1. How do I put links in my message that people can click on?
2. Can I use HTML tags in my message to do things that HTML can do, like make text bold or put things in bulleted lists?
3. How do I put a photo in my message?
      Linking photos.
      Uploading photos.
      General photo information.

Answers

1. How do I put links in my message that people can click on?

There are two ways to do that. The easy way is to fill out the box right below where you type in your message. Doing that will give you one link and put it at at the bottom of your message. Note that there are two parts to creating a link: (1) The URL of the web page you are linking to, and (2) What name you want the link to be called.

If you want more than one link, or if you want links in among your text, you have to use HTML, and here are instructions how:

Suppose you want to say this sentence:
I saw some great photos on Bob's web site in Phoenix.
You want people to be able to click on the words Bob's web site and go there. Say the URL of Bob's site is http://www.isp.com/~bob/. What you want to type in is this:
I saw some great photos
on <A HREF="http://www.isp.com/~bob/">Bob's web site</A> in Phoenix.
Note that we've shown the information you already had in blue, and the HTML code you must add in red. Note also that you have to put the space that goes after the word "on" and the space that goes before the word "in" both in the message, or those spaces will not show up in your document and two words will be run together.

Pay attention to detail if you want to use HTML. It must be entered exactly right or it won't work, and wrongly-entered HTML might mess up the appearance of your message.

2. Can I use HTML tags in my message to do things that HTML can do, like make text bold or put things in bulleted lists?

Yes. If you are comfortable with HTML coding, you may at times wish to use a number of HTML features in your posts. You can make text bold, italicized, or underlined, by using the usual HTML coding methods: <B>bold</B>, <I>italics</I>, and <U>underlined</U>. The system also accepts bulleted and numbered lists, (<UL> and <OL> tags), but we will not get into how to make them here. If you wish to use those features or others, we recommend you consult an HTML manual. As we have mentioned, HTML can make your message look great if done right, but it can really make it look awful if not entered correctly.

By the way, the only place you can use HTML is in the body of your message. It won't work in the subject or other fields.

Because the brackets like these <  > are used to enclose HTML data, if you put anything else between such marks in your message, it will disappear. If you are accustomed to using things like "<grin>" and do so here, your emotions will vanish. We suggest using [grin] instead. And we suggest you use colons : instead of angle brackets > (as is done in e-mails) to show the other guy's text, since angle brackets may be misread as HTML.

Note that the system only responds to standard HTML. It does not respond to any of the HTML-similar codes that some other boards use, such as the ones that use [square brackets], except that it will accept [img] tags in that format for linking photos, a feature we've added just because lots of users have tried to use that tag.

3. How do I put a photo in my message?

There are three ways to do it:

• LINK your photo(s) in the middle of your text by typing in HTML "img" tags.
• LINK one photo with a software shortcut at the bottom of the form where you enter your message.
• UPLOAD one photo with a software shortcut at the bottom of the form where you enter your message.

1. To LINK your photo, it has to be on the Internet somewhere. If you don't have a web site, you could ask a friend to put your photo on his. Or perhaps your photo is already on a site specifically for photos and they allow linking.

   Be aware that some free sites do not allow linking - they only allow their photos to be used in web pages on their own site. Others greatly limit how many people can view their photos in a day. Either of these policies of a site will keep others from seeing photos you have put on it.

   Once your photo is on the Internet, and you're writing a message you want to use it in, do this:

   1. Open a second copy of your web browser by typing CTRL-N (hold down the CTRL key while hitting the N key).
   2. Use that second copy of your web browser to find the web page that has your photo, or the photo itself, on the Internet.
   3. If you are using FireFox or Netscape, right-click the photo (PC) or prolong-click it (Mac), and select View Image. Then shade the "Location" box contents above the picture and type CTRL-C. The shaded character string should start with "http://" and ends with either "jpg" or "gif". Also, the URL of a photo should NOT have any question marks in it.
   4. If you are using Microsoft IE, right-click the photo (PC) or prolong-click it (Mac), and select Properties. Then shade the "Address" in the properties box and type CTRL-C. The shaded character string should start with "http://" and ends with either "jpg" or "gif". Also, the URL of a photo should NOT have any question marks in it.
   5. An example for either of the last two steps would be:
      http://www.myisp.com/mywebsite/myphoto.jpg
   6. Go back to the first browser copy, the one that has the message you are writing in it, and either:
      1. Create an HTML "img" tag for each photo, like this:
         <img src="http://www.myisp.com/mywebsite/myphoto.jpg">
         Type the tag in your text wherever you want the photo to appear. Insert the text in between the quote marks using CTRL-V.
      2. Find the software shortcut box at the bottom of the page. It will say "The URL of your photo:" Click to put your cursor in it, and then type CTRL-V.

   Each time someone looks at your message, the Internet will supply a copy to him from the site where your photo is posted. This means that you should leave the photo there as long as the message is on the web board. Otherwise, when people read your message, they will not see your photo. Also, remember that we archive posts, and you may want to leave your photo on line indefinitely. Otherwise your photo will not show up in our archive after you remove it from the Internet.

2. To UPLOAD your photo, click the "Browse" button and find it on your hard disk. If using Windows, make sure the "Files of type" selection says "All files" so you'll see the file for the photo you want. After you select the photo, click the "Open" button and the file name will appear in the box next to the "Browse" button and the dialog box will go away. If using a Mac, click on "Choose File". When you click on the "Post your message" button, your photo will be uploaded to the system with it. Your upload will take longer than a pure-text upload, so be patient for the system to acknowledge receipt of your post. Note: Uploaded photos are limited to 2 megabytes in size; if your photo is larger you will have to use the "Link it" method, above. Also note that uploaded photos will be removed when the message they go with is deleted, so they should not be linked in other messages.

   If you have a slow web connection such as dialup, you may find that the system times out before you can upload larger photos, so you may have to upload smaller ones. A photo manipulation program or Bill's Photo Resize Utility can be used to pre-shrink any large photos you have before you post. His web page will immediately e-mail the photo to you in a size small enough that it can be posted.

   If uploaded photos are wider or taller than 600 pixels, they will be proportionately shrunk to fit within an imaginary box of 600 pixels square as they are taken in by the system.

   If you UPLOAD photos, you may select to have them rotated. This will correct photos that were taken while you held your camera sideways. The MLHH site cannot alter photos that are linked, of course, since they reside on a different site.

Placement of photos using the software shortcuts: Though you put your photo in at the bottom with either of the software shortcuts, it will show up in your message centered and at the top. Keep that in mind when you write, since you don't want to refer to a picture that is really "above" as being "below". If you use both methods in the same message, the linked photo will appear first and the uploaded photo just below it.

If you link or upload a photo using either software shortcut, the system will automatically include the characters "[PIC]" at the end of the subject of your message to alert others a photo is there.

Separate from all of the above, we have a system that automatically puts small users' photos with each of their posts. These photos are called "avatars" and they come from the Users' Directory. You can read about how to submit one for yourself here. If you click on an avatar it will take you to the user's home page if he has one and to a large photo of him if he does not.