Markovich wrote on 08/08/08 at 19:41:07:

I just tried it on my computer out of curiosity (it's shift + left Alt + print screen) and it looks really hideous, I could only stand it for a couple of seconds before I turned it off. I can certainly understand why the piece GIFs don't show too well.

I was especially interested in having diagrams that are easier to use than the FEN system.  If we can get drag and drop diagrams that any fool (that is, me) could use, I would be very happy!   

I was also impressed with choices of colors for the diagrams, and although my eyesight isn't as bad as Markovich's I do like certain colors and schemes better than others.

GMTonyKosten wrote on 08/08/08 at 08:40:39:

I have no probs with it and I usually have big problems with colours (red-green).

GMTonyKosten wrote on 08/07/08 at 21:36:01:


Your very own diagram generator is not more than adequate.  I run a black background on my computer to reduce eyestrain.  But chesspub's diagrams seem to generate the dark squares in the background color and the black pieces in Black.  This makes it impossible for me to identify Black's position, and it has greatly reduced my ability to comment on posted positions.

Personally therefore, I was very happy to learn of an alternative, seemingly better way of posting diagrams, and I was hoping that people would use it.

a little puzzle for those willing to show their fluency in FEN : everybody knows that 8 queens can be placed on a chessboard so they don't attack each other, but how many queens can be placed so that none is attacked more than once ? I dare say that 9 is feasible, 10 is perhaps possible, but 11 is for sure impossible. 

So : first in 9, first in 10...

Using this product here...why ? 
There is already one tool in current forum (web-grand-master T.Kosten proposes it since porting to YaBB): "fen" tag, with EPD position included between start and end of fen tag.
If you use the included tool, there is no "external link" which a URL of another website (here: imagehack.us) . Problem of usage of "external link" is chesspub webserver must generate network messages to/from other website, each time one page is viewed...means waste of chesspub host efficiency. And if the otherwebsite is down, you  loose your diagram image.
You can use your external product to know the EPD position string, and then copy it into a fen tag.
I use fen tag in French defence threads, and now I know by heart the way of typing:
- type "fen" included by [ and ]
- type each row of diagram separated by "/"
- type "/fen" included by [ and ]

with
- first raw is 8th raw (Black side)
- "r" means rook for Black ; "R" is rook for White
- "b" means bishop for Black; "B" for White
- "n" means knight for Black ; "N" for White
- "k" means king for Black; "K" for White
- "q" means queen for Black; "Q" for White
- "p" means pawn for Black; "P" for White
- "1" means one empty square, "2" two empty squares and so on

Starting position, first raw is; rnbqkbnr
Starting position, last raw is: RNQKBNR