First, where are your pictures? If on your computer only, you will need to upload them somewhere on the web for the rest of us to see them. I upload pictures to PhotoBucket.

1. Open an account w/PhotoBucket or other photo hosting site.


2. Take a picture using a digital camera (or film camera but get your pictures on a disk when they're developed & download them to your computer)


3. Resize your pics so they're not too big, generally no more than 400x300 (or 300x400) (resize keeping the same proportions so they don't get distorted...i.e., don't specify a specific size, use %-ages or similar)*****[You can also often resize pictures at your photo hosting site, but it's faster to do it on your computer]


4. Upload your pictures to your photo account


5. Find the label that contains the link to the picture


• PhotoBucket:


• Place your cursor over the picture you wish to post and hover there until a box with a larger picture and various code options appears.


• Now, place your cursor over the "HTML Code" box and click it. The code should briefly change to "Copied". This means you have copied the code.


• Paste the code you just copied into the "Message" box of the post where you want the picture to appear.


• When you "Preview" your message, you will see the picture.


• Picasa:


• In your Picasa album, click on the picture you want to post in your message. This will bring up the picture by itself with things like "Photo information" and "Link to this Photo" in the panel to the right of your picture.


• Expand "Link to this photo" by clicking on the arrow. You will now see two links: "Link" and "Embed image". (If you already see these links, then do not click on the arrow as it will close the links.)


• Below the "Embed image" box, there is another box, "Select size".
  * If you want to post the original (usually larger) size, select "Original size"
  * If you want to post a thumbnail size picture, select "Thumbnail". If you're posting asking for help on a layout, do NOT use this size...use the largest size available for readability!


• Next, copy the text from the "Embed image" box


• Paste it into the thread's "Message" box


• When you "Preview" your message, you will see the picture.

PhotoBucket Link View:

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Posting a picture from somewhere other than your photo hosting account

Again, your pictures must be located somewhere online, not on your local machine.

1. Copy the following into the "Message" box where you want the picture to be:
   <img src="http://www.XXX/image.jpg">
2. Next, replace the http://www.XXX/image.jpg with the address of the image.


3. When you "preview" the message, you should see the picture

Note: If using "image code", you may sometimes see the code with square brackets ([ ]) instead of angle brackets (< >). You must replace some of the square brackets with angle brackets and eliminate others for the image code to work. Your goal is to make your "image code" look like the example above.

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Posting a picture from a PDF file

While you cannot post a PDF file directly into a message, you can convert it to a JPEG (JPG) file using one of the free "PDF Converters" found online. One such converter is the "Neevia Document Converter" at the link below.

Neevia Document Converter (http://convert.neevia.com/pdfconvert/)

Once your file has been converted to a "JPEG" image, save the image on your local machine, upload the picture/image to your photo hosting account, and post the picture/image here. To do this:

1. Go to one of the free PDF converters found online


2. Follow the directions on the site you are using. This will include specifying the PDF file to convert.


3. Once the PDF file has been converted to an image/picture, save the picture/image to your local machine. The steps to do this depend on your browser:


• From Firefox:
  
  • Right click on the image
    
  • Select "Save Image As..."
    
  • Save the image on your local machine


• From Internet Explorer:
  
  • Right click on the image
    
  • Select "Save Picture As..."
    
  • Save the image on your local machine


4. Upload the pictures to the web somewhere (photohosting account such as Photobucket or elsewhere)


5. Now, follow the steps above for posting pictures.

1. From the album/photostream page, click the picture you wish to post.

   It will appear on a page by itself

2. Click "Share This" in the menu that appears above the picture.
3. Click "Grab the HTML/BBCode"
4. From the size drop down menu, select the size you wish to post.
• Default is "Medium". Note: There may be more than one "Medium".
• When posting a picture, it's usually best to choose a size that's no more than 400 in either direction, smaller is better...as long as it's easy to see/read in the smaller size!
• For legibility, you may have to post bigger pictures.
5. Select the "HTML" radio button
6. Copy the code that appears inside the box above the size drop down menu. (The box says "Copy and paste the code below:")
7. Paste the code you just copied into the thread's "Message" box
8. When you "Preview" your message, you will see the picture.