First off, I wasn't talking about their horrendous Picasa software. I agree, it's crappy, cumbersome and there's no need to use it - AT ALL!
Sorry Rick, I didn't consider that you'd download that piece of... you know what!Get rid of it and skip their software altogether. Use whatever you like for editing, etc. and use the Picasa
website as a hosting site ONLY.
That requires absolutely NO downloads at all.Secondly, Picasa, unfortunately, does not give you the [lMG] code (PhotoBucket, admittedly, does make that easy), but linking to a photo from ANY photo host site is easier than you think.
Internet Explorer: Right-Click on the image (in picasa, PhotoBucket, flickr, etc.) and click "Properties".
In the Properties box highlight & copy the Address (URL) -
(right-click, then click "copy" or use Ctrl+C ).
Paste the Address (URL) inside [lMG] [/lMG] tags like this:
[lMG]
httqs://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-r9p2ZSEYXYU/UB82Dgte6lI/AAAAAAAADIw/1BB0Uh5tqKU/s640/BSLT01.JPG[/lMG]
FireFox & some other browsers make it easier:Simply Right-Click on the image (in picasa, Photobucket, flickr, etc.) and click "Copy Image location"
Then paste it inside the Image Tags: [lMG]
paste the URL location here[/lMG]
Doing that is very quick and easy, like the IMG code feature in PhotoBucket.
As far as your upload speed question: Again, DON'T USE THE PICASA SOFTWARE! The Picasa
website has a built-in multi-image uploader that is easy and quick using a drag & drop (Click the "Upload" button at the top of your Picasa website page).
When it opens, it looks like this:
Just drag & Drop your photos from the folder on your PC to the box. You can type a new Album name, or use an existing album to upload them to.
Hope this helps and makes it less confusing!