Photobucket Drops Free Image Display, Outside Their Website

One of the most popular third party image hosting services, for Blogger blogs, recently changed their photo hosting service.

Photobcket no longer allows embedding of their hosted photos on third party websites, for free accounts. They now require a $399 / year membership, for accounts with photos shared outside their website.

Some Blogger blog owners, publishing blogs which use third party templates that feature images - decorations, illustrations, and wallpaper - hosted by Photobucket - now see their blogs decorated by various demands.

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR ACCOUNT TO ENABLE THIRD PARTY HOSTING



This is (was) a small image, tiled (repeated horizontally and vertically), to fill a larger space. It's now a PhotoBucket ad, similarly tiled.

In many cases, this is simply a third party supplied template, using wallpaper designed by the template publisher. The template publisher used PhotoBucket, to host the image.

The blog owner, and others, now face the need to pay dearly, to publish their blogs using their current templates.

Whether the template objects were created by you - or by the supplier of a shiny third party template - if the images are hosted by Photobucket, they are now unusable, on your blog.

Photobucket, a US-based image and video-hosting website founded in 2003, quietly changed its policy late last month to prevent users from hosting their content on third-party websites unless they pay a $US400 ($526) annual fee.

Photobucket published a brief blog post, on June 26, referring to the service change - buried deep in their website.

We have updated our Terms of Service, effective June 20, 2017. Please take a moment to review our updated terms and policies as they may affect your account.

If your blog uses a third party template with PhotoBucket hosted images, the account in question won't be yours - but your blog will still be affected. You're going to have to find out how your template designer is going to support their product.

Third party template publishers now need to convert their templates, to use images hosted by other services. And Blogger blog owners may need to find other image hosting.

Blogger blog owners, who use third party templates in their blogs, may need different templates. Not all third party template publishers may be able to support their templates, and this change.

The simplest solution is to switch back to a Blogger standard and supported template, using the dashboard Theme page. If you've had your current template for a while, you may not know what possibilities have been added, to the Blogger template selections.

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Photobucket, a popular third party image hosting service used by many #Blogger blogs, originally allowed their hosted images to be embedded or hot linked on Blogger and many other websites. They recently started requiring a $400 USD / year membership, for images to be displayed outside their website.

Many Blogger blogs, with third party templates that use Photobucket hosted images, now have broken templates.

Blogger Resolves The FaceBook Photo Sharing Issue

Blogger Engineers recently added Blogger template code, to provide images in shares to FaceBook.

The added code is included in the standard template header. If you have a custom template, you may need to verify template header content.

If you have added the previously recommended Open Graph Code to your blog, to allow Open Graph based post / photo sharing - and you use the FaceBook Developers Debugger tool, you may see a new diagnostic suggestion.

Given newly added template code, blogs with added OG code may generate ominous warnings in the FaceBook Developers Debugger tool.

Looking at my blog, and the blog main page.

Object at URL 'http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/' of type 'article' is invalid because it specifies multiple 'og:url' values: http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/, http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/.

Looking at my blog, and a FaceBook Debug log, for this post.

Object at URL 'http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2016/03/blogger-resolves-facebook-photo-sharing.html' of type 'article' is invalid because it specifies multiple 'og:url' values: http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2016/03/blogger-resolves-facebook-photo-sharing.html, http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2016/03/blogger-resolves-facebook-photo-sharing.html.

With Blogger now providing a properly resized image, automatically, from each post, the image provided in the previously suggested Open Graph code is now redundant - and causes duplication.

The browser source listing, for this post.

The FaceBook Debugger log, for this post.



Here's what I see now, in the standard template header.

<meta content='Blogger recently added template code, to properly share content to FaceBook. Learn how this affects your blog.' name='description'/>
<meta content='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2016/03/blogger-resolves-facebook-photo-sharing.html' property='og:url'/>
<meta content='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBb17rkStDcQMf4ySxb5DdvxHQM51ZwDHKE1fpfLBsh4uYuz2XEKgs6Do0mySLXLrQB7j1N-GiquUrzKWMNo3I4GRL-KR79KB0HxBisfjUkYSNW9hSytOiTR3rJmGTOo1c1Hl0j6XjtWv/w1200-h630-p-nu/Screenshot+2016-03-13+at+14.35.32.png' property='og:image'/>

So, what do we have?

<meta content='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBb17rkStDcQMf4ySxb5DdvxHQM51ZwDHKE1fpfLBsh4uYuz2XEKgs6Do0mySLXLrQB7j1N-GiquUrzKWMNo3I4GRL-KR79KB0HxBisfjUkYSNW9hSytOiTR3rJmGTOo1c1Hl0j6XjtWv/w1200-h630-p-nu/Screenshot%2B2016-03-13%2Bat%2B14.35.32.png' property='og:image'/>

The chosen image - resized to 1200 x 630, to suit the FaceBook recommended 1.9 aspect ratio - and large, to suit the FaceBook recommended size.

Now, 3 data elements (2 Open Graph) may be redundant.

• description
• og:image
• og:url

This makes the immediately previous advice unnecessary.

If one wishes to provide author information, that also becomes slightly simpler.

<!-- BEGIN Open Graph tags -->
<meta expr:content='data:blog.metaDescription' name='description' property='og:description'/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.pageTitle' name='keywords'/>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<meta content='article' property='og:type'/>
<meta content='https://plus.google.com/nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn/about' property='article:author'/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.pageName' property='og:title'/>
<b:else/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.title' property='og:title'/>
<meta content='blog' property='og:type'/>
</b:if>
<meta expr:content='"en_US"' property='og:locale'/>
<!-- END Open Graph tags -->

If you truly want to share author details, you still have some work to do - but photos should now be shared, automatically, if your blog has a template with a standard header.

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Recently, Blogger Engineering added OG code to the standard template header, to allow us to share posts with images to FaceBook, without having to add special code. This should help, for owners of blogs which have standard headers.

Base64 Photo Hosting, And Open Graph Code

Some blog owners make photos an important part of blog content.

When sharing a post to FaceBook, problems are seen with photo content. In some cases, this is because of how the photos were added into the post, when using Post Editor.

We've known about problems with photos installed using drag and drop, and post editor, for a few years. Drag and Drop photos, in some cases, are stored as "Base64" content - with the photo content hosted in the post, instead of Google Photos (or Picasa).

Photos added to posts in post editor, using "drag and drop", have been a problem for many years.

Base64 hosted photos make posts abnormally large.

Posts containing "Base64" encoded photos are abnormally large - and will cause problems with the index pages, and auto pagination. That is a nuisance - but just that.

With posts shared to social media, such as FaceBook and Twitter, photos hosted using Base64 become more than a nuisance. When normal posts are shared to FaceBook, OpenGraph code is used to identify key post content - such as a photo to accompany the shared post.

Open Graph code uses URLs to reference photos.

OG code uses HTML / XML tags, in template code - with a URL identifying a shared photo. A post that contains Base64 hosted photos won't have URLs identifying the photos - it will have the actual photo content.

This photo was installed, using drag and drop. Interestingly enough, it is not Base64. It is possible that Blogger no longer uses Base64 encoding - which would explain why the problem with OG code is rather irregular.

When shared to FaceBook, the photo must be converted to normal Google Photo hosted content, so it can be shared using a URL - as normal photos are shared, using OG code. If shared using Base64 content (if OG were to support Base64), the post, again, becomes abnormally large.

Base64 hosted photos simply present one more complication, when sharing posts to FaceBook, Twitter, and other social services.

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Some blog owners publish posts that contain photos added using drag and drop. Some drag and drop installs result in Base64 hosted photos - which must be converted to Google Photos hosted content, when shared to FaceBook or Twitter.

Blog Owners, Using Older Versions Of Internet Explorer, Unable To Upload Photos

We have a small but vocal group of blog owners, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, who report that they are unable to use Post Editor, to upload photos.

When trying, they get an error

Do you want to open or save resumable (1.61kb) from www.blogger.com?

Right now, it appears that the problem is common to older versions of Internet Explorer.

The blog owners willing to provide details, about their browser, appear to be using Internet Explorer V8 or V9.

It is possible that the owners having a problem with IE V9 are using Blogger with Compatibility View enabled - which effectively gives them IE V8. Noting that Internet Explorer V8 is considerably out of date - and is now not supported by Blogger - it's possible that the primary cause of the problem simply involves use of IE V8 (or V9 with "Compatibility View").

We have a Problem Rollup Discussion, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, where we are requesting details from everybody who is experiencing this problem.

While we wait for action by Blogger Engineering, everybody experiencing this problem is strongly urged to contribute their details to the Rollup Discussion. Problem diagnosis being as it is, any one person, contributing their details, might contribute the one essential detail that leads to successful diagnosis of the problem.

Alternately, you might consider upgrading Internet Explorer - or disabling "Compatibility View", for "blogger.com".

Diagnostic Improvements With Photos And Picasa

For some time, blog owners would note mysterious problems with photos on their blogs, in various ways - depending upon the browser in use.

Some blog owners and readers would report a mysterious red "X", others a big, blank space - and still others would see nothing at all, not even a space. The only common symptom would be

My pictures have vanished!

Recently, photos hosted under Picasa changed that vague symptom, by displaying two "place holder" icons, depending upon either of two commonly diagnosed problems which had caused the missing photos.

Photos hosted under Picasa, and subsequently being either deleted or made private, are now being replaced by either of two diagnostic icons when referenced.

This improvement will go a long way to resolving much confusion about missing photos (including photos uploaded to the blog using the "Insert image" wizard in post editor), which has long been a source of despair in the Blogger community.

If your photo has been deleted, you will see this icon - an exclamation point inside a triangle.



If your photo is now private, you will see this icon - a dash inside a circle.



These icons are simply the new symptoms of a problem - they are not the problem itself.

• If you just made your Picasa photo album private, maybe when setting up your Google+ account, you can correct the problem easily enough. Just login to Google, use Picasa, and make the photos public, again.
• If you just deleted the photo album, when setting up your Google+ account - or maybe trying to save storage space on your camera / phone, you may be able to recover the deleted photos.
• If you just deleted the Picasa photo album, by having deleted the Google account, however, you are out of luck. Picasa does not provide any un deletion options.
• If these are not your photos, and you are linking them from somebody else's Picasa album, you are likewise out of luck.

However, at least you can now detect - and diagnose - the problem, when your photos are hosted by Picasa.

Incorrect Orientation Of Photos Uploaded In Post Editor

We see occasional reports of problems with photo orientation, from various blog owners posting in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

Why are my photos displayed horizontal, when they should be vertical?

Presumably, if someone's photo was taken with her standing, the blog owner does not want the photo showing her lying on her side.

Modern cameras store meta data with each photo, recording information about how the photo was taken.

This information is called "Exchangeable Image File format", or EXIF, data. Along with the information about date / time / exposure ("aperture" / "F stop" / "shutter speed"), some cameras store whether the photo was taken, with the camera held horizontal or vertical.

Some cameras store the "horizontal" / "vertical" information - then, the Blogger post editor "Upload image" wizard picks up on the orientation, and re orients the photo, depending upon it having been taken "horizontal" or "vertical". If the photo was intentionally rotated, the blog owner does not want the photo rotated again.

There are several possible resolutions for this problem.

• Use a different camera. Some cameras do not contribute to this problem.
• Per the comment below, see if the camera has a setting to disable autorotation.
• Use a photo editor such as IrfanView, and strip out the EXIF data, before uploading. Without the EXIF data, the "Add image" wizard won't reorient the photos.
• Use a photo editor such as IrfanView, and rotate the photo again, before uploading.
• Log in to http://www.picasaweb.com, using your Blogger username and password. Find the album, then the picture, that is rotated and open it. Edit the picture - rotate the image, then save it.

The Problem, With Publishing Our Blog Posts To FaceBook, Does Not Apparently Have A Simple Cause

The problem of publishing our blog posts to FaceBook, initially observed several days ago, has generated some controversy - and much confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken. Suggestions about its base cause are numerous - and variant.

• Initially and at first glance, it appeared to involved posts containing lots of pictures.
• Some folks have suggested that it involves use of the New GUI Post Editor.
• Other folks insist that it's the result of a FaceBook decision, that may have targeted Blogger as a spam host.
• Still others insist that it results from use of the Share button in the blog, vs the "Update Status" wizard in FaceBook itself.
• One blog owner gave a very interesting explanation involving FaceBook, and Open Graph.

The problem has been reported to Blogger Support - though no response, to my report, has yet been seen. My asking, a few times, whether anybody has successfully reported the problem to FaceBook Support, has either been ignored or vigourously rejected, by all involved in the arguments.

The one sure thing, that I've observed so far about this problem, is that there is not apparently one sure thing causing this problem. I've done several tests, and published a few posts into my FaceBook Wall, successfully - using both the Share button, and "Update Status". Perversely, I was able to reproduce the problem reported by one blog owner.

My immediately previous post - Choose Your Registrar, When Buying A Domain - was composed using the New GUI Post Editor, contains pictures, and was published to my Wall using "Share to Facebook", with no problem. I just published this post, using The New Blogger GUI Post Editor and "Update Status", onto my Wall. If you examine my Wall, you'll see earlier posts, composed using the Classic GUI Post Editor, also.

I will continue to keep my rollup discussion open, for reporting diagnostic details - and respectfully request that only diagnostic details be posted there. Until either Blogger Support and / or FaceBook Support take ownership of the problem, and promise a resolution, no objectively provided diagnostic detail is unnecessary. Your observations, whenever provided, could provide the final, necessary clues, and lead to the diagnosis of the problem.

If anybody would like to discuss my diagnostic efforts to date - and especially if there are any FaceBook Support personnel reading this, I have a second discussion in progress, with one helpful blog owner.

Please, be objective. Observe both the etiology of Blogger problems, and the epidemiology of forum discussions.

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(Update 2012/01/94): It appears that most people are now able to post to FaceBook. Some people are now reporting a new annoyance

You are attempting to post a link that has been marked as abusive and/or spammy.

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(Update 2012/01/02): Blogger Support was aware of the problem last week, tried to contact FaceBook then, and has heard nothing in return. Their analysis of the problem, made last week, is that the problem is outside their control.

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Owners Of Blogs, With Images In The Header, Report Changes In Header Appearance

During the past few days, we're seeing a few reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from owners of blogs that use an image in the header, instead of or in addition to, plain text, claiming changes in the appearance of the header. The exact problem report varies - that the image has been resized, has shifted in position, has become pixelated, or has simply disappeared.

We have a rollup discussion, where we are requesting details from each person observing this problem in their blog.

1. What is the URL of the blog?
2. What exact symptom are you observing, that's a problem?
3. Does the blog use a Blogger or third party template?
4. Does the blog use a Designer or Layout template?
5. Has the blog been configured for a Dynamic template?
6. How did you setup the image, that is in use on your blog? Did you use the Layout "Configure Header" wizard, did you upload the image using the post editor "Insert image" wizard, or other?
7. If you used the "Configure Header" wizard, which Image / Placement options did you select?
   • From your computer.
   • From the web.
   • Behind title and description
   • Instead of title and description
   • Have description placed after the image
   • Shrink to fit
8. Can you find the image on your computer? If so, what is the name of the file, as uploaded? Is it a .bmp, .jpg, .png, what?
9. When you setup / uploaded the image, what browser (name and version) was used?
10. What browser (name, and version) are you using, right now, where the problem is visible?

If you can provide details, please do so as best as you are able, either here or in the rollup discussion.

In cases where the URL of the image in use can be edited, you may be able to work around your problem, by editing the precise URL. It appears that images hosted by Picasa, which are currently stored in a variety of sizes (which you may see when you use "Insert image", for instance), are now selected in a different way, when you do not explicitly select the right size for your purpose.

Look at the image at the top of the screen. If you were to look at it's URL, you would see:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2C5RmwbU8URBRB_n_HzNYhK2r3KBzHNIRCjjnOPDDcP5FSddfRh9bKZ3Qyxg10CU24Pr9Zx7j8IJzq1rlptTB_NtJpltts4jm3Hfsi3E2Ovt3QqFXnT-NavhPRoaVUQJJcQZRyjgn2_s8/s1600-r/RBS+Header+4a.gif

If that image had been uploaded using the current "Insert image" wizard (in post editor), or the "Configure Header" wizard (in "Page Elements"), it might have the URL

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pzC_7PLtN-0/R_buGAu4D3I/AAAAAAAABCI/wxcsyLm3DoE/RBS%2BHeader%2B4a.gif

If the latter URL was correct, there would be 4 aliases available:

• Small: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pzC_7PLtN-0/R_buGAu4D3I/AAAAAAAABCI/wxcsyLm3DoE/S160/RBS%2BHeader%2B4a.gif
• Medium: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pzC_7PLtN-0/R_buGAu4D3I/AAAAAAAABCI/wxcsyLm3DoE/S320/RBS%2BHeader%2B4a.gif
• Large: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pzC_7PLtN-0/R_buGAu4D3I/AAAAAAAABCI/wxcsyLm3DoE/S640/RBS%2BHeader%2B4a.gif
• Full Size: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pzC_7PLtN-0/R_buGAu4D3I/AAAAAAAABCI/wxcsyLm3DoE/S1600/RBS%2BHeader%2B4a.gif

If I had this problem with my header image, I would edit the URL, in the template, and I would replace:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pzC_7PLtN-0/R_buGAu4D3I/AAAAAAAABCI/wxcsyLm3DoE/RBS%2BHeader%2B4a.gif

with

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pzC_7PLtN-0/R_buGAu4D3I/AAAAAAAABCI/wxcsyLm3DoE/S1600/RBS%2BHeader%2B4a.gif

If your blog has this problem, you may be able to similarly edit your blog - using "Configure Header" or "Edit HTML" - and work around your problem. If you use "Edit HTML", I suggest, as usual, that you backup the template - before and after making this tweak.

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Auto Pagination Being Triggered By Post Images Encoded In Base64 - Redux

The problem of auto pagination, triggering display page segmentation, has been with us since early 2010.

Even in the beginning, auto pagination was not 100% popular with blog owners. As more blog owners got used to the inevitability of auto pagination, more scenarios were discovered, where it critically affected blogs.

The most recently identified scenario, where auto pagination was involved, was with images hosted as Base64 content - first discovered a year after the initial opposition started.

Having examined enough cases of Base64 hosted photos during the past year, we now see that the problem appears to be related to installation technique.

Both the drag and drop technique, or the "From the web" option in the "Insert image" wizard in post editor, when adding photos to blog posts, appear to consistently add images hosted as Base64 content, into blog posts.

With the causative scenario identified, we can now recommend a technique for resolution. Hoping that any blog showing the problem of critical display page segmentation does not have an unacceptably large number of images / photos hosted as Base64 content, each image or photo has to be identified and removed, and a properly installed image / photo replacing it.

1. Find the original of each photo installed, using drag and drop or "From the web".
2. Copy each photo to your computer.
3. Edit each post containing each photo. Remove each photo, as previously added.
4. Add each photo again, using "Insert image", and selecting the copy on your computer.
5. Re publish each post, so edited.

If the blog in question contains too many images or photos hosted as Base64 content, a possible alternative might be to change the blog to display using a dynamic template. This may provide a solution because dynamic templates, with the content rendered on the client computers, do not appear to be susceptible to display page segmentation.

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Blogger Magic - Securing My Pictures From Being Copied

Every week, we see the naive query

How do I prevent my pictures from being copied?

and this, I regret to say, is a magic trick that has yet to be perfected. Others ask

Why does Google let people publish blogs with pictures stolen from other blogs?

and here, we have to note that Google has no interest in controlling blog content, beyond the limits of their own TOS regulations.

Each of us is responsible for ensuring that our content - that we own - remains ours.

Google doesn't do this for us. They aren't legally, morally, or socially responsible for controlling duplication of blog / website content, until the owner of any blog or website reports a problem. And even when a problem is reported, they have to consider both sides of the story.

Protecting our blog content is our responsibility.

Some well meaning helpers will tell you of free software that blocks context menu (right mouse click) "Save Image As". That software is written as JavaScript. Many folks, like me, explicitly block JavaScript from "BlogSpot.com" and other untrusted domains, using Firefox and NoScript, for personal security. Blocking scripts from untrusted domains is a normal component in layered security, on our computers.

Besides the fact that you can't effectively block the context menu "Save Image As" command, you can't control what's stored on my computer.

If your blog is viewed on my computer, it's my content.

I've written about cache, here and there. Cache is a basic feature in Internet design. It lets us view the same web site (blog) repeatedly, without requiring that the same content be downloaded from the server repeatedly. If you're viewing this article using your browser, it's cached in your browser.

If your computer is on a large network, it's possible that your computer connects to the Internet through a caching proxy server. If your ISP offers enhanced bandwidth, it's possible that they cache content too.

If I added a picture to this article, it would be cached, along with the text that you are reading. The right software can search and retrieve any cached content, from any cache. Anybody who needs to "steal" your pictures just needs the right software, and he can steal them right out of cache.

Anybody can make a screen print.

Besides blocking the "Save Image As" wizard, and from prohibiting caching, you'll face a third challenge. What's on my screen can be copied. Screen printing is very popular software. Print the screen, crop everything but the picture of interest, and there it is. Save it, and you have it. Display the picture full size, print that, and you have the full size copy.

How about watermarking the pictures? Put the URL of the web site in the corner. You can do this using IrfanView, PhotoShop, and a few more image processing programs. But watermarks are just bits. What you can take out, I can put back, with more software. And watermarks make the pictures ugly. They are as bad as the broadcast TV commercials at the bottom of the screen.

You can copyright your pictures - but can you enforce the copyright?

Finally, you are entitled to copyright your content. There are some free copyright "protection" services too. Register your content, and it's protected. But no, the Internet reaches all over the world.

Can you afford the lawyers, that will practice in every nation worldwide, and enforce your copyright? If your content / pictures are being pirated on a Blogger / Google hosted web site, you may be able to get action from a DMCA Complaint - but note the warnings, carefully.

Face it - once you publish a picture in your blog, it too is like a dandelion. It's out of your control.

Sorry. Magic only goes so far.