Help With Your Journal

  
                                         Thank you Kimmy 'n Krissy for the FAQ's graphic!!!

Please Note: Due some of the pics in this FAQ, it will take a little while to load up. If something comes up as a X, simply right click it and select "Show Picture."
                                                  Graphics

Saving pictures and graphics:

1. Right click on the graphic or picture you like.
2. Click on "Save Picture" or "Save Picture As."
3. Rename the picture or graphic if you like, then click the save or okay button.

Adding pictures and graphics to your journal without the white box:

#1 Go to keyword: FTP; Click on "See My FTP Space."

#2 Click "Upload."

#3 Put in a title for your picture; Make sure it is set on "binary." Click "Continue."

#4 Click "Select File." Pick the picture you want and click "Okay."
                                             

#5 Click "Send." Now go to your journal and go to your "Add Entry" area.
                                            

#6 Click on the camera button, which is right above your text box (I've circled it in red here).

#7 Now, type in the address of the graphic you just uploaded. Replace "glopsblink" with your screenname, and "FTP 2" with the title you gave the graphic in step 4. Now click "OK."

Congrats!!! You should have a graphic in your journal WITHOUT the white box!!!

Please note, however, that only documents in ".gif" format will move in your journal, any other formate WILL NOT MOVE, so pay attention to how your graphic is saved in your harddrive.

Also note, that you may have to add an extra .gif, .bmp, .jpeg, or whatever ending you saved the graphic as when typing it into the screen that comes up when you click on the camera icon. I don't need to use it, but you might if the first address doesn't work for you.

Adding Pictures to the "About Me"

1. You can add pictures to the AM just like you do for journal entries using the FTP space. Instead of going to the "Add Entry" or "Edit Entry" area, go to the "About Me" area and follow the directions above for adding pictures without the white box.

Adding pictures with the white box (also called adding pictures to your YGP="You've Got Pictures"):

1. Go to your "Add Entry" or "Edit Entry" area.
2. Click on this button: 
3. Pick the picture(s) you want.
4. Click "Add Pictures."
5. It should now show up as a picture in the white box, but animations will not move.

Adding captions to pictures in the white box (adding captions to your YGP):

1. Add a picture to the white box (see above instructions on how to do that).
2. Now, click "Add/Edit Pictures;" the original button you used to add the picture has changed from this (), to this----
 I included the illustration of the fish to show that it doesn't yet have a caption on it.
3. Once the screen comes up, you should see an edit button on the bottom of your graphic; click on it.
                                         
4. A small box will appear where you can type in your caption.
5. Click "Save", then click "Done."
6. There should now be a caption under your pictures in the white box.

Making Pictures Bigger/Smaller:

1. After adding a picture/graphic/animation to you journal entry (See the instructions above for adding images without the whitebox for this first), click on the image. Some little white boxes should show up on the picture.
2. Use your mouse to hold on to one of the boxes (preferably, use one of the corner white boxes) with your left mouse button; DO NOT LET GO!!!
3. To make the picture smaller, start to drag the square towards the middle of the graphic; a dotted line should show you what size the graphic is being made when you start to move your mouse for resizing.
4. To make the picture bigger, drag the square away from the graphic; a dotted line should show you what size the graphic is being made when you start to move your mouse for resizing.
5. Your picture should now be resized.

Changing the Background of your pictures in the white box:

You know when you click on the picture in the white box that the pictures have a pretty background to them? Here's how to change the background to the view larger pictures in the white box.

1. Add your picture(s) into the white box.
2. Click "Add/Edit Pictures."
3. Click "Change Album Background."
4. Pick the background you like and save your work.
5. Click "Done."
6. The background should now be changed.

Creating Your Own Graphics

I'm not much of an expert in this area, but I can tell you how to make graphics using graphics makers from websites; unfortunately, I don't know how to make moving graphics, so these instructions are for non-moving graphics only. You will need "Microsoft Paint" in order to do this (you can find it in your computer by going to "start" then "search" then type in "paint" for the search. Look for something like "MS Paint" or "Microsoft Paint" in the search results).

1. Find a website that has readily available makers; doll makers are popular (you can find some in my Animations Links Journal). For this example I'm using this link (it's easy for good practice): Candy Dolls 1

2. Put all the pieces together.

3. Now, on your keyboard, click the "Print Screen" button, it will be abbreviated as "PrtScn." It should be next to your F keys. (Note: if you have an F lock key on your keyboard, make sure it is turned off, otherwise it won't work)

4. Go to "Microsoft Paint."

5. Drag the whole screen shot to the UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER so the graphic looks as you'd like it from the upper left had side, like this:

6. Now, select the dotted square button on the left hand column; make a box around the doll from the BOTTOM RIGHT HAND CORNER UP TO THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER, like this:

7. Now, on the keyboard, select "Ctrl" and the letter "X," this will cut the doll out of the screen shot.

8. Click on "File," then on "New;" you do not have to save your changes.

9. Now, on your keyboard, select "Ctrl" and the letter "V" to paste on the doll you cut out.

10. You may have a bunch of white with the doll, to solve this, click anywhere on the white background NOT NEAR THE DOLL. Now, find the lower right hand corner and "grab" it, then drag it towards the doll until it looks right to you; DO NOT LET GO UNTIL IT LOOKS GOOD, YOU MAY ACCIDENTLY CUT OFF PART OF YOUR DOLL OR GRAPHIC!!! It should look like this:

11. Save your work. It's done!!! Your graphic will have a white background to it.

 Adding backgrounds to journal entries:

1. Save your background to your FTP space; see instructions above for this.
2. Open your journal adding/editing page.
3. Now, you see the area above your text screen, all the way to the left hand corner of the text screen, there should be something where you can change from "Text" to "Html;" switch over to the "Html." Here's what the area lookslike that I'm talking about (circled in red):
                                                   

4. Now type in the following code, replacing the url I'm using with the address of your graphic:

<P style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(http://members.aol.com/glopsblink/hummersbackground);COLOR: #ffffff">

5. Now, switch back from "Html" to "Text" and start typing away, you should see the background grow with your text as it goes from one line to the next.

VERY IMPORTANT, WHEN SWITCHING TO THE NEXT LINE, DO NOT HIT THE ENTER KEY BY ITSELF!!!!! USE "ENTER" AND "SHIFT" AT THE SAME TIME, SO IF YOU WANT TO ENTER DOWN WITH A SPACE BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS, YOU MUST HIT ENTER/SHIFT TWICE. IF YOU DON'T, YOU'LL BREAK THE CONTINUITY OF THE BACKGROUND.

You should now have a neat background, like I've got here!!!

Thank you Vivian for this lovely background!!! (click on the bright green to visit her journal, she's a very nice woman) 

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I'm doing some house cleaning in my journals, and I'm going to make a FAQ 3 soon, so stay updated on that. :)

Also, I've just set up a new group for online journalers only, go to my goodies journal to view the details of the group, but the address is: http://groups.aol.com/bloggerville

I've come up with a new hometown that's still under construction and I'll include it in my links area.

The address of my main journals page is also changed, it is now http://journals.aol.com/glopsblink/GsMainPage

I don't have time now to update, it's beddy by time for me. Blessings all and look forward to the updates (after many months)

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PLEASE KNOW: THIS WILL SOON BE DELETED, BUT NOT UNTIL MY NEW FAQ IS COMPLETED (WHICH IS MOSTLY DONE). IF YOUR LINKED TO THIS ENTRY DIRECTLY, PLEASE CHANGE THE LINK TO THE NEW FAQ ABOVE. THANKS. :)

Some may have seen the first entry I posted for FAQ's. Well, here's an updated version:

                                                          GRAPHICS

***Saving pictures and graphics:

1. Right click on the graphic or picture you like.
2. Click on "Save Picture" or "Save Picture As."
3. Rename the picture or graphic if you like, then click the save or okay button.

***Adding pictures and graphics to your journal without the white box:

1. Go to keyword: FTP.
2. Click "See My FTP Space."
3. Click "Upload."
4. Put in a title for your picture.
5. Make sure it is set on "binary."
6. Click continue.
7. Select your picture.
8. Click "okay."
9. Go to your journal.
10. Add your picture one of two ways:
          *Click on the little camera picture in your "Add Entry" or "Edit Entry" area.
          *Type in the following: http://members.aol.com/YourScreenName/TitleofPic .
          *Click "Okay."
          *The picture should now be in your journal entry without the box

          *Minimize your journal.
          *Type in your browser: http://members.aol.com/YourScreenName/TitleofPic.
          *Click "Go."
          *When your picture comes up, right click on your picture.
          *Click "Copy."
          *Bring up your journal.
          *Right click in your journal entry box.
          *Click "paste."
          *The picture should now be in your journal entry without the white box.

***Making Pictures Bigger/Smaller:

1. After adding a picture/graphic/animation to you journal entry, click on the image. Some little white boxes should show up on the picture.
2. Use your mouse to hold on to one of the boxes (preferably, use one of the corner white boxes) with your left mouse button; DO NOT LET GO!!!
3. To make the picture smaller, start to drag the square towards the middle of the graphic; you should see the image shrinking.
4. To make the picture bigger, drag the square away from the graphic.
5. Your picture should now be resized

***Adding pictures with the white box (also called adding pictures to your YGP="You've Got Pictures"):

1. Go to your "Add Entry" or "Edit Entry" area.
2. Click on the "Add Pictures" button.
3. Pick the picture(s) you want.
4. Click "Add Pictures."
5. It should now show up as a picture in the white box, but animations will not move.

***Adding captions to pictures in the white box (adding captions to your YGP):

1. Add a picture to the white box.
2. Now, click "Add/Edit Pictures".
3. Once the screen comes up, you should see an edit button on the bottom; click on it.
4. A small box will appear where you can type in your caption.
5. Click "Save", then click "Done."
6. There should now be a caption under your pictures in the white box.

***Changing the Background of your pictures in the white box:

You know when you click on the picture in the white box that the pictures have a pretty background to them? Here's how to change the background to the view larger pictures in the white box.

1. Add your picture(s) into the white box.
2. Click "Add/Edit Pictures."
3. Click "Change Album Background."
4. Pick the background you like and save your work.
5. Click "Done."
6. The background should now be changed.

***Adding Pictures to the "About Me"

1. You can add pictures to the AM just like you do for journal entries using the FTP space. Instead of going to the "Add Entry" or "Edit Entry" area, to the "About Me" area and follow the directions above for adding pictures without the white box.

***Creating Your Own Graphics:

I don't know how to do this, but if you have PSP you can get help on how to make them here: Lils PSP Journal. The link is also in the other journals area.

***Finding Graphics on the Internet:

There are tons of graphics on the internet. You can save images you find in your everyday rummagings through various websites. You can also try typing in keywords in your aol browser to see what you find. I've also created a journal with many, many links to various graphics webpages. To visit that journal, go here: Animations Links. The link is also available in the other journals area. If you find any animations/graphics sites which are not linked in that journal, please let me know the address to the site so I may link it to the journal.

***Fixing or Replacing Pictures:

This is for if you want to replace a graphic you added with another, or the graphic you uploaded into your FTP had something wrong with it (such as being too fuzzy).

*Fixing a graphic is usually done with homemade graphics or scanned images. First, fix the graphic or picture. Next, go to keyword "FTP" and get to the point where you put a title in for your graphic. Now, type in the title of the bad graphic (exactly as you had put it in before) and upload the new, fixed graphic. You don't need to go in and edit your entry, it will fix itself when you upload the new, fixed picture.

*Replace a graphic by doing as you did with fixing a graphic, only this time type in the name of the graphic you want to replace (like with fixing a graphic) and select the new graphic that you want. Once the new image is uploaded with the old, bad graphic's name you are finished. No need to go to edit entry, it will replace itself.
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                                       SCROLLING/MOVING TEXT

***General Moving Text Instructions:

When sending a message on the boards or in e-mail, you can add moving text. Here are the general codes for making text move:

From left to right--->   <marquee>Your Message Here</marquee>
From right to left--->   <marquee direction=right>Your Message Here</marquee>

Just type the codes with your message in it. Please note that sending moving text in e-mail is different than on the journals board; this is explained further down. Also, you cannot add moving text to journal entries; it has been tried and as of yet unsuccessful.

***Sending Scrolling Marquees in Message Boards:

All you have to do is type the code with the words you want to move in it.

***Sending Scrolling Marquees in E-Mail:

1. Go to the "Write" button on the upper left of your screen.
2. Click on "Signatures." (this will be on the lower right of the screen that comes up).
3. Click "Set Up Signatures."
4. Click "Create."
5. Now, type in the code with the words you want to move.
6. Save your work (make sure you gave it a title!!!).
7. Now, click on "Signatures" again. You should see the title of your moving message.
8. Click on the title.
9. The message should now be inserted into your e-mail message. Don't worry that it isn't moving, it will be for the person you sent it to.
10. Practice with it by sending yourself e-mail to see how it looks.

***Neat Looking Scrolling Text:

There are four neat ways of coloring your moving text in your messages. There are also other ways which I will mention later, but first here are the four different forms of moving text. Please note that since we cannot color the backgrounds of our text I will be using the letter I to illustrate background color(s) and black I's symbolize a white background:

1. The Plain Text
This is text with no color background. All you have to do is typein the code with your message in it.
It will look something like this: IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
2. The Color Background "Solid Bar"
          *First, type in your code with the message in it.
          *Then, highlight the entire thing you typed, code and all, and change the background color.
          * It will look something like this: IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
3. The Colored Background "Nonsolid Bar"
          *This is where the message moves with a color background, but the bar doesn't stay on the screen. Rather, it moves with the text.
          *Highlight only the message and give it a different color background.
          *It should look something like this (the red is where your message is, the black I's are where your code is): IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
4. The Colored Background "Nonsolid Within a Solid"
          *After typing in the code with its message, highlight the whole thing and make it one color.
          *Now, highlight only the text and make it another color.
          *It should now look something like this: IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
          *(The red is the code, the blue is where your message is typed).

For some really neat moving text, go to the following link for different codes. Please note, however that many of the codes no longer work with AOL and the color codes don't always come up the color you intended, so you will have to play around with them for a bit to get what you like. Here's the link: AOL Signature Help at Taylor Shopping. Here's another link on how to make different scrolling text:  Scrolling Text from CompuTips.
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                               SIGNATURES AND ADDING YOUR LINK

***Adding a link to your journal:

If your from the United States--- your journal address is--->  http://journals.aol.com/YourScreenName/TitleofYourJournal

If your from the United Kingdom--- your journal address is--->
http://journals.aol.co.uk/YourScreenName/TitleofYourJournal

Just type this into any message you send on the boards and people will be able to find your journal. You can also type this into comments you put in people's journals so they can come and visit you.

***Making a perminent signature:

1. When your on a message board of any kind, click on "Set Up."
2. Click "Signatures."
3. Now, create your signature.
4. Save your work.
5. From now on, make sure that when you send out a message the little box above your text writting area is checked off so your signature goes out with your message.

Add a link to your journal in your signature to make sure your link goes out each time you send a message. Beats the heck out of typing out the whole code each time.

***Adding A Clickable Link In Your Signature:

(Please note that I have version 9.0, so your way of adding things to your favorites may be different)
1. Bring up your journal.
2. Add the link to your journal to your favorites. I do this by dragging the little heart at the top of my journal's screen to the "Favorites" underneath the AOL Triangle at the upper right area of my screen.
3. Now, go to the signatures area in "Setup."
4. Find your journal in the favorites area and drag it to the signatures area.
5. The link should drop into your signature area.
6. Save your work.
7. Send your messages with your signature and a link will be added to your messages everytime.

***Practicing Your Signature:

Please do not do this on any board, go to a special AOL Board made especially for this purpose. Here's the link and it is also available in the favorite sites area: Signature Practice

***Adding a link to your "All About Me":

You can do it three ways---

1. Type in the address of the webpage in your AAM.

2. *To have a clickable link to the AAM, first bring up the webpage you want to add.
    *Now, click the little button next to your minimize button on the webpages screen.
    *Afterwards, highlight the link and right click it; now click "Cut."
    *Now get out of the screen you took the link out of; you don't have to save the changes when prompted.
    *Now, go to your AAM.
    *Right click where you want the link and click "Paste."
    *The link should be in your AAM.

3. Another way to add the link would be to click the little world picture above your text screen and to add the full webpage in the screen that comes up. Save it when your finished and a link should be in your AAM.
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                                                   MISCELLANEOUS

***Why can't I read my comments?:

There are a few reasons why you may not be able to read your comments. Here they are:

1. The page for your journal wasn't loaded up completely yet. When opening your journal, always make sure it is fully loaded up. If you have a lot of graphics in your journal, do a quick scroll down in your journal to see if all your pictures have shown up; sometimes the bottom of the screen will say "Done" and the blue loading bar will be gone, but the page isn't fully loaded up due to graphics.

2. You may not be able to view your comments because you've just added something to your journal or edited something.

In either case, simply click the "Refresh" button and wait until the journal is completely loaded before trying to view your comments again.

***Symbols Not On Your Keyboard:

Many times we need symbols on letters orthings like the degree sign for temperature. One way of adding them to your journal is to copy and paste them into your writings from Microsoft word. You can find the symbols by going to "Insert," then click on "Symbols." First, insert them into the Word document, then copy and paste what you inserted into your journal entry, "All About Me," or even in the links area.

You can also find them at keyword: LOL . You can also find out what some of those pesky shortcut abbreviations mean...something I really need to learn if I'm ever going to understand a lot of what people are saying.

Lastly, here are some I found for you to use. These are the most popularly used ones, though you can find many more in the link and in Microsoft Word:

Degree:    °
Power of 2:    ²
Power of 3:    ³
Micro Sign:    µ
Section Sign:    §
Copyright Sign:   ©
Registered Trademark:   ®
Inverted Question Mark:   ¿
C with a Cedilla:   ç
A with a Tilde:   ã
E with an Acute:   é

***Adding Background Imagry To Your Journal Entry:

I'm still trying to figure this out. But, if you want to have a go at it go to this link to learn how: Adding a background to an entry.

Well, that's all I could think to add.....Have I missed anything? I don't know everything, I'm just an amateur to all the technical stuff you can do with your journal, so for things like sound, movies, turning pictures into links and things like that, I'd suggest going to CompuTips or any other credible techno-knows.more.than.I.do. kind of person. Save the link to this entry so you have all this stuff at hand in one easy to find FAQ area. God Bless!!!

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