I see code, others see the image

[kimmer]

Hi. I'm back with another little prob. A gal popped this image up on her web site and several gals are unable to see it. All they see is code like this:

CODE

ÿØÿà�JFIF�


�d�d��ÿÛ�C�      $.' ",#(7),0144
2!!222222222222222222222222222222222222222222
²³´µ¶·¸¹ºÂÃÄÅÆÇÈÉÊÒÓÔÕÖ×ØÙÚáâãäåæçèéêñòóôõö÷

I tried FF, Safari, and Camino with the same results. I finally used an old version of IE and it brought up the image.

When I downloaded it to my HD, and "got info", it said it was a jpg.

The gal runs a flavor of windows and isn't sure what format the image was saved in. She said she "right clicked and saved". She doesn't know how to get info on it to find out what it is. She says her hosting server isn't picky and doesn't require "dot whatever this is" at the end of things. So, we're trying to find out what this is and how to fix it so that in the future the gals won't have probs seeing her images.

If anyone has any tips, we'd appreciate it. Here's the link to the image:

http://www.dconsortium.org/Pictures/Leas/FFF

Thanks!

[Bruce_F]

The first time I tried downloading the image with Safari and my attempts failed because the file is corrupt. I used a different browser (Firefox) to open the page and found that it used a different font which included all the correct characters. I was able to save that file and change the file type to .jpg and the image opens with Preview.

I would suggest to your friend that she upload the file again but this time use the correct file extension. Any image uploaded to be viewed online should include the file extension.

[Xairbusdriver]

The problem is not "uploading" without proper suffixes, it's downloading it. As far as I know the Mac OSs back to 7 (and maybe earlier) are the only ones that embedded this kind of info in every file. Actually two different bits of info; What created the file and what type of file it really is, at least in the eyes of the OS. All other OSs/servers/computers ignored this extra info/file and absolutely needed the suffix, usually only three characters (instead of the four used by Apple). Without them, the other computers simply don't know what to do with the file. Without that suffix, the OS/browser/etc. usually defaults to displaying what it 'sees' as ASCII characters. Or it simply throws up its virtual hands and refuses to show anything.

As hard as it is to believe, computers are actually dumber than their users!

Most ISPs/hosting services sometimes assume, incorrectly, that the user knows what s/he is doing. There is very little error checking on the front end. For all they know the file is simply a collection of bits that the uploader finds some use for.

BTW, I think Windows users use the "Properties" info to find out info like this lady needs. Probably a right-click on the file will show that as an option. But if she created the file and managed to save it without any suffix (didn't even know that was possible, even in Windows), she'll not get much help.

More likely, she simply has "Show suffix" info turned off in her OS. Another idea that Windows 'borrowed' since Apple never needed to actually show that kind of thing in its own Systems. It made Windows file listings and Apples look more similar.

[tacit]

QUOTE(kimmer @ Oct 3 2007, 12:32 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If anyone has any tips, we'd appreciate it. Here's the link to the image:

http://www.dconsortium.org/Pictures/Leas/FFF

Thanks!

Yes, that is correct. Browsers should show gibberish; technically, any browser that shows a picture is doing the wrong thing.

All images on the Web absolutely must follow the PC rules for naming files. Any image that is placed on the Web has to have the proper file extension. You absolutely can not name a picture "FFF". You must name it "FFF.jpg" or "FFF.gif" or whatever it is.

[kimmer]

QUOTE(Bruce_F @ Oct 2 2007, 07:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The first time I tried downloading the image with Safari and my attempts failed because the file is corrupt. I used a different browser (Firefox) to open the page and found that it used a different font which included all the correct characters. I was able to save that file and change the file type to .jpg and the image opens with Preview.

Must admit, I'm totally confused by what you've done.

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Oct 3 2007, 07:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Most ISPs/hosting services sometimes assume, incorrectly, that the user knows what s/he is doing. There is very little error checking on the front end. For all they know the file is simply a collection of bits that the uploader finds some use for.

QUOTE(tacit @ Oct 3 2007, 08:13 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Browsers should show gibberish; technically, any browser that shows a picture is doing the wrong thing.

All images on the Web absolutely must follow the PC rules for naming files. Any image that is placed on the Web has to have the proper file extension. You absolutely can not name a picture "FFF". You must name it "FFF.jpg" or "FFF.gif" or whatever it is.

Thanks for all the info xABD and tacit. I'll keep chatting with her. She's just learning html and other things, and has an "attitude" at the moment -- but I'm stubborn and I'll learn her yet.  

[Bruce_F]

QUOTE(kimmer @ Oct 3 2007, 04:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Must admit, I'm totally confused by what you've done.

Yeah, I agree... I wasn't very clear.


Basically my point was, the file needs to have the correct extension to work.

[Paddy]

Kimmer - I tried what Bruce did - opened the page of gibberish in Firefox, then saved it to my desktop as FFF.jpg instead of FFF.html and Photoshop opened the image (a poster for a film festival) just fine. It's not corrupt - it just lacks the .jpg extension. This is absolutely essential when posting pics online, as others have said. So no matter what your friend is magically seeing, she has to do it properly for the rest of the world to see it. Servers aren't picky...browsers are.

[kimmer]

Thanks. I'm still unable to save it and see it -- I must not understand what you two are doing ... but that's okay. I got a copy, sent it to those who couldn't see it and that's good.

I'm still trying to teach "D" how things work. Slow going ... but she'll figure it out.

[Xairbusdriver]

The 'characters' that you see are simply an attempt to convert the bits that represent the image into something/anything that the browser can display. It is simply taking each set of 4 (I think) bits and using that to fetch the appropriate letter usually represented by that digital number. It then draws that letter on the screen and goes on to the next 4 (or however many) bits and does the same thing. I think as long as it finds and "end of file" marker at what would be an appropriate place in the series of bits, it can display the letters and gracefully move on to the html.

Of course, had the file included any suffix, especially one that would have indicated that the file was an image of some sort, the browser would have been able, more than likely, to have displayed the image instead. Since there was no suffix, the browser falls back to 'deciding' this is another of those stupid 'human-readable-only' files and blindly dumps all those characters on the screen. "They sure look screwy to me, but it must mean something to those crazy people out there!"

An aside:
This kind of display is the same thing I see if I 'preview' an email in POPmonitor that is basically an ad for almost anything. The bits for the image are just converted to characters. That's because POPmonitor is intentional designed not to display images. Remember, emails with references to an image back on the SPAMers server which will log your address as 'alive' and suitable for adding to the list of 'valuable' ones (with free shipping, of course!). Even if the image is never actually seen by you, it may be a 1 pixel by 1 pixel, invisible ".gif" at the end of the signature or someplace else where you'd never notice the thing. It's one of the reasons many suggest turning html OFF in an email program, they may not be as 'pretty' but they will be safe!

Whether this technique is still in use, is another matter. But I do know that some of my SPAM is nothing but an image, or rather a reference to one. SPAMsieve usually just dumps those into the Junk folder, anyway.