From Chris W962

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How to upload an image.

You probably have images stored in your computer, or perhaps you see a nice image on line that you would want to show in a forum. But how do you get the image from your computer or from a different site posted in a forum?
Stay with me, there are a few steps to take, but they are easy as pie, I promise.

Why do we need to upload images?
Because the images have to be "hosted" somewhere. If you don't have your images hosted, they will just be in your computer and you won't be able to show them to anyone on the boards.
The wonderful thing about yuku is that you can host your images right on your yuku account.
We will talk about the yuku hosting first.

How to upload an image to your yuku account
Make sure you are logged in to your yuku account.
Click on "images" in your blue navigation bar
First you'll want to create albums. You can create multiple albums, for example, you could create an album for avatars, and album for smileys, an album for buttons, pictures, etc...
Click on "create new album"
Give the album a title for easy distinction later, and don't forget to adjust your permissions of who can view the album.
When you are done, click "submit" and your album is ready and good to go.
You can either create albums as the need arises, or you can set up several albums at once for later use. For example, if you are planning on storing your smileys and your pictures in your yuku albums, you could go ahead and set up an album for smileys and one for pictures.

To upload an image to your album, click on "images" in your blue navigation bar.
You will see your albums displayed now.
Click on the album you wish to store the image in.
When the album opens, click on "upload file"
You will see a list of rectangular spaces and the word "browse" to the right of each one.
Click on browse, you will now see a window pop up that has some stuff displayed that's in your computer.
Above the list is a dropdown menu. Click on the arrow to open the menu and select the section of your computer where the image you want to upload is stored. If you have images stored in "my pictures" then you will probably have to click on "my documents" first and then select my pictures from there.
Now click on 'open' in the bottom right of your pop up window and your pictures will open.
On some computers, depending on your system, the pictures will open automatically.
Now select the picture you want to upload. Depending on your settings in your computer, you will either see the pictures displayed, or you will see the file names (= the title you gave to your image)
Select the image you want to upload, either by clicking on it, or by clicking on the file name, depending on which one is displayed.
Then click on "open" again on the bottom right of your window.
Close the window and you will see that a file name has now been displayed in the rectangular section next to "browse"
Scroll down a bit and on the bottom right of your screen, click on "upload"
After the upload has been completed, you have now successfully transferred an image from your computer to your yuku album, congratulations!

How to post pictures from your yuku albums in forums
Since you have uploaded an image to your yuku album, you are probably eager to show it. The hard work is now done and the fun starts.
To post an image, click on the image icon in the WYSIWYG post editor (this is the box that opens up after you click on new topic or reply in a forum)
The image icon is located between your photobucket icon and your hyperlink buttons, I have circled it in red here..



A box will show up above the editor and you will see your albums.



Mouse over the albums to see the titles and select the album that contains the image you want to post.
Once the album opens, you will see all your images that are in that album. Click on the image you want to post and it will automatically show up in your post box.


How to upload images to an image hosting site.
Once you get used to uploading and posting images, you might get addicted to it.
Eventually, you might run out of space and you will be out there looking for more space. There are several free online hosting sites such as imageshack and photobucket. Personally I use and like both equally, but for the absolute beginner, photobucket would be the best choice if you ask me. It also has the advantage that you can link to it from your yuku account.
To set up an account with one of the online hosting services, just google them and follow the easy instructions. To upload images from your computer to your online hosting site, it is pretty much the same as uploading images to your yuku account. Just look for the "browse" button, then browse, select the image location in your computer and upload it.

Hotlinking and other unethical practices
Most users will know what is allowed and what is not allowed, but sometimes people will hotlink or use pictures that have copyrights, many people who do this are doing it out of ignorance, they just don't know that they are doing something wrong. Hotlinking and using copyrighted pictures and/or images are two things that need to be avoided.

Copyrights.
When you see a nice picture on the internet somewhere, or a nice banner, it does not mean that it is there for everyone to grab and use. It usually belongs to someone and should not be used without the owner's permission. If you want to use pictures and you want to play it safe, you can browse for public domain images or pictures, those are indeed there for everyone to use.

Hotlinking.
What is this?
When you see an image on the internet, a yuku board, any place, really.. you can right click on it and copy the image location. You can then insert the URL in the designated area in your reply box, the picture will show in your reply. When you do this, you are linking to someone else's image and thus you are using someone else's bandwidth, please don't do this.
Not only is hotlinking unethical, it is also theft if the images are stored in a paid account. On top of that, some people will have protection against hotlinking in place. The image you are hotlinking to could then revert to a different image which is usually not nice to look at. It could be a little guy that gives you the finger, or perhaps a message rightfully accusing you of being a thief. I'm sure you don't want this to happen.

How to insert an image by using an URL
I have now explained how to insert images from your photobucket account and images from your yuku albums, it happens simply by locating the image and clicking on it, but what happens if you want to insert an image that is stored somewhere else, like in your imageshack account?
Simply click on the image icon again


Look under the right corner of the box that pops up, and you will see "insert from URL"
Click on that and a small window will pop up. Insert the URL in the designated area, click OK and your image will show.

That's it.. happy posting!