New image uploader extension

[exxos]

Posting images on phpBB has annoyed me for years. Everyone clicks the image icon in the toolbar expecting to upload a picture, and instead gets asked for a URL to an image hosted somewhere else, which isn't allowed here anyway. So they give up and go looking for the attachments tab, which most people never find, and if they do find it and upload 20 photos they then get a list of filenames with no previews, so no idea which one is which. Then they have to click "Place inline" on each one and hope it lands somewhere sensible.

So I fixed it, because apparently that's what I do now instead of sleeping.

What it does

There's a new image icon at the end of the toolbar. The old one that asked for a URL is now hidden, since it only ever confused people.

Click the new icon and a strip opens up just above the message box. It shows a thumbnail of everything attached to the post, so you can actually see what you've got rather than guessing from filenames. Non image files show a plain file icon instead.

How to use it

Click the + tile to add images or files. That's the normal upload, so nothing has changed about size limits or resizing, it just saves you hunting for the attachments tab.

To put an image in your post, click in the message where you want it to go, then click the thumbnail. It drops in at your cursor. Click somewhere else, click another thumbnail, and that one goes there instead. You can still drag and drop files straight onto the message box as before, that has always worked, most people just didn't know, like me.

Each image thumbnail has three little buttons:

• Magnifier, top right. Opens the image full size in the usual lightbox, so you can check you're placing the right one before you place it.
• Rotate, under the magnifier. Opens the same rotate box we already had, just without going to the attachments tab to find it.
• X, bottom right. Deletes that attachment. It will ask first.

Things to watch out for

It's alpha, so please check your post looks right before submitting it rather than assuming.

Deleting an attachment renumbers the remaining ones, so if you've already placed images in your post and then delete one, the others can end up pointing at the wrong file. That's phpBB's own behaviour and not something I've broken, but deleting is a lot easier now, so it's easier to trip over. It warns you when it thinks this might bite.

It's admins and moderators only at the moment. Once you lot have had a poke at it and nothing has fallen over, I'll open it up to everyone.

Let me know what's broken, what's confusing, or what's missing. Preferably in that order.


EXAMPLE :

Click the far right image icon on the top toolbar row.

Select the image you want..

1.PNG

The cursor I put in the middle of the post, then click the thumbnail and it inserted it there!

2.PNG

That is pretty much it !