How do I add a photo?

Before you begin ...

Got the power? Only "real-name users" and others with upgraded membership in the site can upload photos to the site. Others can only link to photos already online elsewhere.

If you'd like to upgrade your membership, send a request using the contact form.

Got the right? Do not post a photo unless you have the legal right to publish it. If it's not a photo you took yourself, ask permission of the copyright holder. See our terms of service document for more about your obligations.

How big is it? Our system will not accept photos with a file size larger than 2MB. That means you may need to crop or resize a photo before trying to upload it.

Now, here's how ...

While editing the post that you want to add the photo to, position your cursor in your copy at the point you want the photo to appear. Then click the image icon  in the toolbar. It will open the Image Properties popup window.

The Image Properties popup window.

A photo already online somewhere else

If you want to insert a photo that you have already uploaded someplace else -- perhaps a photo sharing site like Flickr or PhotoBucket -- type in the URL for the photo in the URL field. Resize the image to be no more than 500 pixels wide so it will fit the page template on our site. Then switch to the Link tab to add a link back to the original image location. Then click the OK button to insert the photo.

A photo not yet online

If you want to insert a photo that isn't already online, click the "Browse Server" button. That will open a new popup window that lets you look at your file storage space on this site's server.

The Browse Server popup window (shown smaller than actual size).

We'll have more to say about other aspects of this window in a moment, but for now, just find the "Upload" link at the top and click it. That will reveal a new section of the window with an upload dialog box.

The expanded Upload dialog box in the Browse Server popup window.

Click the Browse button here, which will open your computer's standard file browser window, which you can use to find the photo on your computer you wish to upload.

After you click the "Open" button in the file browser window, you'll see your photo's file name filled in in the Upload dialog box. Click "Upload" and in a moment your photo will be added to the list of files under the File name heading in the Browse Server window and the image (or a corner of it) will also appear in the preview panel at the lower right of the window.

Click on the preview image to select the photo for insertion on your web page.

That will return you to the Image Properties window.

There you can modify the width of the image (make sure it is no wider than 500 pixels to fit in our site's template).

And you can add Alternative Text so that people who can't see the picture with know what it's about.

If your picture is less than full column width and you want text to wrap around it, you need to take a couple extra steps. Set the Align value to "left" and then switch to the Advanced tab and in the Style field enter "padding-right: 20px;"

Now click the "OK" button on the Image Properties window to insert the photo into your copy.

A photo you've already uploaded to this site

You can upload photos in advance and then add them to a story later. The Browse Server window shows you a list of any photos you have uploaded already, which you can sort by File name or Date by clicking on the column heading.

You could select one of those photos for inclusion in your story by clicking on its file name, which would bring up a view of the image in the lower right panel, and then click on the preview image to insert it into the Image Properties window.