Minti Basics - Uploading images

One of the wonderful things about Minti is being able to share with other people.  And one great thing to share is photos of yourself, your kids, places you've gone, or pictures that you can add in a blog or a piece of advice to add that something extra.

But how do you do it?

Well there are a couple of different ways.

The first way is what I would like to call:

General image uploading
To do this, first click on your own homepage.  On the left hand side of the screen there is an orange box.  The third link down is one that says "Photos".  If you click on this it will show all the photos you've uploaded.  It will also show another link indented under the word "Photos" that says "Upload".  To upload a photo, click on this link.

A white box with a green border will appear that has 3 white boxes inside.  The first is titled "Image", the second "Title", the third "Description". 

To upload a photo/image:

• First you need to choose the image that you want to upload.  To do this click the "Browse..." button to the right of the "Image" box.  This will allow you to browse your own computer for an image that you want to upload.
• Remember that all images uploaded to Minti must be in .jpg, .gif or .png format and must be smaller than 2.0MB.
• Once you've found the image you're happy with, highlight it and click "Open".
• The filepath will automatically appear in the "Image" box.
• Next, write a title in the "Title" box.  Make sure this is something meaningful to you as you can only see the titles when you are searching for a photo to upload in a blog or a comment.
• If you like, you can then write a description or story about the photo in the "Description" box.  That way if anyone comes and looks at your photo they will know a little something about it.
• Underneath the three white boxes is a check box titled "Display".  If you're happy for your photo to be displayed in the Minti photo section, leave the box checked.  If you would not, then uncheck the box by clicking on it.
• If you're happy with your picture and your writing, then click the green button that says "upload".  You will probably need to wait for a while for it to do that.
• You will then be taken to a "preview" screen.  It will show your picture and below it a green button that says "publish" and a red button that says "cancel".  If you're happy with the photo, click "publish".  Otherwise, click "cancel".
• Your photo will then be live.  A little message at the top of your screen from Minti-System should say "Photo added successfully".

Now that your photo is live, you can look at it and - if its public - so can everyone else!  You will notice above your photo that there are 3 buttons.  The first is a green one that says "public", the second is a yellow one that says "restricted" and the third is a red button that says "private".  These show what level of access other people have to your photo.  The button that is currently highlighted is the level that your photo is currently at.  The difference between the levels are:

Public - Anyone can see your photo and will be on display in the minti photo area.
Restricted - Your photo will not be displayed in the minti photo area, but anyone can see it.  This is useful if you have an image you're wanting to add to a piece of advice or a blog, but you don't really want everyone commenting on it and voting on it.
Private - Your photo can only be seen by your friends or groups that you put the photo in.  Sometimes when this option is used, not everyone you want can see it, so just be sure that this is what you want when you click the button.

You can change the level of access at any time by clicking on the photo in your photo section, then clicking the button for the level of access you want the photo to be at.

You will also notice on the right hand side that there are a number of options for your photo:

• The first is "Add this photo to me and my family".  If you click this, it will allow you to expand your profile section of "me and my family" with a new photo.
• The second is "edit photo description".  That way you can change the information you gave earlier about the photo.
• The third is "Upload a new photo".  Pretty self-explanatory.
• The fourth is "tags".  If you type a word in the white box and click the green button that says "add tag" you can add search terms which help you or someone else to find your photo.
• The fifith is "groups".  This is especially useful if you have labelled your photo as "private".  There is a white box with a dropdown list of all the groups you are a member of.  To add this photo to a group, choose the group name from the list, then click the green button that says "Add to group".  You can add the same photo to as many groups as you like.

The second kind of photo uploading, is:

Avatar uploading
The little picture beside your name in Minti is called your "avatar".  You can either pick one of the generic Minti ones or you can upload a personal image that is more relevant to you.  You will have been given a generic avatar when you first signed up to Minti, but you can change it whenever you like.  To do so:

• Go to your homepage.
• In the orange box on the left hand side of the screen, click on the word that says "Settings" (near the bottom of the box).
• When you do so, a number of indented options will open up under the word "Settings" in the orange box.  Click on the one that says "Avatar".
• This will open up the Avatar page.  You can scroll down and click on one of the fun icons if you would like to have that as your image.  There's a whole heap to choose from, so let it express your personality.  You can change it easily by clicking on a different icon.
• If you would like a more personal one, click on the box that says "Browse...".
• This will take you to your computer.  Choose a photo you like and then click "Open".  Make sure that the picture has the image you want in the centre (or close to!) of the page because the edges are usually cut off when it is automatically resized for an avatar.
• Then click on the green "save" button to upload the photo.  It will not show you a preview before this.
• Once you've saved it, you will have a new avatar!
• If you don't like that picture anymore, you can just upload another one.  Or if you would like to revert to one of the generic icons, click the check box that says "remove" and then click the green "save" button.  It will then show the generic option you have chosen (the one indicated with a red line around it).

And that's about it!  Happy uploading everyone!