Getting the Most out of Multiply

I've decided to create an article about adding pictures inside Multiply. It can used in any place here: replies/comments, group notes, personal messages, any post at all, even on blog entries if you select the View Source option so you can add your own HTML code.

First of all, you need to host the picture on the Internet, you can't use images that are stored on your own computer. There are thousands of free services that host files for hotlinking, specially images. Some of them have some restrictions, like limited bandwidth, maximum file/image size, or will store your file for a limited time then will delete it. For these reasons and as things will be easier and faster if you do it all on Multiply, you can create a private album here (so no one else will see the pics) and still use the images here or anywhere else (if it's used outside Multiply, a small watermark will be visible, so you don't have to credit Multiply for hosting the image for you). I will come to this later.

After you have uploaded your image somewhere, you need to find its URL so you can use it in your post. The URL is the unique address of the image on the Internet. You just need to right click on the image and select Properties if you are using IE or Copy Image Location if you are using Firefox (or the similar command in your preferred browser). If you chose Properties, a small window will appear, where you can select and copy the image URL. You can also select View Image so the only the picture will be show on your browser window, and you can copy the URL from the address bar.

For instance, if you go to this album:

http://multiplynewbie.multiply.com/photos/album/1

you will see that it has only one picture. What you see first is the image thumbnail, a small size picture so you see many pics of the album at once. You can use the thumbnail if you want, just get its URL, but then you will use the small image (it can be useful for creating a link, for instance). If you want the bigger one, click on the image once, and you will see the preview image, which is bigger than the thumbnail. If there is a high resolution version of the image, you will be able to click on it once again to see the full size one (you will also see a link bellow the image with the high resolution image size). The problem is that if you host your images on Multiply, it may delete the high resolution version after 6 months if no one has ordered a print of it. Normally, if you plan to add the pic to a reply or something else, you are not using a high resolution image, or maybe the image you've uploaded is small and there is no bigger version of it, so you don't need to care about it (PS: even if Multiply deletes the hi-res picture, it won't delete the preview nor the thumbnail). In this example, I will use the preview image. Its URL is:

http://images.barefootmeg.multiply.com/image/27:multiplynewbie/photos/1/400x400/1.jpg/multiplyfordummies.jpg?et=AXOfwI3dmAVRbm8AXI%2CUqw

Now, the only thing you need to do is use this command where you want to display the image:

<img src="Image_URL">

where you must replace Image_URL with the actual URL of the image you want to show, and don't forget to include both the "<" and ">" too. In this example:

<img src="http://images.barefootmeg.multiply.com/image/27:multiplynewbie/photos/1/400x400/1.jpg/multiplyfordummies.jpg?et=AXOfwI3dmAVRbm8AXI%2CUqw">

It will show the picture like this:





Some useful variations of the command:
<img src="Image_URL" border="0"> - draws no border around the picture, useful if you use it for a link
<mg src="Image_URL" align="left"> - aligns the image to the left
<img src="Image_URL" align="right"> - aligns the image to the right
<img src="Image_URL" height="300" width="400"> - sets the image width and height (you can use other values, of course, and if you use only one parameter - width or height - the other one will be automatic to keep the image proportion ratio)


OK, now about the private album... I will use the text that kindspirit wrote in a post in this very group:

Create a new photo album as you normally would, and add all the photos, Gif's or any other images to that album that you wish to hot link from.

When choosing "Who should be able to see this album?", just select "Individuals" But Do Not add any individuals to the list! None! Just leave the list blank.

After saving your album, and confirming that the album is complete, it will appear on your message board, but only you will be able to see it. No one else will see it.

Now you can go back to those images in your Private Photo Album, and hot link those images to your Multiply site or to any other site on the web.

Of course, you will be able to add more pictures to this album, so you will need to create only one. And this tip works for any picture, from any album or any picture from the internet, as link as you get its URL.

As a final note, remember that's it's not right (nor legal) to use someone's else pictures unless you ask for it first and you have the express permission to do it. It's the same when you create your own albums. And it's polite to cite and thank your source, even after you have asked to use it. Respect the copyright and play nice. ;)


Update1: in order to paste or edit the HTML code in blog entries, the 'View Source' command was replace by the 'Edit HTML' checkbox.

Update2: now you can easily grab the code to embed your pics anywhere using the share link you can find below your pics. Use the embedding code to display your pic and link it to your album. Just copy and paste the code.