'(Òvó) CrownedUp.com • systemize • document • automate

So if you are new to Drupal and it's terminology you may look around and wonder "what are all these image support options for Drupal?" Have you started with one and switched to another as you define your use cases? I have. Well, following are three basic starting points for image support w/ Drupal that I see:

1. IMCE module is an image browser good for uploading images directly to the ./sites/example-url.com/file/ directory, I find this the best solution for image support when editing HTML page content w/ WYSIWYG API or doing CSS styling via a Zen theme & CSS injector. Note: image paths are hardcoded as HTML img tags w/ IMCE, as opposed to using Image Attach w/ an image filter tag, so the file path is important and should remain consistent.
2. Image Field module is great for a content types w/ consistent image layout needs (ie. catalogs, slideshows), it works simply with CCK, Views & Image Cache. Image Field is a field attached to a node via a CCK content type and provides lots of configuration options ad works with a lot of other great modules.
3. Image Attach in the Image module actually creates node per image. Configuring and using the Image Attach module is easy (this from baxwrds.com), this module has straightforward features when used to insert images into HTML content, one being able to use an image filter tag. This module also works with many other modules including WYSWYG API, but seems overkill for use as HTML image support. and seems best suited for a use where the image itself is best treated as a node (i.e.. a large community site based around images where additional node features would be useful).

Notable Notes:

• lullabot article: Image w/ Image Exact Sizes vs. Imagefield w/ ImageCache
• filefield insert module