Mobile photos uploading from gallery

[DashDesigns]

Hi Guys

I've done some searching for over an hour but still can't find the answer to this one, so please forgive me if it is somewhere and I just haven't found it.


I have a forum that has been going for over 12 years and its last reincarnation was as a Vbulletin platform. Times have changed and nearly all my regulars have disappeared to the likes of Facebook. After analysing why it's because they use their phones for everything and also because they can take photos directly and upload for instance gratification. So I now need to get with the times.


I looked at the latest VBulletin release and then tried it in the form of a competitor's forum, but my phone just didn't work with it. This got me searching again until I found Xenforo. The reviews are outstanding and I think it is my next step.


Before I take the plunge, I have worked out that I can migrate the 4.1.7 version of Vbulletin across using the transfer software you offer (I hope it can handle the size of our forum). I also set up a demo site to try it all out and got one of my long term members to try it. This is where the first problem hit. He tried to upload a photo from his phone gallery folder and the file was not compressed in any way, so the server rejected it as too large. Now I understand I could change it via the admin area to a larger file size, but this will mean a LOT of large files on the server. Is there any way via a plug-in or similar that can detect oversize photo files and compress them on upload to fit the file size limitation and save my server space? It seems to natively do it from taking a photo directly but not from already stored photos.


This is a major point with the migration to keep all the forum users happy and make it as much like a simple Facebook feed as possible.


Any advice is highly appreciated as I would like to make the swap to Xenforo and currently this is the only stumbling block I can see.


Let me know guys.


Cheers

 

[Martok]

In XenForo you can set a higher file size for uploading in the ACP and you can also set max dimensions for images. This means that larger images can be uploaded but they will then be resized to the specified dimensions (e.g. 800 x 600) which will then drastically reduce their file size.

 

[Mike]

As an additional comment, there is a default limit to how big the image can be for us to attempt manipulating it due to PHP memory limits (and how much CPU it could use in some cases). It defaults to approximately 20 megapixels, if I recall correctly, so there are some cameras that produce larger images. You can adjust this via a config file if your server settings handle it.

Try the dimension limit first though.

 

[DashDesigns]

Thanks for your replies guys; much appreciated.
Sorry to seem a bit naive, but do you mean the image file data size is still large and you are simply reducing the display resolution vis CSS when rendered? Surely this maintains the large file size but just displays it smaller? Or am I completely misreading this and you mean the full size image is uploaded, but then resampled and resaved at the smaller size?

 

[Paul B]

The files are physically smaller, so will be smaller in size (KB) and take up less space on the server.

See points 6 and 7 of the FAQ here for an explanation: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/frequently-asked-questions.5183/#post-180445

 

[DashDesigns]

That is perfect Brogan. Thanks. I think I have found my winner for the new forum.
I read that the migration software will bring all posts, categories and user details across, but leave the blog entries. Is this still true with the current migration software? No problem if so.
Also, the current storage space of our current Vbulletin forum is 20480 MB - Will this be a problem for the migration software, or does it do it in increments?

 

[Paul B]

I read that the migration software will bring all posts, categories and user details across, but leave the blog entries. Is this still true with the current migration software? No problem if so.

The pre-sales FAQ lists the items which are brought in with each importer: Pre-Sales FAQ
Blog entries won't be imported but there may be a third party add-on/importer which handles them.

The import is done in a single sitting, with separate steps for each content type such as users, posts, etc.
The time taken will depend on the number of threads and posts, as well as the server hardware and configuration.

 

[DashDesigns]

Thanks for your patience with these questions Brogan, you have given me enough answers to make my mind up. Thanks.