Showing posts with label image. Show all posts
Showing posts with label image. Show all posts

Saturday, 22 March 2008

TIP - Tools Of The Trade

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I have touched on the subject of the tools you should try to use in a previous post, but I wanted to introduce another 'clever' little script and decided that it was worth resurrecting the advice so that I could '... kill two birds ...', in a manner of speaking!

 

A screenshot of EditPad Pro in use
A screenshot of EditPad Pro in use.
The thumbnail on the right is a screenshot of my favourite text editor. If you mouseover the image you will see the effect I am introducing you to in this post. Like 'Thickbox' and 'Lightbox', this is JavaSript, and it provides one way of displaying your graphics without costing you much in the way of overhead. The actual image is a large(ish) 912px by 710px display, and I have set the parameters for this display to show the image at its full scale, because I have textual matter in the image that I want my visitor to read. In practise, especially if you only want a photograph to be displayed at a larger size than the thumbnail, the larger image can be set to any reasonable size that can be accommodated within an average viewers browser window; probably 800px by 600px would be sufficient to showcase any image you post. The script also has a hidden function that allows the viewer to go to the full-sized raw image when clicked. This is good for Blogger, where clicking on an image usually takes the viewer to the raw image in another window.

 

EditPad Pro displaying 'syntax coloring' for an HTML document.
EditPad Pro displaying 'syntax coloring'
for an HTML document.
Similar screenshot, but this time with the HTML document tab selected. Here you can clearly see the colour coding or 'syntax coloring' of the HTML document (stop squinting at the back - mouseover the image!) which makes it a breeze to check all the different lines of code. It also helps if you activate the line numbering feature. Most of these features are available in the 'Lite' version which is FREE for personal use. You really should visit the EditPad Lite homepage (it will open in a new window!) to check out the many features.

I was an avid user of EditPad Lite for years, then one day I realised I used it so frequently that perhaps the Pro version was something I ought to be investigating. Not one to part with my money easily, I checked (and double-checked) the features page and realised that there were some Pro features that would make my life a whole lot easier. So, out came the credit card. And being an impulsive sort of guy, I also bought AceText at the same time. I will introduce you to the author, Jan Goyvaerts, in my next post. Suffice it to say that he writes small utilities that do exactly what they say they will do, and you get lifetime updates and support. What's not to like about that?

BTW, I composed this whole post in EditPad, copied it and pasted it into the 'Edit HTML' window, NOT the 'Compose' (or WYSIWYG) window of the post. I previewed it, tweaked anything that didn't appear to display as it should, and then hit 'PUBLISH POST'. Done!

So much for the 'clever' thingy I promised to introduce you to. Now you have an idea how it works. The 'mouseover' effect enlarges a thumbnail without the visitor having to leave the page. And, if they really want to see the raw image, all they have to do is click the enlarged image to be taken to it.

Cool, huh? But you'll have to wait for the next post to read the full 'skinny' on the 'how to' ...

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Sunday, 16 December 2007

TIP - Mouseover Fun

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A comment left on David McMahon's Blog by the blogger david of David's "Images of Nature" Photography Gallery fame, asked how the 'Mouse-over' effect was done on the "Invitation" graphic used on David McMahon's page.

It is a simple Javascript function that anybody can use, so here are some quick instructions on how to achieve it. And since david asked, I trolled across to his site and stole one of his graphics to best illustrate what I am about to do!

 


 

1. It isn't necessary to backup your template as you aren't going to touch that side of things!

 


 

2. Choose the image you want to display as the permanent image. Do all the image editing you need to display it at its best. One good idea is to give the image a border, one that you will use again in the second image (see below), so that the mouseover transition appears seamless. Try and make it a reasonable size for the display space of your page, but in any event Blogger will give you the best fit when you upload the image.

2a. Now select the image you want to use as the alternative (or mouseover image) and make sure you crop it to exactly the same size as the previous one. If you used a 'frame' of any description make sure that that frame is also used for the second image.

Here are the two images I intend to use, cropped, edited and framed:

 

 


 

3. I have decided that the picture of the Purple tulips is the one that will appear as the 'static' image and that the Pink tulip will appear as the alternative, or 'rollover', image.

Open a NEW post. You will not be publishing this one, and will eventually delete it after first saving it as a draft. It is only to help you upload your images and get the code that is returned.

 

 

 

 


 

4. Here is the code for the two images you uploaded. Make a note of the bits I have highlighted. That is what you will eventally copy to your actual post, totally ignoring the rest of the Blogger code. You don't want the displayed image to be 'clickable', and for it to open up in a new window. That would sure spoil the effect you are trying to achieve!

 

 

 


 

5. All that remains to do is to add the Javascript to 'envelope' the two images, or add the pic URL's to the Javascript, depends on how you see it. And here it is:

 

<table align="center"><tr><td align="center">
<img onmouseover="Javascript: this.firstsrc=
this.getAttribute('src'); this.secondsrc=
'http://bp0.blogger.com/_fV9I2C_dAUY/R2Wrh1GGLRI/
AAAAAAAAASM/pn8sq1dh8vc/s400/tulip_pink_round_blu.
gif'; this.setAttribute('src',this.
secondsrc);" onmouseout="Javascript: this.setAttribute
('src',this.firstsrc);" alt="" src='http://bp2.blogger
.com/_fV9I2C_dAUY/R2WrhVGGLQI/AAAAAAAAASE/
gPIt_Eq88zw/s400/tulip_purple_round_blu.gif' />
</td></tr></table>

 

Some things to draw to your attention:

  • You can actually copy/paste the code from the box and save it somewhere, preferably in the [ Settings | Formatting | Post Template ] area of your Admin page (see this previous post).
  • The SECOND (rollover, mouseover, whatever) picture link is the first one to appear in the script; the FIRST (static) picture link is included as the second link reference - (hey, it's not me being difficult - it's the way the script works!).
  • You must (duhhh, obviously!) change the pic URL links in the script to the ones returned by Blogger when you upload your own pics.
  • It is IMPORTANT that you make sure that the quotation marks that surround the URL links are single ( ' ) and not double quotes ( " ), as this has a relevance on how the script is executed.

 


 

So, did I manage to successfully tip-toe through david's tulips? Let's have a look:

 

 


 

Looks okay to me. I guess it's your turn now ...

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Wednesday, 17 October 2007

TIP - Alternative Displays

This is an alternative display, using "Thickbox", for a series of small thumbnails that, when clicked, will take the viewer to a 'Gallery' display without actually leaving the page.
If the "Thickbox" script works as it should, you will be served up a larger image, superimposed on this page, and you will see 'navigation' links from one picture to another. What more can you ask for?
The following series of pictures are of some very attractive young ladies that 'T3 Magazine' uses to advertise their electronic goods. You have to look closely to actually see the electronic items in question (for instance, the fashionable pelmet that girl #8 is wearing detracts somewhat!), but that's OK, because I'm not really advertising for them.
So, here goes!

'T3' girl 1 'T3' girl 2 'T3' girl 3

'T3' girl 4 'T3' girl 5 'T3' girl 6

'T3' girl 7 'T3' girl 8 This is  NOT a 'T3' girl!
I have to strongly emphasise that the series of pics above are not 'sexist' in any way; they were used because they were a convenient 'series' available on my hard drive. Oh, okay, and for a bit of entertainment for the lecherous old men that might visit this page. (see the comment by Anonymous)
That's the end of the demo. You should now have a clearer idea about what you can accomplish on your Blog. Whether it is an 'iBlogger', 'Wordpress' (Wordpress has it built in as a plugin!), or any other.
In line with David McMahon's philosophy of trying to help as many interested bloggers as possible, I am more than willing to help, either here or one-on-one, anybody that asks. If I find that several 'peeps' ask the same question I may resort to using this medium to provide a full explanation so that bloggers can drop by and pick the ideas they wish to use.
Happy Blogging!

Monday, 30 July 2007

Ahem ... !

I blithely motored on describing how to implement the new banner headers that you are all impatient to try out, and managed to gloss over a hint or two about the images you are preparing to replace your current banner header.

This isn't a show-stopper, more in the way of a 'tip'. If you have a template that uses rounded corners then you should attempt to imitate the same display so that the new banner header integrates seamlessly. I have to assume that you are perfectly adept with your imaging software and that it can handle 'layers' - or this tip won't work.

You can slave over your imaging software and build your rounded corners laboriously. Or you can cheat!

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1. Navigate your way to the HTML code of your template (I shouldn't have to explain how!) and find Blog Header, and you should see a couple of URLs that are clearly pointing to graphics lodged on the Blogger servers:

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2. Typing in those URLs will get you a page with the graphic, but I will make it easy for you if you are using the Rounders-3 template: just click on the following URLs to take you there - in a new window! Each template uses different backgrounds and it is important that you 'lift' the graphics for the specific template you are using.

http://www.blogblog.com/rounders3/corners_cap_top.gif

http://www.blogblog.com/rounders3/corners_cap_bot.gif



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Both sets of corner images are GIFs on a transparent background. You need to copy them (right-click, 'save image as') and then all you need to do is to 'import' them to the banner image you are constructing, align them top and bottom overlaying the original image, and you now have an image with neatly rounded corners!

Easy, huh?

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