ICG Contributors’ Galleries Upload Tutorial

(Updated May 14, 2011)

 

Create an account:

1.     Send email to gallery-admin@costume.org to request an account. Include your full name, your e-mail address, and your preferred user name (4-20 characters, with no special characters except for a period (.), a space, a dash (-), or an underscore (_) ).

2.     Once you receive a confirmation email from the Gallery Administrator with your password, you can log in to the site.

 

Create an album:

1.     At the main gallery page, click on Login (on the right side of the page).

2.     Username: Enter your user name.

3.     Password: Enter your password.

4.     Click on the image above Contributors’ Galleries.

5.     Click on Sidebar (on the far right side of the page) to bring up the Action Sidebar (on the left side of the page).

6.     Click on Add Album.

7.     Name: Provide a unique name for your album.

8.     Title: Enter a title for your album.  Note: should you choose to use them, the Boldface, Italics, List, Bullet, URL, image and color buttons should be pressed before you enter the text to be affected.

9.     Summary: Provide a brief description about the photos your album will display.

10. Keywords: Optional. You can enter words related to your album to improve search functionality.

11. Description: Optional. Enter a freeform description about your album.

12. When done, click “Create”. This takes you to the Edit Album page. You will see 5 tabs for changing the look of your album.  It is recommended that new users stick to the default settings. 

 

Upload a photo:

 

The recommended file size of uploaded photos is under 100kb.   To keep your photos looking crisp, your resolution should be 300 dpi (Dots Per Inch). This web page has a good, easy to understand explanation about resolution.   Most editing software programs can accomplish these tasks easily.  Look for a "resize" option that can reduce a picture to around 38 - 40% of the original - or a maximum of 400 pixels on one side.  If you're scanning, the usual default resolution is 300 dpi.  Once your image is scanned, you can reduce your photo with your editing software. 

 

1.     Click on Add Items (on the left side of the page, under Options).

2.     This page gives you the option to upload two photos to start, but you can add another one by clicking the "More Upload Boxes" link.  (Keep in mind, that the more photos you upload at a time, the longer it may take - if you only have a dialup connection, this could be a problem!).

3.     For each photo group:

·        Click on Browse to upload a picture from your computer files.  Select the picture using the File Upload window.

·        Caption: Optional description of the picture in question.

4.     It is recommended that you change the Set Items Titles From: drop down window to Blank.

5.     Leave the Summary, Description and Thumbnails boxes checked.

6.     When finished, click Add Items at the bottom of the page.

7.     When the upload is complete, click on Add More Files to continue adding photos.

 

Edit a photo:

 

To update a photo’s title or caption:

·        From the photo itself:

o       Click on the picture

o       Click the sidebar icon on the left side of the page

o       Click on Edit Photo

 

·        From the album

o       Click the sidebar icon on the left side of the page

o       Click on Edit Captions

 

You can now update the title, summary, keywords and description. When finished, click on Save.

 

 

Helpful Tips:

 

If you would prefer that your real name not be displayed on the Contributors’ Albums page, you can Edit Album and change the Title display under the General Tab.

 

Anything you enter in the Summary field for your album will appear under the thumbnail within your album.

 

With every album you create, the first photo you upload into it becomes the default thumbnail displayed.  If you would like to change it, go to Edit Album, and under the General tab, scroll down all the way to the bottom of the screen and use the Custom Thumbnail option to upload the photo you would like for your album to display.

 

A handy way to title your uploaded files is to use the Edit Captions option under Edit Album.  This allows you to enter your info for up to 9 pictures at a time.  Don't forget to click Save and Done when finished!

 

Don't like the order in which your photos are displayed?  Use the Rearrange Item option.

 

Keywords are used to help search engines find matching web pages.  If you would like to increase the likelihood that an Internet search might find a photo of yours, enter words directly related to your subject.  For instance: let's say you have a photo you shot of a gentleman named Bob Jones wearing chain mail, holding a sword and shield, from the Anytown Renaissance faire.  You might enter these words with no quotations, separated with a comma:  chain mail, Anytown Renaissance Faire, sword, armor, Bob Jones.  Entering keywords is really not something you have to do, because it can be very tedious.  Here's a shortcut if you want to take the time, though:  If there are common words for each photo, enter them into a word processing program and copy and paste them into your Keywords field.  (By the way, these keywords are not visible on your photo page, but search engines will find them and come to your photo.)

 

Under Edit Photo, there is a tab called Custom Fields.  If your photos are from a competition like a masquerade or pageant, etc., you have the option to enter information about the event, the name of the contestants, what they won, and so on.  This can be useful for historical records reasons, as well as keeping your description of each photo to a minimum.

 

Questions?

 

Gallery administrator: Bruce Mai (gallery-admin@costume.org)

Kennedy Library Archivist: Pierre Pettinger (icg-archivist@costume.org)

 

 

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