 To the left you will see a picture of the images section found in the 'Edit my Content' section of the site. This section is only available to upgraded members. Please refer to the picture when following steps below.
Before using the image upload section you must prepare your image to meet the following criteria ( further information on how to meet these criteria is available below):
- Your image must be saved locally, i.e. somewhere on your computer - we recommend storing images to be uploaded on your desktop or in your 'My Documents' folder so that they may be accessed easily. (Please try to avoid using spaces in your file name. Use underscores (_) or dashes (-) to separate words if necessary. e.g. 'my-website-pic.jpg' or 'image_for_site.jpg')
- Your image must be in either GIF or JPEG format. For photographs we recommend JPEG rather than GIF format.
- Your image must be less than 50 kilobytes (k) in file size. You can achieve this by carefully selecting your settings when saving your images (more details below)
- (Optional) We recommend, for the purposes of layout, that your image is no greater than 250 pixels in width (Keeping the actual image dimensions down will help keep the file size low).
Image Upload Box Key
- Click the 'Browse...' button to open a file browser window and locate your prepared image. Use the file browser window to navigate to the location where you have saved your image. Click once on the name of your image in the window and then click the 'Open' button (This may sometimes be labelled 'Select'). The text box next to the browse button should now be filled with the name (and sometimes address[path])of your image.
- If you're editing a previously uploaded image you will see a preview of your image here. If you are adding an image for the first time this section will be blank.
 In this section you simply have to complete the printed sentence using an option from the drop down box. The sentence reads as follows, "Section <n> shows <your selection> next to your text." Where '<n>' is the number of the section you are editing and '<your selection>' is an option from the drop down box. You should choose 'My Image' to show the image you are uploading. You can also choose from 'No Image' which means there will be no image next to your text and 'Default Image' which will show the image we have selected next to your text.
- This area indicates the file name of a previously uploaded image. If you are adding an image for the first time this section will appear blank. (< >)
- You may choose to align your image either to the left or right of your text. Examples can be seen on this page - The select box example image (above right) is aligned to the right and the main images section picture (further above, left) is aligned to the left.
- You can set the width of border to appear around your image. Just choose an option from the drop down menu or choose 'No Border' if you do not wish your image to have a border
You can experiment with settings in this box until you achieve the desired effect.
Preparing your image
To upload your image it must meet the criteria specified above. To achieve these criteria you will need to use software on your computer to prepare your image.
We will assume, for the purposes of this guide, that you have already transferred an image to your computer. There are several sources you could use to achieve this such as a scanner, digital camera, or simply an image downloaded from a web site.
Most scanners and digital cameras come with image editing software bundled with the device. It is this software that you should use to edit your image. Examples of this software are Adobe Photoshop Elements, Cannon Photo Impression and others. You may also be able to use third party software that you have on your computer. Examples of this software are Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Image Ready, Corel Draw, Paint and others. Finally, if you do not have any suitable software you can download free image editing tools from the Internet at sites such as www.download.com We hope to provide links to recommended free software soon.
Each software package will have its own methods. Please refer to the software documentation if you are unsure of how to achieve any of the steps below.
Step 1: Open your image in your image editor software.
Step 2: Crop your image to remove any unwanted areas.
Step 3: Reduce the image dimensions to 250 pixels in width or less. You should find that the height value will change proportionally to your width setting.
Step 4: Set the image resolution to 72dpi (picels per inch) if you can. As the image is only to be used for your web site you need not maintain a high resolutions. Most monitors only display images at 72dpi.
Step 5: Save your image as a JPEG. This is usually achieved by choosing 'Save As' from the 'File' menu. (Some image editing software gives you the option to 'Save for web'. If this option is available, choose it rather than 'Save As'.) You will be asked to give your image a name and select a location in which to save it. We suggest you navigate to your desktop or 'My Documents' folder and give your image a descriptive name such as 'My_pic_for_website.jpg' (please try to avoid using spaces in your file name). Click save. You should also be prompted to set a 'Quality' value. This will help reduce the file size to below 50k. For most images a value of '3' (out of 10 or 12) is OK. Sometimes this will be referred to as 'Medium' quality. Your images should now be ready to upload.
How do I discover the file size of my image?
On a PC: Locate your image and right click on the icon. Then choose 'Properties' A new window will open. Amongst the details here you should find a value for size.
On a Mac: Locate your image and click once on it to select it. Then choose 'Get Info' from the file menu. The file size will be indicated in the Info window that opens.
NOTE: 50 kilobytes is appox. 50000 bytes or 0.05 megabytes.
If you have any problems with uploading your image please email us
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