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Including
Photos and Graphics in
the MOST Family Support Forums
In
order to add images to your posts or signatures on the MSOT forum, you must have your images
already uploaded to the Internet in some capacity. The easiest way to do this is to upload
them to photo sites like Flickr, Photobucket, Snapfish, or others. These sties allow you to link easily to pictures
you store there. MOST provides instructions below that
will work for images stored on Flickr, Photobucket, a web host/server, or even
other online photo services if you already have one.
Posting
photos in forum posts:
The
steps below are the same whether you are posting a new topic or simply
replying to one. Note that the MOST forum does not allow
images to be posted using HTML. The img button makes adding a photo
very easy. Simply place the URL (address link) to the onlin image you want to use in between the [img] and [/img] tags. (The img button can be used to do this and is shown inside the red box in the graphic below.)
To do this,
1.
First locate the url (also know as the link or web address) of the image to be posted. (See Flickr or Photobucket
instructions below to see how to locate the url for images.)
2.
Click the img button once and the [img] tag will be entered into the post.
3.
Type or paste (pressing ctrl and V at the same time on a Windows machine will paste) the image url/link you located in step #1, and you will
see something like this (through the address will be different):
3.
Finally, click the img button again to close the tag.
4.
Add any additional text you wish before or after the image, and click submit and you've successfully posted an image using the image tags!
(See sample below.)
How to use photos on Flickr:
MOST uses Flickr for posting large volumes of photos for special events, so we encourage forum participants and MOST members to consider using Flickr for their own photos so that we can use the sharing and networking features with our families. This also eliminates the need to setup multiple online accounts with photos services, however, the following instructions will work with almost any online photo sharing service.
New users:
If you do not have a web server or online photo service, you can set up an account with Flickr by going to the Flickr website at www.flickr.com. When you get to the Flickr site this is what you see. you will want to click the Create Your Account button and follow the instructions.
Flickr logins are Yahoo logins, so if you already have a Yahoo login, you can use it for both Yahoo and Flickr:
Putting Photos in a Flickr Photostream:
Once you have a Flickr account, you will want to login. When you do, you will see a screen like this. Here click the "Upload Photos" link to add your pictures. Once you click the Upload Photos link, simply browse to find the photo you want on your computer, and click the "Open" button. Set the privacy settings for your photo (if you want to use it on the MOST Forum, you will need to set it to Public), and either click "Add More" or "Upload Photos" if you are done.
Once the photos on in your Flickr Photostrem, you can easliy insert them into your forum posts as instructed above. To locate your photo's URL (web address), simple navigate to the photo you want to use in Flickr, click it to open that image, and then copy the address at the top of your browser (see red circle in photo below):
Paste that link within the image tags something like this:
[img]http://www.flickr.com/photos/8897184@N06/2613816607/[/img]
and you are all set, although the actual link will be somewhat different.
Note: Flickr has a number of other options like putting groups of photos (all your Flickr photos are called your Photostream) into sets, and groups of sets into collections, as well as setting up groups for private or public sharing, tagging photos to help find them easily, an online orginzer tool, and even some editing tools. We won't cover all that here, but if you want to learn more about all the great features of Flickr, visit: http://www.flickr.com/help/faq/
How
to use photos on Photobucket:
New
users:
You can also set up an
account with a service called Photobucket by going to the Photobucket website at www.photobucket.com.
When you get to the Photobucket site this is what you see:
To
register simply click on the red 'Register Now' button and fill out the
forms. Once you are registered, you can log in with your user name and
password. After you log in you will see this screen.
This
is where you can easily upload your pictures and images. Simply click
the browse button and select your picture/image from your computer and
click the submit button. Once your photo is uploaded you will see all
your pictures/images in your account. Your images will be displayed as
thumbnails (small images) and will contain 3 links below it as shown below.
You
are now ready to use these images in a forum post:
1.
Simply decide which image you want to use in your post or profile signature
and highlight the image code below it (3rd link titled Img).
2.
Right click and select copy.
3.
Navigate to your forum posting where you want to place the photo/image.
4.
Right click in the post area and choose paste.
5.
Add any additional text or message content you want to add, then click
submit; you have successfully posted an image from Photobucket.
Posting
photos/graphics in signatures:
Just
like images used in posts, images used in signatures must already be uploaded
to a web host/server or other online photo service like Flickr or Photobucket. Once
you have located the url/link for your image follow the instructions below:
1.
Click the profile link at the top of the forum page near the MOST logo.
2.
Scroll down to the "Profile Information" section of your profile.
3.
Type [img] in the Signature box.
4.
Next, either paste or type the image's url (copied from Flickr, Photobucket, other photo
service, or the web host/server url.)
5.
Finally add the closing img tag by typing [/img]. The signature box should
contain text that looks something list this:
Scroll
down to the bottom of the profile and click submit; you have successfully
added an image to your signature!
Creating avatars:
Avatars are the the small graphics that appear on the left of the forums under the the participant's username. Each user has only one avatar and it will be the same for all posts. (If you change the graphic, the avatar for all previous posts will change as well.)
MOST provides some fun eneric avatars you can choose from in our Avatar Gallery, or you can use a custom avatar. Avatars must be no larger than 150 x 150 pixels.
To setup a custom avatar, simply go to your prfile page like you did fro your signature, scroll down to the avatar section near the bottom, and paste the URL (web address) of the graphic or photo you want to use and meets the size limitations in the field called "Link to off-site avatar."
Note: The option to upload an avatar (from your computer or an outside website) puts that avatar in the MSOT Avatar Gallery thereby making it available to other forum participants to use as well.
Updated 7/21/08
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