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Helpful Tips



I don't normally do tutorials, but this is the most-asked question I get from newbies in pagebuilder help.

"How do I put a background or gif in my email or a non-pagebuilder background on my webpage?

Well, this entails using HTML code - NOT the 'picture' option in pagebuilder. It also means that you don't link your gifs or backgrounds from another site.

On this page you will find information on the following:
~ Linking
~ Why you Upload
~ Find the URL/Picture pages
~ The Code for a PB addy
~ Uploading
~ Transcribing
~ Transloadig
~ Various Uploaders
~ A few cataloging ideas
~ Other Help Sites

LINKING is largely frowned upon by just about everyone. That is stealing bandwidth and even if you have permission to link - it's not smart.

If you link, you are making someone else pay for the bandwidth you are using. If the other person is on a 'free' page, like geocities, angelfire or tripod, they don't have the authority to allow you to link, as they are also 'borrowing' their space. Many of the free sites are now dis-allowing linking of certain gifs or jpgs or midis. You DON'T want to be responsible for someone else losing their page!

Another reason not to link - you are at the mercy of the other person's page. If their page goes down or they remove it, change it, etc. and your link is taken off - you lose the gif on your page, too, and are left with a little empty box. You have NO control over whether that link will show up or not.

You want to upload your gifs! When you upload, you basically make that gif yours. The page you got it from can disappear from the face of the earth, but your gif will still be there.

I consider these the best of the uploaders for various reasons. Beth's uploader (my version of it) will load gifs of nearly any size that, when clicked on will come up alone in a (usually) black background.

With the demise of the free picture movers from Star Boulevard, pagebuilders are left with fewer options for uploading.

I use Transloader.com a lot. This also has uploading capabilities to your scrapbook and no size limitations. I personally find webscissors limited in what it will upload and tend to try is only as a last resort, but it's another option that is available to webtv users.

Once you have uploaded your gifs to your scrapbook, you are ready to basically make another scrapbook - but this one you will publish on a webpage.


section 2

CREATE A PICTURE PAGE ~ Go into pagebuilder and choose a background - I use the grey since just about everything shows up on it (but you can also use the solid color blue, red or green backgrounds). Give the page a SHORT name - you'll be typing it a lot. Now you want to move the gifs that you uploaded to your soon-to-be published picture page.

These you will add to the page using the pagebuilder 'picture' option. From your new page, click on "add an item", "picture" and "your scrapbook". Then click on the image you want on the page.

Next you will see a screen with the gif in the left corner and in the right 2 options - 'replace' or 'view'. Click on 'view' and you'll see the gif in the black background and information in the status bar. Click 'back' and you'll want to either write that down on a pad or notebook for gifs (see last section) or you can enter that information into the text/message area - the large section for reference. Then click 'done'. Do this for all the gifs you want to code on to your webpage.

You will have 3 options when you get the information out of the status bar.

~~ If you uploaded your gifs from another page, it will say importD##_gif or jpg.

~~ If you uploaded it from your email, it will say mailedD##_gif or jpg.

~~ If you used the video capture it will say postedD##.jpg. (The video capture will nearly always be a jpg)

With all the options, you will change the _ to a period, so what you write down would be something like this ~ importD##.gif.


THE CODE ~ This will be the same in structure regardless of how many gif pages you end up with:

http://community.webtv.net/YOURNAME/
PICPAGENAME/scrapbookFiles/importD##.
gif (or jpg)

Now, as people use different methods to capture pics - using a video camera or digital camera - there is a new addy - which does not incorporate the "scrapbookFiles" part of the addy. And like a video capture, it will most likely be a jpg. For these, the graphic addy will look more like this ~

http://community.webtv.net/YOURNAME/
PICPAGENAME/media/captureD##.
gif (or jpg)

When you code in your gif - it will be as an image and will have the (img src) tag in front of it. You can use them as a plain image or as a link.

If you are using the regular pagebuilder, you want to use the GREY (or solid red, blue or green) pagebuilder background to put the code for your own background gif on. Here's the code you would use (body background="URL of your gif") and place it in the first text box on the page. In your edit box, all you will see is a square at the top left of the page with your background in it, but if you go to preview, you should see the whole page with the background.

THE FIX

If you have taken the 2.6 or 2.6.1 Pagebuilder upgrades, the instructions above will only work as far as getting the correct addy for your graphic or coding it to your email. To code graphics on pages with the 2.6 or 2.6.1 upgrades you need THE FIX. This should help to get you through - and if you have disabled the background option in your printer options - it is printable as well.


If you're coding it into your email, the codes are the same, just remember that the html opening and closing tags are needed in email, but not in pagebuilder.


section 3

UPLOADING AND TRANSLOADING

They are basically the same thing ~ a way to move gifs from one place to another. However the mechanisms to do that are determined by what you are using as your computer and where your website is located.

If your website is anywhere but webtv you will be Transloading and I'll explain that in another section. The only time a webtver uses a transloader, is if they are putting a pic on a tripod or some other web location that is FTP-capable.

WEBTV UPLOADS. There are lots of uploaders to choose from and these are just a few. Beth's WebTV Scrapbook Uploader (my version of it) is one of the easiest to use as it will handle gifs of just about any size. Transloader.Com is excellent and will also move gifs of all sizes. Webscissors is another tool many people use, although you are limited in the size of the gif.

These will upload gifs directly to your scrapbook. All you have to do is follow the instructions for each loader and they're pretty much all used in the same way.



UPLOADING from a clickable gif that comes up alone on a (usually) black background. You can use any of the already mentioned uploaders, although from another pagebuilder page, webscissors is about the only one that works. Ideally, you have put your uploader on one of the 7 F-keys that webtv gives us on the keyboard. While you are viewing the gif on the black background, you just press the F-key containing your uploader and you're ready to roll.

If you don't have your uploader saved as a favorite, you can still upload the gif while you're looking at it. Just press your 'goto' button, and type into the URL line the address of the uploader you want to use.


TRANSLOADING

For webtvers, we transload from webtv to another web host - like Tripod. Or from one non-pagebuilder site to another. Webtv can't transload because it has no FTP (file transfer protocol).

If you are using a non-pagebuilder web host, the most used are Tripod and Angelfire, although there are MANY others - not all of them webtv-friendly. For these - this is what you would fill in to the FTP line ~

Tripod ~ ftp.tripod.com
Angelfire ~ ftp.angelfire.com


The main transloader is Transloader.Com. Size-wise it will move huge gifs - and it will also move midis (pagebuilder has no storage for music files, sorry). You will have to CCP the address of the gif that you want to move.


I hope this helps to clear up some questions you may have about uploading and transloading, how it's done and how they differ.


section 4

HINTS ~ KEEP TRACK OF GIFS

If you have many and they're scattered through several pages and/or user names, I find it easier to keep track of my gifs in a notebook. I fill a page until the pagebuilder tells me it's time to add a pagebreak - then I quit. (about 12 - 25 gifs depending on byte size) I also try to keep my pages of gifs along the same theme. I have holiday pages, sports pages, banners, awards, etc., and gifs of the same themes. I keep the backs separate - and also organized by themes. I keep all the pertinent information on the page, so I don't have to go on a search for information.

user name / pic page name
--> arrow gif (draac) importD0.gif
ML tag (acme) importD0.jpg
cat(photo)mailedD1.jpg


Along with the basic information, I also keep track of where I got the gifs from so that I can give them credit at the end of the page - and display their banner as well. I usually put the addy for the person I'm giving credit to at the bottom of the page so that it's always on file.

It is a good idea to contact people whose pages you want to use gifs from or just want to place a link to their page for permission. Keeping an open line of communication and good will is excellent ~ and can benefit you as well as the other person might give you a return link - and more exposure for your page.


Another option for your graphics is to put the needed information right in the text box when you add it to your picture page. You can put the pic addy or importD##.gif information, addy of the page you got the gif from and what page(s) you are using the gif on for starters. What information you put there is up to you.

There are numerous ways to keep track of your gifs ~ even if you are dealing with numerous pages and user names. The trick is finding the method that works for you! Anything is better than running through page after page of gifs looking for something - and wasting a lot of valuable time in a fruitless search.


Here are the addys of the Uploaders and Transloader mentioned in this tutorial ~~

Beth's Uploader (my version of it) ~
http://mlski.net/uploader.html

Transloader.com/ ~
http://transloader.com/

Webscissors ~
http://www.webscissors.com/

The Fix ~
http://community-2.webtv.net/libandme/theFIX/"

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