Sunday, April 29, 2007

Star Tech

Answers For Common Blogging Questions

I am always happy to answer questions from fellow bloggers, although the best technical knowledge comes from the team of experts and Blog*Stars who provide great information at the Google Blogger Help site. Nonetheless, I answer any queries, based on my knowledge of editorial technology, my experience in writing, my expertise in magazine and newspaper layout and editing techniques, and my own foray into photography. Of the many questions I've been asked, I've decided to post some of the most common ones here on this site, along with the answers.

How do I increase the size of a picture on a blogpost?

After uploading a picture to a post, it will go to a default position and will appear in a default size.To enlarge the image, just click on it to activate the element. Then click on any of the toggles that outline the picture and enlarge to whatever width and depth you choose.
If you want to go back on an old post and alter the size of the image, go to your dashboard and click the `Edit Post' option for that particular blogpost. Again, just click on the image to activate the element - and repeat the process described above.

15 comments:

Living one day at a time said...

David you said I could bothet you if I needed any advice. Well how can I contact you? Can you e-mail me? Through my blog not sure.Thank you for listing my blog by the way. I have thought all day about it.Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Papoosue said...

Back again David. I don't think I explained my problem correctly the first time! What I should have said was I want my blog photos to enlarge when someone clicks on them for a closer look, not to resize them within the blog. I like to look at other photos of textiles 'close up' to see technique etc and I'd like that to happen with my photos too. Sorry about that misunderstanding - any ideas? And yes, I have been to blogger help :)

david mcmahon said...

Hi happyinmy40s,

Of course you can get in touch with me at any time.

Just leave your email address here as a comment. I'll then get in touch with you by email.

Happy to list your blog. I'm always ready to encourage other bloggers and hopefully to bring them a wider audience by listing their urls.

Cheers

David

david mcmahon said...

Hi Papoosue,

Ah, I see what the problem is now. Can I give you some honest advice, though?

Okay, here goes ...

Your blog looks terrific as it is. I always say to people that it is paramount to have the right ratio between text and pictures on a blogpost. No one wants to look at large slabs of text.

You have the mix just right.

But, if you still want to maintain the size of the pictures on your posts AND still give people the option of looking at some details as a close-up ....

Post a second shot, cropped and enlarged to show the blow-up.

You see, 71 million bloggers are competing for the very short attention span of web-surfers and readers. You want people to come to your blog and get a ``one-stop shop''. Don't make them click and wait for a close-up.

Few people will do that. They'll just navigate away from your page.

Let me know your thoughts on this.

Cheers

David

Papoosue said...

Thanks for your input David. I have to disagree though on one point and that is, to us textile artists out there, clicking on a blog pic for a detailed look at a piece of work is really important and most people seem to manage that facility on their site with great success. Also, it takes but a moment for the said 'close up' to appear. I am not in favour of posting another picture already in close up as I think that would make for a bit of a cluttered look to the blog. Not to worry, I will persevere and I WILL conquer this problem (because it's really really annoying me now!!). Thanks again David.

david mcmahon said...

Hi Papoosue,

Sure, I hear you loud and clear. I've never used the click-and-enlarge option, but I know a couple of people who have.

Do you want me to put you in touch with them? It's all about sharing the knowledge ....

Cheers

David

Papoosue said...

That would be great David, thanks.

david mcmahon said...

Hi Papoosue,

I sent him the email anyway - even without waiting for your reply!

He's about nine hours behind me in time zones, but lightyears ahead in life knowledge - and I'll let you know as soon as I've heard from him.

Cheers

David

david mcmahon said...

Hi Papoosue,

As I foresaw, my Oracle has delivered words of wisdom. Just had an email from him. I will do a full post on this for the benefit of others, but in the meantime, he has answered your question at http://www.tapmal.com/blog/index.html

Do leave him a comment by way of feedback - he enjoys solving other people's tech problems.

Cheers

David

david mcmahon said...

Hi Papoosue,

Hope the sandbox information works for you. When dawn breaks in your part of the world and you log on, do let me know.

Cheers

David

Rachelle said...

Hi there,
Followed you through shrink wrapped scream :)
Could you help me figure out how to add one of my children's music clips to my blog?
Just so you know, I'm a techno neophyte!
Slainte~
Rachelle

david mcmahon said...

Hi Rachelle,

I've never posted a music clip, but I know someone who has.

He's a top-class tech type and I'll ask him. He's also very generous when it comes to sharing knowledge. Watch this space.

Cheers

David

Fletch said...

This is in answer to Rachelle's query about adding 'music' to her Blog.

There are several ways, but they're all 'complicated'. Not to say that they're "not possible", it is just that you should understand that 'free' hosts (Blogger will fall into this category) are reluctant to host 'streaming audio' because of the bandwidth implications. In short, it doesn't pay them to do so!

OK, with that out of the way, let us face the 'problem'. The easiest way, of course, is if you have your own server, or pay for somebody to host you on a shared server. That is not always the case with most peeps who just want to have their place on the web and use the likes of Blogger to achieve that end.

I've already mentioned on my 'Sandbox' that most people forget that their ISP offer them a few Megabytes (usually about 10MB) of disk space when they sign up, and I would strongly recommend that you make use of that space to host your music.

But that means getting to grips with FTP. Not difficult, honest, but daunting if you haven't tried it before. Being able to upload your music to your 'free' webspace via FTP will give you the flexibility of just pointing a link to that address, and voila, your music is now available to your visitors!

Well, not quite! So I will make another post on the 'Sandbox' explaining in detail how to go about it, and pointing you at the Javascript and other files you will need. It might take me a few hours (my website thinks I've abondoned it), so please be patient, OK?

"Techno-neophyte", "troglodyte", "whatever" (I consider myself a "chimp-coder"), everybody has the ability to do these things. It's just a matter of whether the end product is considered worth the effort. Sometimes, it isn't!

Meanwhile, anybody inclined to click the link is welcome to do so, because there are other 'hints', 'experiments' and 'demo's' there that ought to peak your interest.

david mcmahon said...

Hi El Tel,

What else can I say, apart from ``thank you for being so generous with your knowledge''.

Merci

David

Rachelle said...

Hay Fletch!
Thanks so much, I will await the answer- whenever it may arrive! Many thanks for your time!
Slainte~
Rachelle