I've Got Your Picture, I've Got Your Picture, I'd Like a Million of Them All to Myself...

[Greg R. Fishbone]

As I promised in my blog entry on semantics, here is a primer on how to...

Add Some Images

...to MyNESCBWI. This is something I'm still trying to figure out for myself, because there are so many ways that images can be used on this network.

• They can be added to blog entries
• They can be added to discussion threads
• They can be uploaded to your My Page
• They can be organized into galleries
• They can be tagged to appear in group galleries
• They can be added to your events
• They can be sent from your mobile phone

As I'm writing this blog entry, I'm looking at an options bar that includes a little colored rectangle for adding images. When you click on that rectangle, you get a snazzy interface with options of uploading a new image or linking to one that is located elsewhere on the web, displaying at full size or as a miniature "thumbnail" version linking to a full size image in a pop-up window, etc. During the holiday season, for example, folks have been using this feature to turn their blog entries into digital holiday cards to the MyNESCBWI community.

If you want so send images to your My Page, you can take advantage of a handy multi-uploader to add a whole bunch at a time. Once you've done that, you can group them into handy galleries for easy organization. Maybe have a gallery for book events, a gallery for your pets, a gallery for your workspace, a gallery for covers, a gallery for artwork, a gallery for family, or whatever else you want. The newest images from the community also appear on a slideshow on the main page for everyone to see.

I currently have two special galleries set up: one for book covers and one for Illustration Fridays. You will be able to tag your images to make them easier to sort and find, and if you tag a book cover with a "cover" tag, I will add it to the gallery of books written or illustrated by members of the MyNESCBWI community. If your image is in response to an Illustration Friday prompt, tag it with a "friday" tag and I will add it to the gallery of images created by MyNESCBWIans for Illustration Friday.

There are many options for displaying images on your My Page: as a slideshow; as thumbnails; or as a gallery of galleries. The cool part is that you can generate the cut-and-paste HTML code to take that slideshow or set of thumbnails from MyNESCBWI and embed them into your blog or personal website.

And if you're away from your computer, you can upload images taken with your mobile phone by picture-messaging them to a unique email address found on your settings screen. If you're at a conference or book event, you can get a picture onto the web instantly for other members of the community to see and comment on.