How to add Images to your Messages

Here are a number of different ways to make images appear in your messages, and some ways to find or create the images that you need.

1. How to Add Images
   • (A) Copy and Paste
   • (B) Use the Toolbar
     • Emoticons (smileys)
     • Insert Image
       • Photo Albums
       • My Computer
       • Clipart Gallery
   • (C) Use HTML.
2. How to Find Images
3. How to Create Images

1. How to Add Images

 

(A) Copy and Paste

 

This is the easiest way, so I will talk about it first. Here is an image Copied and Pasted:

 

 

To do this simply "drag your mouse" over an image that you see online, right-click and select "Copy" from the little menu that appears. Then when creating a new message, click on the little Clipboard image that appears in the pale yellow toolbar:

 

 

(To "Paste" click the Clipboard image, third from the left.)

 

If you really want to go to town with cutting and pasting, you might like to get a little program called ClipboardPile. It remembers everything you Copy and allows you to Paste it again at a later date. This means you can go on a hunting expedition and Copy lots of things, then Paste them any time later into one or two new messages. It is very useful also for that moment when you scratch your head and wonder, "Now what was that thing I Copied and Pasted before."

 

 

 

(B) Use The Toolbar  

 

When you create a new message you will see a pale yellow toolbar above the box where you type. It looks a bit like this:

 

 

 

This is the "New Message Toolbar". It contains a lot of things you can click on to affect the way your message appears. If you slide your mouse pointer over the images on the toolbar, you will see a little blurb appear for each one telling you what it does. I am just going to talk about the ones for adding images to your messages.

 

Emoticons

 

If you slide your mouse pointer over the smiley face in the toolbar, the blurb "Emoticons" will appear. Just click on the smiley face and images will be displayed (   etc.) Then simply click on the one that you want to insert in your message.

 

Insert Picture

 

The big "A", to the left of the "smiley face" in the toolbar, is for "Text Color". To the left of the big "A" is a little yellow image with a picture of a mountain. The blurb description for this is "Insert Picture". When you click on it a new window should appear with the following top section:

 

  

 

As you see there are three "tabs":

(a) Online Photos: Use this to select pictures from Photo Albums in the MSN Communities that you belong to, including your own online Photo Albums. You can look at Photo Albums, and create your own one by clicking on the Photo Albums link in the left panel of the Community website.

(b) My Computer: If you have some images stored on your computer that you want to insert in your message, click on the My Computer tab, click Browse and select the image. Note: you can save your MSN space allowance by putting images that you want to re-use into your online Photo Album, and then using them from Online Photos instead of My Computer.

(c) Clipart Gallery: Click on this tab to display a list of MSN-supplied images to choose from.

When you have selected the images that you want, click the pink "" button to insert them into your message.

 

(C) Use HTML

 

This is a bit technical, but very nifty. It allows you to switch between typing in a message normally, and editing the HTML (website language) that you are actually creating as you type. This gives you complete control of the formatting and content of your message. However I will just mention a way of inserting a link to an image, without having to actually upload the image.

 

First click on "Use HTML".

 

 

Here is the HTML to insert an image:

<img src="type the link here">

Where it says "type the link here" substitute a hyperlink to a ".jpg" or ".gif", for example http://communities.msn.com/central/images/icongroups.gif .

 

Then you can click on "Use HTML" again to switch back to normal typing.

 

Note: There are lots of useful things you can do by popping into "Use HTML". There are many online HTML lessons. You should be able to find some at www.zdnet.com , for example.

 

I hope that putting an embedded HTML link does not breach copyright, as such, but I always like to add a separate acknowledgement in the text for good measure. (Please do not rely on my opinion on copyright matters. See MSN Terms of Service for more details.)

 

 

2. How to Find Images

 

I use the Image Search at www.google.com and the search facility at www.allposters.com to find images. Google are in the same boat as us, because they are displaying linked images. They usually add a disclaimer "Note: This image may be copyright." Allposters.com say they allow people to show images from their catalogue provided that you include a link to their website (shop) too.

 

Having found a suitable image, you can either:

(a) Save it to your computer by right-clicking on it and selecting "Save Target As". You now have an image on your computer that you can upload into messages or Photo Albums, for use in messages.

(b) Highlight the image by dragging the the mouse pointer over it. (Note this is tricky to do without clicking on something by mistake.) When it is highlighted it will change colour. Then right-click and select Copy from the little menu that appears. You now have an image that you can paste by clicking on the Clipboard tool in the new message toolbar (see above).

(c) Copy it by highlighting with the mouse pointer, right-clicking and selecting "Open Link In New Window". Then highlight and Copy the address from the Address Bar in Internet Explorer (or equivalent in Netscape etc). You now have a link that you can Paste in "Use HTML" (see above.)

 

3. How to Create Images

 

This topic contains too much to cover in this little message. There are lots of image editing programs available. Here is one very simple way to create images:

 

(a) In Windows, click on Start / Programs / Accessories / Paint.

(b) Click on the Pencil symbol in the left panel of the Paint window.

(c) Click in the white space in the Paint window.

(d) Hold down your left mouse button and "scribble" by sliding the mouse around.

(e) Select "Save As" in the Paint window top File menu.

(f) Before clicking Save, click on the little "Save As Type" selector and choose "JPEG" instead of Bitmap. (Bitmaps use tons of space, JPEG's are tiny.)

(g) Give your picture a name and save it.

(h) You now have an image on your computer that you can upload.