So after five days working with Facebook, I’m mostly impressed. I have a few minor nits with the user interface, but it may be that they want the UI to be somewhat mysterious. I think they want you to explore, and if things are just a little bit wonky, you’ll be more apt to wander around blindly and stumble into things that you wouldn’t have found otherwise.
The other day I was seriously impressed with the ease of building and maintaining a photo album. But today I’m having the weirdest problem adding a picture to an existing album. This picture won’t upload:
I realize that it’s not the greatest thing ever carved, but somehow I don’t think that’s the reason Facebook is rejecting it. Their Java-based file uploader happily reports, “File upload successful!” But the picture never appears in my album. The “simple file uploader” fails with this message:
File bamboo.jpg: This error occurred because either the photo was a size we don’t support or there was a problem with the image file.
Granted, the size is a little bit odd (192 x 582), but there are other odd-sized files in that album. I’ve tried resizing the picture, changing it to a .png file, renaming it, etc. All to no avail. Facebook simply will not accept this photo.
On a related note, Facebook is not working well with my new Firefox 3.0.11 update. I’ve had one hang, one unexplained disappearance (Firefox just exited), and some pretty bizarre behavior. I wonder what’s going on.
Update 2009/06/29
I played with it a bit more, resizing the image, saving it with different photo editor programs, and even changing the color as one commenter suggested in order to get past a possibly over-Freudian image filter. Nothing worked. I finally ended up using the entire picture that includes some background (wires and other junk on my desk) in addition to the carving. That worked. I don’t know why.
I’ve had trouble with their Java uploader, too. If a site has a fancy tool, with a link “Having trouble? Try the simple uploader,” then it’s a sign it’s not perfect. After my first failure with the Java tool I’ve always used the simple uploader and I’ve had no trouble.
I wonder if they have software the analyzes images for suitability. I sounds pretty screwball, but could the “problem with the image file” be a program’s propensity for making Fruedian assumptions?
could the problem be a program’s propensity for making Fruedian assumptions?
The thought occurred to me, Roy, but I dismissed it. Maybe I should investigate that further.
Color it green and see if it publishes! :-)
I’m having this same issue.. files that are already in my fb are even bigger than this one. i’ve resized down to laughable sizes and it still wont upload. im using chrome.. i’ll try IE..
I was having the same problem, with 6 of my photos. I tried everything and found that if I added white space (about 40 pixels each side)to the sides of my photos in a graphics program, then facebook would accept them.