How to Hang in the Gallery...?
 

Could someone provide a simple method for taking pictures from my own (virtual) collection so as to make them appear on the walls of this forum?

Now and again I have wished I could "show" something here in answer to an idea. How would I do that?

And if the work's not mine (I don't make visual art) is it still OK to post it?

Hi Ann,
To post an image requires the image to be online somewhere so there is a URL. You can upload to Eratosphere for this purpose in your "User CP" and then albums. You can also use URLs from PhotoBucket or Flickr or places like that.

Then the URL is placed between image tags.

http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/pictur...&pictureid=125

I think you can go into edit on this post and see the code in action. Have no fear, it will not let you make changes to my post by accident.


As far as posting things that are not yours, I think it's fine to post things as part of a discussion. You may also post things that you admire to the Art Museum forum as a discussion. Just be aware of copyright issues.

I'm not sure what a URL is.

I meant posting pictures that exist as files on my computer. On Facebook I just click "add photo" and select it from my store. I don't know what Flickr (etc) is either (other than in principle).

Is there anything like that here? And if not, how do I get my pictures to grow URLs?

Sharon, I love the fact that this:

http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/pictur...&pictureid=125

looks so much like this:

http://f.tqn.com/y/painting/1/S/c/W/...rings-wire.jpg

Ann, if you can figure out how to transfer photos from your camera to your computer, here's how to upload those photo files from your computer into a message on Eratosphere.

In Eratosphere, when you use the usual "Reply" (or "New Post") option--the following doesn't work in "Quick Reply" mode--you should see two rows of doohickeys and thingamabobs and bells and whistles above the message window, like stops on an organ.

In the top row of doohickeys and thingamabobs and bells and whistles, click on the icon of a paperclip. This conjures up the "Manage Attachments" menu.

Under "Upload File from Your Computer", select "Choose File", and you should see a menu of the contents of your computer. Navigate to wherever you've stored your pictures, "Select" the one you want, and voilà.

If the photo is too large, you may need to swear at it for a while until you can figure out how to save it in a smaller format, and upload that version instead. I find the epithet "A thousand curses!" to be very helpful.

Julie, I recognise all those milligubbins of which you speak!

I am a dab hand at getting the goodies from the camera to the pictures file; also saving stuff from elsewhere into the same privy purse.

That last step is what I wotted not of. I shall experiment.

Oh. That just made a clicky-onny. How do people post the actual picture unto the reply?

When I got to the last step I wasn't offered the chance to "select", only to "open", which did - and the above (a click-link, now deleted) happened, though I couldn't see that until I'd "submitted" the "reply".

1.Trying with another picture...

2. No joy. It has disappeared. That one was a "jpg", and the previous one a "bmp". I shall keep faffing.

3. It's there on the "manage attachments" menu with no options or instructions. If I click on it it opens in a new window but doesn't attach to the post.

4. I wonder if the attachments menu is all used up on the last post. I'll open it again for this one...

5. No I won't. I'm editing now and the menu is no longer there to be selected.

One last try with a new menu...

Well, I've uploaded it and the green line at the top has gone a bit more red, so it's in there somewhere

Last time nothing happened till I clicked "submit" so here goes...

YAY!

The above is my "Dorian Gray" picture, hanging in my "attic". She is acrylic on board. I bought her from the artist John Hurst to keep me conscious of what I may become. I am very fond of her and talk to her a lot.

Thank you, Julie. I now know that a bmp and a jpg react differently to being clicked-on.

I shall now delete the first effort and make a cup of tea...

Edited in. No I won't. I can't delete it. It won't go. The text went but not the attachment and I can't delete it because when I go into edit mode it isn't there. The whole post deletes and just leaves the attachment sitting there.

More editing-in: I've discovered I can delete that first link after all. What I had to do was "go advanced" which I've never tried before, and the attachments menu was once more at my command, through whose good offices I deleted my first unsatisfactory attempt.

Sharon, if you want to delete all this wittering from the forum, please do. I have learned a lot tonight.

If it's all the same I'd like to leave it all up for the benefit of others, and so that the comments I am about to make make sense.

A "URL" is an address, Uniform Resource Locator. For example the URL to the Erato forums is "http://www.ablemuse.com/erato"
Pictures have addresses too. This is what you need to say when calling for the image to appear in the thread. URLs happen when you put something "out there".

Now, Julie said: "In the top row of doohickeys and thingamabobs and bells and whistles, click on the icon of a paperclip. This conjures up the "Manage Attachments" menu.

Under "Upload File from Your Computer", select "Choose File", and you should see a menu of the contents of your computer. Navigate to wherever you've stored your pictures, "Select" the one you want, and voilà."...and all this is quite true. This is one way to do it.

But see what happened? It makes an attachment link. If you want the image to be a full part of the thread you would still need to click it to open it, right click the large open image, select "Copy image URL", then come back in and edit your post, type up the code with image tags, and finally delete the attachment business.

This is why I always begin by uploading my image into my albums (provided by Eratosphere).

1 - User CP tab at the top of every Eratosphere page (User Control Panel) right below the Eratosphere and Ablemuse logos.
2 - On the left side about 5 items down "Pictures & Albums".
3 - Then select an album or "Add Album".
4 - "Upload Pictures"
5 - After it's uploaded, open it. Erato automatically has the "image URL" and the "BB code" all ready there for you to copy. The BB code is the whole thing with image tags. Just copy that and paste it in your thread, easy as pie.

http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/pictur...6&pictureid=88

As for size - 700 pixels wide is a nice size for these forums that won't stretch the page width, forcing people to scroll sideways. I tried out your image and it's kind of big.

Ann,

A slightly different way of explaining what Sharon was saying:

http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showpo...68&postcount=2

Same concept, really. The cat still gets skinny... ;)

Thanks,

Bill

Thank you, Sharon and Bill.

It's morning here, and I've just had eight hours of unbroken sleep and a modest breakfast. I think I have internalised all I found out last night and most of the terminology is hovering on the edges of comprehension.

The scariest part was not being able to undo what didn't work, and when I'd found out how to do that, I felt more at ease with the angst of experiment. I shall, however, rest my brain for a while, since a "thumbnail" that grows when clicked is a huge advance on a click-link that produced a fixed image the size of a postage stamp. The words "quit" and "winning" were the last to fade from my head as it hit the pillow.

Sharon, of course you may leave my wordy musings in situ. I just feared that it might be seen as off-topic goose-chattering, which is an unfortunate tendency of the yak. Thank you for your patience.

And Bill, I shall investigate the notion of an album and the notional ownership of its contents before tackling Herr Schrödinger's anorexic cat. Is that thread you linked to a specially-created one? One whereon I may experiment without imposing any more sandboxery on Sharon's forum? (a PM, perhaps?) Thank you ;)

That is Bill's reply to my new sticky post about posting images complete with 8 x10, color glossy photos, with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one...
http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=24311

Sharon,
I do not have the ability to make albums in my CP. Is that something that I have to wait for since I'm something of a newbie?

Hmmm I have no idea .....off to investigate....

Sorry, Sharon - I'd no idea that was your thread - when I clicked on Bill's link it only showed Bill's post - though if I had a grain of intelligence, I'd've spotted that it was post #2.

I shall not venture therein for fear I break something.

I'm afraid I didn't do any more about this today but now, when I click on User CP as Bill suggests, I look left till my eyes ache and I'm danged if I can see "pictures and albums" either.

Lorraine - you are not alone!

LOL! You guys are so diplomatic about my kludgy and mediocre advice. Fresh-baked, homemade brownies to you all, for being so nice.

(Before you bite into them, I should probably warn you that my cooking is also kludgy and mediocre.)

I'm sorry - I have made a blunder. Apparently only moderators can make albums. *blush* A new set of destructions coming up soon. Until then, yes, go the attachment route.

Yes, Julie had the correct method from the start. I apologize for my own kludgy mis-directions. The sticky post about posting images now has the proper steps. (I hope)

Well, bless you all!

Julie, your "kludgy mediocrity" was perfectly understood by this here mediocre kludge because the language was honed to fit the level of my understanding, just as the wind is tempered to the shorn lamb. I will enjoy your brownies.

And Sharon, yours only appeared so because you (like Bill) didn't know about the lack of albums among the common folk. Marie Antoinette springs to mind and I am grinning as I write. "Let 'em make albums/eat brownies" - oh, hee hee...

And - hey! - don't forget I did it. Back there in post number 8; "Woman with Umbrella" - a piece of my own beloved art collection, bought and paid-for and posted in the forum.

It's win-win-win-win-win... eh, Lorraine?