Don't mind me, I'm just fiddling around with my new toy. I knew that when I finally gave in and got an iPhone it would change my life in some small but time-consuming way. What I did not anticipate was that it would be the camera. It's such an unexpectedly nice camera, and there are so many things you can do with it besides simply snap a picture. I'm currently investigating options for posting pictures directly from iPhone to Internet.  I have signed up for two online photo services - PhotoBucket and Flickr.  So far I much prefer PhotoBucket (naturally, I always pick the option that is doomed). 

This picture was taken with my iPhone, tarted up with the SnapBucket app, and posted online to PhotoBucket. That part was easy.  There is an interface between PhotoBucket and LJ, but I continue to be disappointed in it. There is a one-click way to post a picture from PB to LJ, but it just posts a giant-sized picture with no option for adding text. You can edit it afterwards to resize the picture. And you can add text, but it is awkward.

LJ's blog (and FAQ) merrily describes the LJ/Photobucket interaction as follows:
For those of you who use Photobucket, it's now even easier to access your albums from LiveJournal! When you're updating your journal, select "Insert Image" (in either the Rich Text or the HTML update page), then select the Photobucket tab. Log in with your Photobucket username and password, and you'll be able to grab your photos and drop them right into your journal. It's a snap.

I'm sure it's a snap if you can figure out what they mean by "grab."  Yes, there is a Photobucket tab on the insert image icon. When I click on it, it opens up Photobucket in a different tab and logs me in (I guess because I used the same userid and password). I navigate to the picture I want. Now what?

• I right click on the small picture and select Copy Image. Back to LJ Post window and try Paste. Nothing happens.
• Click through to larger size PhotoBucket picture and repeat. Still doesn't work.
• I look for a "grab" button on or near either version of the picture. Nope. I see an HTML link, but surely that isn't their idea of an easy grab?
• In desperation I open up another browser and start a new LJ Post Entry session (so I can see both windows at once) and try drag and drop.

Huh. I'll be damned. That did something. Let's try posting it and see what happens


ETA:  Okay, that's kind of useful. It inserts a thumbnail with a link to the PhotoBucket folder. But there is no way to do it with PhotoBucket opening up in a new tab of the same browser instance.  Is there?  Can you drag and drop from one tab to another?  This easy intuitive graphical interface stuff is so hard for me.