a better browser, but I admit I have severe anti-Microsoft leanings.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Apparently it was an AOL issue. So . . . perhaps I'll be checking out Firefox. . . .

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

Somewhere in your browser settings is a tiny little tickbox asking if you want graphics optimized for faster display. Turn it OFF.

Sounds like you're using the AOL-supplied IE browser, which I know from experience has this set ON.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

I bet this is what's putting the tag on the jpg files so they can't be seen by anyone but AOL. I'll have to find this tickbox. . . .

[katatomic.livejournal.com]

Have you checked your mouse options? If you don't have the secondary button "on" you can't do the right-click trick and some updates have been known to turn that option off by accident. I know it's a really stupid thing, but it's also a small one and easy to overlook.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Apparently, it's an AOL thing, meaning they want people to only use their browser and this is one of the ways they try to do that: every time I download a pic, they put a tag on it so it can't be seen on other browsers. The bastards.

Thanks for the suggestion though! I think things are fixed.

[phantasm13.livejournal.com]

I am not much help, but I can see the pictures you post using Mozilla Firefox as my browser.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Well, that's something at least. I think I've got them fixed so everyone can see them now though.