Welcome to Blogging on MyBasicISP

Another image tutorial example for adding scroll bars to a big image.

If you don't see the horizontal scroll bar for this image, try making your browser window smaller - like 800px wide.

This is a Image Tutorial example. Enjoy and Happy Blogging!

Original image size is 640 x 480 pixels. Dragging the corner allowed me to scale it down.

Keep in mind for dialup users that the original full size image still loads. Large image files can greatly slow down the rate in which your blog page loads. 

Note the new image size (shown in red) defined in the HTML code:

<IMG style="WIDTH: 251px; HEIGHT: 187px" alt="Lazy Dayz" src="http://www.treehugger.com/polar-bear-rule-coal-plant.jpg" width=287 height=246>

Here are some helpful tips for inserting an image into blog post that is wider than the post column will allow. Typically, this will cause the image to become cut off because it is wider than the blog layout will allow.

1) When you place an image, scale it smaller then make the image a hyperlink to the original URL source.

I made this post as an example:  http://mybasicisp.net/blogs/basicblog/2010/01/27/Lifes-a-Bear!/

To do this, insert the image to your post using the Insert Image control.

Select your image then drag the corner image control to scale your image smaller.

With your image still selected, choose the Create Link control. Paste in the URL for the original image. You may want to select "New Window (_blank)" under the Target drop-down-list to launch the picture link in a new window.

2) Leave image large and add scroll bars.

Insert image using Insert Image or Insert Image from Editor. Do not scale.

Click on the HTML tab of the post editor and look for the IMG tag for the image that needs scroll bars. Place the <IMG /> element within a <DIV> element like this:

<DIV style="OVERFLOW-X: auto; WIDTH: 100%;"><IMG border=0 alt=burritocat.jpg src="http://www.mybasicisp.net/files/Kurticus/Cats/burritocat.jpg" width=960 height=730></DIV>

The style applied to the DIV element is the key. WIDTH:100% will make sure the DIV element is as wide as the parent element allows it to be. OVERFLOW-X:auto will add the horizontal scroll bar if the contents are wider than the DIV container.

I noticed the horizontal scrollbar caused a vertical scroll bar as well so in my example, I also added OVERFLOW-Y: hidden; to the style so the vertical scroll bar would not show.

See http://mybasicisp.net/blogs/basicblog/2010/01/27/Is-This-a-Cute-Bear-or-What/ for an example.

3) Try writing your blog posts using Windows Live Writer.

This tool has some nice advanced image control utilities such as the ability to place a small sized preview in the blog that links to a larger version.

This bear image was dragged to the Live Writer editor from a web page. Then the corner was dragged to scale it smaller. That’s it – Live Writer does the rest.  http://download.live.com/writer

A concern has been brought to my attention that dial-up users have limited monthly connection time and may not want to remain connected to BasicISP.net while drafting their blogs.

But perhaps a more pressing reason to draft blogs offline is the inactivity cutoff. For dialup users this happens after 4-minutes which goes by fast while developing thought and writing (at least for me). When you Add a Post using the online editor, there are no postbacks to refresh the page unless you remember to make frequent document saves.  BasicISP.net will see this as inactivity and the countdown timer starts. You may find your connection dropping while in the midst of drafting your blog and losing everything since the last save.

Well, I have a solution. You can draft your blog entries on your computer while unconnected. When you are ready to publish your blog posts, you can connect and upload your posts.

Though I’m always connected to the internet, I have been using Windows Live Writer to edit and publish my blog posts for several reasons:

• I like the idea of editing and saving post files locally then publishing when ready.
• I can maintain and post to several blogs from one interface.
• Local resources such as images are easier to insert. The Live Writer interface handles the uploading for me.
• During the beta testing phase, I may lose my post – I want a local copy to republish if this should happen.

Windows Live Writer is a free download from Microsoft and works well with MyBasicISP blog as well as the following blog services: Windows Live Spaces, SharePoint Blog, Blogger, WordPress, TypePad, etc.

File size is 1.08MB.

Once installed, launch the Live Writer application found in the Windows Live folder on your Windows Start menu. Follow these simple steps to set up a blog account for Writer to post to. The automatic initial setup may take you directly to step 2.

1) Choose "Add blog account..." from the Blogs menu.

2) Select "Other blog service" then click Next

3) Enter Web address for your blog, this is found by logging on to the MyBasicISP portal and selecting MyBlog from the main navigation menu. You will need to enter you login Username and Password for Windows Live Writer to access your blog.

Important: Select “Remember my password” unless you want to enter your login information each time you make a post.

4) Writer will attempt to connect to your blog. You may be prompted to allow Writer to detect the theme of your blog. If you select Yes it will post a temporary post on your blog.

5) You may receive an alert that Writer could not delete the temporary post which you will need to do manually. Press OK.

6) Enter a Blog Nickname for your blog. This is used by Writer and will appear in the Blogs menu.

7) Your are now ready to begin blogging using Windows LiveWriter. Simply enter your blog in the LiveWriter editor and click Publish when you are ready to post it to your MyBasicISP blog. Note: You will need to be connected to upload your blog.

8) If LiveWriter left a test post on your blog to detect your blog theme you can delete that at any time.

While logged in to the MyBasicISP portal Click Delete on the test post.

Note: You will need to be logged in to delete or edit a post on your blog. Publishing from LiveWriter does not require you to be logged into the portal.

More support on Windows Live Writer.