how to get your avatar image if you use a free photo album hosting site

[zen_bliss]

here is the secret tip how to get an image without the framing site ad crapola if you use one of the free photo album sites (ofoto, clubphoto, shutterfly, etc.) this sounds more complicated than it is.

go into your album, pick the photo you want and click on it so you get that popup window with the enlarged image.

go into your web browser and under "view" pull down and select "source".

another window will open with the html code. either manually, or using the 'find' function (control-F, i think) find the info that is set up like this:
img src=http:// ---name of file---.jpg
(use the find function to find either "jpg" or "img src" because sometimes it is a .gif file)

depending on your site there will be a few places with that format. just keep scrolling or clicking 'find next'. the one you want will have a bunch of numbers in it because that is the individual 'name' the hosting site assigns the photo you uploaded. be patient, you will find it!

when you find it, select and copy only the part www. ---name file ---.jpg

paste it in a new browser window to check if you've got the right one. if your photo opens in the new browser, you've hit paydirt.

then come back to baby bargains, go under your "profile" and copy that link where it says avatar.

there ya go!

you can get any image on a webpage this way, though on a larger page it takes a bit more patience to find the image you want. this is a useful skill to have if you want to have your own copy of a photo that only exists online without needing to access it via internet or having someone email it as an attachment... very handy for color printing at home! yes, i am a geek. i can also help you with car repairs... :)

blessings and good luck! i hope that helped... let me know if there's anything i can clarify...

[mharling]

Awesome tip!! I'm testing mine out.

Mary
Mommy to Lane Michael 4/6/03
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b33928e40550

[mharling]

He's a little squished, but I can fine tune now that I know how to do it.

Note for Shutterfly users: Search on procserv; there should only be one occurrence of that. Then, copy from 'http' through the end of the long letter/number combination.

Thanks Zen!!!!

Mary
Mommy to Lane Michael 4/6/03
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b33928e40550

[beckyr88]

Thank you! Thank you!

My free account with Picturetrail was disconnected, and I feared that I would never have another avatar! Hopefully this worked...but thank you for your clear instructions!

Edited to say: kind of squished also, but I'll keep trying...

[partyof5]

I hope this works! I'm crossing my fingers!

Edited to say:


I LOVE IT! Thank you soooooo much! Big hugs to you and Zazi! :)

[Rachels]

:( Mine was too squished, so I'm presently avatar-less. Are there free sites that actually let you host a square photo?


-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[kfcboston]

Geez, mine's not working! It's from Ofoto, and doesn't start with www but with images.ofoto.com/. It works when I paste it into the address bar, but in my user profile it comes up a grey box that says "Image Not Available Due to Maintenance, Try Back Later" Any thoughts? Thanks!

[vikivoly]

Avatar test

Vicki
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b33d305505ec

[vikivoly]

Obsessive Mom is testing again to make sure its perfect!

[vikivoly]

Ok, it's not perfect. Why is my baby's head squished?

[vikivoly]

I'm gonna get it right one of these times.

[vikivoly]

one more time

[vikivoly]

ok, two more times

[chrissyhowie]

Vicki,

Is your picture cropped to a square shape? If not, this may be the reason it is squished. Your digital camera software may have a feature allows you to crop it into a square shape. Upload that image to your photo site and use it for the avatar. That might help. Squished picture or not, your baby is very cute!

[vikivoly]

Chrissy,

Thanks for coming to my aid! Yes, my image is square, but Shutterfly seems to put a border around the picture making it a horizontal rectangle.

Vicki

[chrissyhowie]

Do you use America on Line as your internet service provider? They give you space to host a picture. That's how I get mine up there. Even if it's not AOL, does your ISP give you space to create a personal website?

[vikivoly]

No, I don't use AOL, and I don't think my ISP gives me space to host a picture.

My parents subscribe to AOL, maybe I can use their space.

[vikivoly]

Well, I'm giving up for now. It's really starting to get embarrassing!:'(

[MelissaTC]

Just a test to see if I did this correctly!

[MelissaTC]

Figured it out! Had to leave the http in the line. I use ofoto if that helps anyone! Woo hoo! I am so excited. THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting these directions!!

[kfcboston]

Geez, it's not working for me! Here's my link - http://images.ofoto.com/photos312/9/40/76/54/52/0/52547640903_0_ALB.jpg - which seems to work when I paste it into the address bar. Any thoughts? Maybe I got it from the wrong place using find?? Thanks!

[MelissaTC]

I am getting the same thing too! I see the photo in my profile, I see it when I paste it into a new window but I do not see anything but gray here. UGH!!

edited to say: I switched to photo island and it works from there. Didn't work from ofoto...

[flagger]

You get that gray box because it looks like ofoto has disabled hotlinking an avatar from their site.

[kfcboston]

Doh. I'm going to try posting from my Tripod site I guess. Thanks!

[flagger]

Tripod also disables hotlinking.

If you email me your avatar at flagger /@/ stayathomeparents.us I will host it for you.

[kfcboston]

Any chance this might have worked?

Yipee!!! Seems that Tripod worked this way. Thanks so much for the offer though, flagger!

[Marisa6826]

Alright. I am a TOTAL loser. I did the whole Shutterfly thing, but can't find any numbers related to a .jpg in the HTML source.

-m

[flagger]

You see it because it is in your browser's cache, I see the green Tripod logo.

Just an FYI.

[kfcboston]

How completely computer illiterate am I. I will email you, flagger. Thanks!!

[kfcboston]

Here we go......... Thank you sooo much!

By the way, Cocoa's a doll.

[flagger]

Thanks and no problem

[flagger]

I will make you the same offer. Email the photo uncropped at flagger /@/ stayathomeparents.us

[vikivoly]

Not that you should take advice from me (just look above at my previous posts), but if you use Shutterfly it's easiest to just click on the picture you want to use to bring it up. Then right click on the picture and select properties. Copy the entire URL address listed.

The problem I'm having with Shutterfly is even when I submit a square image to them or crop it to a square image using their website, it is still a horizontal picture. When I upload the image to this site my picture is squished. Anyone know how to correct this? Or Flagger does your offer to host a picture stand for anyone?

[flagger]

>Or Flagger does your offer to host a picture stand for anyone?

I can host about 10-15 avatars for people. Anymore will drag on my bandwidth as well. Right now I am hosting 4 including my own. So if you want you can email me the uncropped photo.

[mharling]

Rachel -
I use Shutterfly and mine was originally very squished too. I found that if I used a bigger image size, Shutterfly didn't put the white border around it. If you right-click on my avatar, select properties, copy the url and paste it into your browser, you'll see the big picture. I didn't have to 'size it down'; that happened automatically.

Mary
Mommy to Lane Michael 4/6/03
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b33928e40550

[vikivoly]

It's a done deal. Let me know if you didn't get my email.

Thank You!!!!!

[Marisa6826]

Flagger-

I emailed you a couple hours ago using Jonathan's email addy...

My Netscape email gets screwy with photo attachments sometimes.

-m

[flagger]

We had to go out to Laura's office for a few hours and to get more diapers. (Imagine that!) Then the dogs all got rained on so I had to give them all a bath because the smell of wet muddy dog was overpowering!

I see you have another way figured out to do it.

[rachels_mommy]

Testing. Hope it works. :)

Wendy
Mommy to Rachel Abigail 1/31/02