"MY PAGE" CUSTOMIZING, TIPS, TRICKS & COMMENTS

[Cheryl Whitney]

Use this thread to discuss "MY PAGE" features (or lack of). Any tips & tricks you can offer to the rest of us would be greatly appreciated. Comments are always welcome.

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[Cheryl Whitney]

You can customize your MY PAGE (your profile page) in several ways.

You can CHANGE THE THEME

Click on the My Page Tab (if you're not already on your profile page)
Under you Main Photo (upper left) you'll see "Change My Photo" or "Theme"
Click on the Theme Link to get to the "Edit the Appearance of Your Page" page
(You'll see that you can even upload and add a customized header if you have the wherewithal to create one)

You can MOVE THE FURNITURE AROUND

(okay, it's not furniture, but you can move the elements around to customize your layout)

go to your MY PAGE
move your mouse over the top left corner of the element you want to move (more specifically next to the name on the title bar)
you'll see a crosshairs icon
click and drag the box to its new location

When in doubt, NING's Help section is very comprehensive and can answer most of your questions. The link is located at the very bottom of this site.

[DS StudioWorks]

Hey Cheryl,
For thos who want to get their resume out to folks, I went My Page, clicked on Ap[lications (left side) and searched for an app called box.net.
I installed it and used it to load my resume onto a shared text box. Anyone who want to see my resume can click and download it to their computor.
Hopefully this has some "security". If I get hacked and spammed, I'll "remove the application"

Let me know if anyone has any problems getting my resume. GO TO David Dalton's page, (not DS) to check it out.
-Coach Dalton

[CoachDalton]

You can also type your resume in your "Text Box" on your My Page. Cutting and pasting from a document doesn't work so well in the text box.

[Cheryl Whitney]

From the NING Help site:

How do I pull widgets (like videos or music players) into My Page?

The most obvious place to add widgets, videos, photo slideshows, or text links is the text box. The text box supports some HTML (see definition below) and can be easily used to add text links to sites off your network, display a video from YouTube, add a photo slideshow from Slide or any other widget provider! Additionally, most text fields throughout the network, or places where you would answer a profile question, add a comment or create a blog post, support some HTML.
These are some basic HTML tags that can be used in text fields:

<a href="http://www.ning.com">This makes a link</a>

<p>This makes a paragraph break</p>

<br/>This makes a line break

<strong>This makes something bold</strong>

<em>This makes something italic</em>

<u>This underlines something</u>

<strike>This puts a strikethrough line through something</strike>

<img src="yourimagehere.jpg"/> adds an image

[CoachDalton]

Loading a Photo on your "MY PAGE" Background
On the left side of your profile page you'll find a click "Theme". That's where you can choose your own back theme. Below you see a section for Background. There will be 2 boxes, the one on the right is where you can load a Picture.

IMPORTANT: How that pic appears on the top of your background depends on the size of your photo and the theme you have chosen. Some background themes don't leave a lot of room for a photo. You have to choose your background theme first, then load a photo.
I had to shrink my photo, then I photoshopped it to strech out longer. If you check out my profile, you can see what i did. Also, check out Chad Svhnackel's page, he did the same thing. My Photo is about 950 X 320 in size.

We had to resize and crop the pic and reload a few times before we got it to fit the way we wanted to.

Once you have got the pic in the way you want, then go back to "Theme" and choose the color of the fonts that fits for your pic.

Let me know if you made any new discoveries with it.
-CoachD

[Cheryl Whitney]

ADDING AND WORKING WITH PHOTOS

HOW CAN I ADD PHOTOS

1. Sign in to the network.
2. Go to the Photos section.
3. Click the "Add Photos" link in the upper right corner.
4. By default, you'll be able to use the bulk uploader. The first time you use the uploader, you'll see a pop-up window that says "This applet was signed by Ning Inc and authenticated by VeriSign Inc. Do you trust this certificate?" Click the "Trust" button to proceed. trust certificate
5. In the left pane, find the photos on your computer. To upload them, double click on a photo or drag and drop a photo or a whole folder to the right pane title "Photos to Upload." You can drag and drop the photos within the right preview pane to re-order them. To remove photos, you can drag and drop them outside of the preview pane or highlight them and press the "Delete" key.
6. Once you're ready to upload, click the "Next" button.
7. Add information about the photos and select who will be able to view the photos. To apply the same information to all of the photos in the batch, fill out the top portion under "Edit Information for All Photos." Then click the button to "Apply this info to the photos below." You can individually override this information by filling out individual photo information below the batch edit.
8. If you're experiencing issues with the bulk uploader, you can always use the simple uploader by clicking the link to "Return to our simple uploader" at the bottom of the page.
9. You can also add photos by phone or email. At the bottom of the "Add Photos" page, click on the "More Information" link for a unique email address to use to add photos to the network. The subject of the email becomes the title of the photo and the body becomes the description.

CAN I CHANGE WHAT PHOTOS SHOW ON MY PAGE

Yes you can! Go to the photos box on your profile page and click the "Edit" button. You will see several options for what photos to show on your profile page.

CAN I IMPORT PHOTOS FROM FLICKR?

You can easily import any public photos you have on Flickr to the network.

1. Go to the Photos tab and click the link to "Add Photos." You will find a prompt to add photos from your Flickr account.
2. Click the "Add Photos" link to continue to Flickr and sign in to your Flickr account.
3. You will then be taken back to your network on Ning. Here choose which of your Flickr photos you'd like to upload.
4. Use the available options to get your most recent photos, get all photos with the same tag or get all of your photos in Flickr. You can also choose to import descriptions or the full-size version of each photo.
5. Click "Get Photos."

WHAT IS THE PHOTO DETAIL PAGE?

In the photos section, clicking on the thumbnail of a picture will take you to the photo detail page, where you can tag or rate the photo, add it to your favorites, view more sizes of the photo and see when it was uploaded. If you are a member of the network and signed in, you can also add a comment about the photo on the comment wall.

HOW DO I ADD A DESCRIPTION TO A PHOTO?

When you upload photos to a network, you have the option to add a title and a description to your photo. If you're adding a photo using the Quick Add feature, you can either click the More Options link to be taken to the standard page for uploading photos or go to the photo detail page after it's uploaded. In the photos section, clicking on the thumbnail of a picture will take you to the photo detail page where you can edit the title, description, tags, location and privacy of the photo!

You cannot edit someone else's photo and give it a description; however, you can leave a comment. If you put another member's photo in an album, you cannot change the title or description.

HOW DO I ADD A LOCATION TO MY PHOTOS?

When you upload a photo, you will be prompted to add a title and description. If you are using the simple uploader, you can also add a location by typing it into the field marked "Location" and clicking "Map It." If you've already uploaded a photo or used the Quick Add feature and want to add a location or change the location, click the "Edit Photo" link below the photo on the photo detail page.