Rob Williams - Orangejack

Today class, we're going to expound a bit on posting photos. Last time we talked about how to get an image on your blog if that image is already online by using HTML. However, there's a good chance you've got a photo that is on your computer, not on the internet, and you want it on your blog.

What's a blogger to do?

Well, if you're with blogger.com like I am, then you have a couple of choices.

First, if you have a website or have a way to post photos online, try that and then use the <_img src="http://www.domain.com/image"_> code (minus the underscores). However, some places that allow you to post images won't let you use HTML to post them elsewhere. 'Tis a safeguard for you so that your photos aren't published all over the place in other people's blogs! But it works against you in getting it into your blog.

So, here's what I suggest (and do). Get yourself a free program called Hello. Pretty simple name, and pretty easy to use. Google just bought them just like they own blogger.com, so they work together pretty well.

However, a friend who will remain nameless and photoless had testified that hello isn't as easy as one would think. So, here goes my crash course with hello.

Once you get hello installed, you have to join it with an ID and password. It is really an instant massager for photos. So to add photos to your blog, you have to add a friend called "BloggerBot". It should already be there. So look for the bloggerbot name and double-click it. A new tab should appear inside hello called "BloggerBot". From there you can change your settings for how you'd like your photos to show up and to which blog (if you have a few).

To post a photo, you simply click "Send Pictures". It'll ask you to find the photo on your hard drive. TIP: the image must be a .jpg file. Hello won't "see" other files for some reason. Before you can send it to your blog, however, you must give it a caption in the bottom right-hand side. Do so and hit "publish". Then watch the magic begin!

Another tip: you may want to go back to your blog and edit that post by adding the HTML tags like "align" and "hspace". Just play with it, then type out the rest of your post.

Now, for those of you who are on a Mac or don't want to use hello, there is another option. It's called Flickr. I know two people who use it, and one of them swears by it! I've never used it so use at your own risk!

I hope this hasn't gotten too complicated, but then again, it is a sophomore-level class.

Next time: Publishing.