I really think Facebook should give this hint up front on the photo upload page, and maybe even point you to some helpful tools. You see, as far as I know, the pictures you and others post to Facebook are only stored on Facebook servers in the size you see them. Often enough, though, the original pictures uploaded are bigger than this. Thus, uploading time is wasted when you could just upload the right sized pictures in the first place. The Picasa Facebook plugin does this, for instance, allowing pictures to actually be uploaded using dial-up. Woot!

To the point, the maximum width your photos are displayed at on Facebook is 604 pixels, the maximum height being 604 also. If you're uploading anything smaller than that, don't bother resizing. But if they're bigger than that, you can save some time. So, use your favorite program to size your photos down to this width or height. Or if you have no idea what to use, try Fotosizer for Windows and RapidoResizer for Mac. Linux users, figure it out (you're supposed to be smart).

And as a side note, I think Facebook should seriously add a real yearbook view, where you could view a spread of thumbnails of your friends, since that's what it's named after (yearbook/facebook - see the connection? Check this ZDNet definition for full info - it's actually a bit different take than I have, and in fact I guess I'm wrong about what it's named after, but I still think a yearbook view would be cool).

P.S. If you have a free Flickr account, the max size your photos will ever be viewable at is 1024x768 pixels, I think (and as I remember, I think you might even have to turn that size on). So, you might be able to save some time the same way there.
P.P.S. I'm wondering if your photos are somewhere on the Flickr servers at a larger size than 1024x768 even if you have a free account - maybe if you upgrade to pro, you could get access to these bigger versions. Just speculating. Take the Flickr tip at your own risk.

Edit: July 25, 2009: I re-registered for Flickr today and contacted them about the original file free account to Pro thing. Speaking about Flickr free, I was told this by Natalie at Flickr Customer Care:

Only smaller (resized) images accessible (though the originals are saved in case you upgrade later).

Bingo. Just what I wanted to know. So upload at 1024x768 with that knowledge - if you go Pro, your photos will only be viewable at that resolution max. So, if you think you might go Pro in the future and think this could be an issue, upload accordingly. I personally plan to upload at 1600x1200 or widescreen equivalents, because that's what I've been doing with my photo blog to save upload time (and download time for viewers, now that I think about it).

Edit: July 27, 2009: I just found a way to get at the originals with a free Flickr account. Who knows how long it might last, but here goes (might make a post out of it later). It's the photostream RSS feed (I haven't tested Atom yet). Just stick it into a feed reader that supports attached media (including Firefox's Live Bookmarks) and grab that attached media. It appears to be the original. Test it out right here on my RSS feed. I'm suspecting that maybe Flickr doesn't mind as much about this, but they just make it easy on Pro and call it a Pro feature. In fact, they start you on your way to finding the originals over here by documenting the photo source URLs.

So it turns out there are a couple ways to do this. It depends on what kind of search you want for your blog. Actually, you can even go as far as setting up a Google Custom Search for your blog, like we used to use, but these are a bit simpler and faster to set up.

First, you've probably seen the search box on the Blogger navbar.

By my guess, this is probably in the source code of all or most Blogger templates, but I know for a fact that some of them hide the bar (it's actually an iframe if you want to know), such as our template, Subtlebeauty. You'll have to remove some code from your template if it's hidden on yours and you want it to show. For example, in Subtlebeauty, I'd probably remove the lines:

#navbar-iframe {
height:0px;
visibility:hidden;
display:none;
}

Check out this page for a full tutorial on how to remove the bar (possibly because it looks terrible with your theme or you're using a different search box). If you want to change the color scheme of the bar (there's only 4 available), check out this page.

The second way is maybe a little easier. It's pretty much the same search as the navbar provides, just using your own search box, which means you can put it wherever you want on your blog. Head over here and grab the code or press the Add To My Blogger button. You can change the text displayed when the search box is not being used and the text on the search button as described over there. Just take a look at the code and you'll probably get it. Easy as pie. In fact, I put the code in below so you can test it out right here.

And the third way is a piece of cake. It's the new Blogger Search Box. Quote from Blogger Buzz: "To add the gadget, go to your blog's Layout page, then click “Add a Gadget” and click on “Search Box.” Super easy, and it has some cool options. It's a lot more advanced than the previous two (but just as easy to use). It used to only be in Blogger in Draft, but now it's public, so woot woot!

[This is a bit of a rewrite of Tuesday's post.]

The quick edit icons,   and , can be handy for, well, quick edits, but I personally prefer the clean look of our blog without wrench icons cluttering up the sidebar (by the way, they only appear when you are logged in as an admin of that blog or on a post you made). Fortunately, LawnyDesignz has a simple and elegant solution.

Here it is: you have to add a bit of CSS code to your template. So, get your blog template HTML open in the Blogger editor (Layout settings > Edit HTML). Now the important part: you have to put this in the right section to work. You have to put it in the section between the opening tag <b:skin> and the closing tag </b:skin>. For convenience, just make a new line right after the <b:skin> tag (i.e., insert your cursor right after <b:skin> and hit Enter). Now copy in the following text:

.quickedit{display:none;}

Press Save Template and then take a look at your blog. Wrench icons have disappeared, hopefully.

This still leaves the little pencil icons, but I don't find them so obtrusive and deign to leave them there. However, these can be removed, too, if you so desire. Go into the Settings tab (Basic sub-tab, selected by default), in your blog settings, and select No on the drop down box for 'Show Quick Editing on your Blog?'. Save Settings and pencils-B-gone!

Note: in the previous version of the post, I mentioned you can put the code in the first style section before <b:skin> but I would recommend putting it in the b:skin section. Lawny told me about putting it in the b:skin area, so thanks Lawny!

Also, if you have Firefox, you can grab the Stylish add-on and use this userstyle to quickly toggle the pencil and wrench icons visible/invisible, no reload required. Pretty cool.

Update, March 30, 2009: I updated the post to note that the Vista folder is in a bit of a different place. Also, I found out today that version 2 of the plugin was released in January. And I didn't even notice until when investigating the Vista path via my bro on his Vista laptop, I saw the file name and the extension of the plugin was different and that he actually had a Facebook icon in his Picasa. Also, the new version seems to install fine automatically (just a couple of boxes to click through). I did a small test and it seems to work fine using my Picasa 3 installation. The new plugin is for Window/Mac Picasa 2 or 3 (still no Linux, augggg!). The old version of the plugin seems to be working, still, and is still downloadable by the address I specified in the post (as of 03.30.09) so if anybody wants it, get it there; if that link goes dead, I uploaded it here. Oh, and I couldn't say anything about manual installation of either plugin on a Mac... sorry, I don't own one and don't feel like chasing down the correct folder. /end of update

The Picasa Facebook plugin is brilliant. There is a Linux version of Picasa, too, but unfortunately, the plugin only works with the Windows (and now Mac) version.

It downsizes the images in Picasa and uploads them to Facebook, which makes it tons faster. Pretty seamlessly. Which is nice, especially if you're on dial-up. And a great solution for anyone, considering you can't download the full size images off of Facebook anyway (not as far as I know).

I would just link and leave if that was all there was to it. Unfortunately, I had to manually install the plugin. There is a installation button on the Facebook page, but it doesn't work (at least for some people). So, I knocked together a guide in a Facebook note. This is the rewrite. Please note, although I have heard the plugin works with Picasa3, this guide is for Picasa2. It may or may not work for installing it in Picasa3. I don't know. If anyone has info on this, please tell me.

So, if the installation doesn't work automatically for you, follow these instructions. These are for XP, but pretty much the only difference in Vista is that the folder to put it in is different:
C:\Users\[your username here]\AppData\Local\Google\Picasa2\buttons\

1. Have your web browser running
2. Paste http://www.webkinesis.com/fbpicasa/facebook.pbf into a new tab or window and go or just follow this link
   For version 2 of the plugin, http://www.webkinesis.com/fbpicasa/packages/v2/facebook_v2.pbz or link
   
3. If your browser asks you what to do with the file, choose to save it and select whatever location you want (don't forget where, though)
4. If your browser didn't ask you what to do with the file, you should be seeing what is actually the content of the file. It's a bunch of text. If you don't understand it, don't worry, it doesn't matter. Just save it like you would a webpage (File > Save as or Save Page As) to wherever you like.
5. Now, we have to put the file in the right place. Copy the file first.
6. Open My Computer. Open C:\Documents and Settings\[your username here]\
7. Now, you're going to have to have hidden files visible to continue (Tools > Folder Options, View tab, Show hidden files and folders, OK)
8. Now open \Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Picasa2\buttons. (So now you're in C:\Documents and Settings\[your username here]\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Picasa2\buttons)
9. Paste facebook.pbf into this folder
10. Now, open Picasa
11. Open the Tools menu and select Configure Buttons…
12. On the left side will be your Available Buttons, on the right side your Current Buttons. Find the Facebook button on the left, select it, and click Add>>
13. The Facebook button will appear with your other buttons on near the bottom of the Picasa window.
14. Select some pictures, click the button, follow the prompts, and enjoy! Keep your eyes peeled: there should be a link at the bottom of the window that appears at some time, offering to let you enable Extended Access (it's a Facebook thing). Do it. Otherwise, you'll have to approve all photos you upload from Picasa on Facebook itself before they are published. That's a drag.

Notes: if you're not a power user, you probably will want to turn off hidden files. Just follow the same steps you used to turn them on, except this time select Do not show hidden files and folders.

Feel free to ask questions and otherwise comment.

Just a few things about Ubuntu in the last couple days that might be helpful.

1. If compiz crashes on you, simply type compiz in the terminal to restart it.
2. sudo apt-get upgrade is useful to update all your packages. (tx Thomas from NBR)
3. Ctrl+L opens an "Open Location" dialogue.
4. If your volume doesn't get as loud as you think it should, double-click on the volume icon in the panel and make sure that everything is all the way up. (tx Calvin from NBR)
5. Here and here are a couple of really awesome GDM (login) themes.