Since Im up and full of pep, I thought Id give a tutorial on building, linking and adding pictures to your own swap page.
I. Your Swap Page and You!
Everybody has their own personal page on BYC forum, as long as you have setup an account. You can find the link to your personal page on the forum menu which is located at the top of your screen, usually under the advertisements; if you are logged in it is 5th from the left and is just a small link that says My Page. If you have never edited your personal page, when you click the link the new page will appear blank (dont despair, you can fix that!). In between the 2 sets of advertisements there will be a line of text This is your blog. Click here to edit - Add new page - Delete this page. The last 3 groups are links that will take you to different pages, as this posting deals with a swap page, we will select Add new page. Dont worry about leaving your personal page black, after you learn how to build your swap page you can come back and fix your personal page or blog as its referred to by BYC. Having clicked Add new page link, you will be redirected to a new screen with a box and the instruction Please select title:. Here you would name your swap page, I simply named mine Swap Page, however, you can go fancy and name it anything, like What Ya Got Swap- Swap Page. Once you have picked a name, click on the Create Page button and hold on to your pants.
II. So you have a Swap Pagenow what?
Ok, lets make this easy on ourselves, Im no computer programmer and I have all the dazzle of a pet rock, so I suggest you just leave the font as is. If you would like to play with the font size or colormore power to you. What I did with my page is simply list all the things that I am able to offer for a swap. If youre reading this post, you have an idea of what you can offer, just type it out. Descriptions are key, the size of an object, its condition, its age, ingredients, even manufacturer are all important facts that people like to know when considering claiming an offer (or when they are drooling over your goods).in other words TYPE-AH-TYPE-AH- TYPE-AH! A good description is key if you feel like your picture or photos skills are lacking (I make no judgments, I draw a smiley face on my thumb and try to pass it off as a cousin) which brings us to.
III. Take a picture, itll last you longer ok, cleek
Ok, I wont go over taking pictures or how to get them on your computer, you can find a teenager willing to sell himself for a grilled cheese and a scoop of ice cream that will do that for you no problem, heck, if you make it 2 hot pockets and theyll build your whole page for you. Alas, for those of us that are unwilling to part with our hot pockets, we must continue.
At the very top of your unfinished swap page there are 2 links, the 2nd link is My Uploaded Images I would suggest you open this link in a new tab as it is easier to go from tab to tab for this next part (if you dont know what tabs aredownload Google chrome, its a web browser and its a life changer).
This new window is your uploads, you can upload up to 10 mb on a free account. First thing, there are 2 buttons on this page choose file and upload, there is also a box that says resize image, make sure that stays clicked and the drop down menu is selected to 640x480 (for message boards), picture size is perfect. If you are on a slow connection, a time saving tip is to edit your picture before uploading, resize them and make them smaller, anything between 150 to 300 kb will save you a lot of time (they will be resized anyway, but this makes it faster for you). To begin an upload click the choose file button, this will open a new window, from here you must find your pictures on your computer. I created a file on my desktop that says Swap pics so I could find them fast, you could also create the file in your photo folder, but my photo folder is a bit cumbersome. After selecting you photo, click the open button at the bottom of your new window, the window will close and the name of the photo should appear next to the choose file button. To finish your upload click the submit button and wait, you will be redirected to a new screen. From this new screen you can either use the back arrow on your browser or there is a link that says back at the bottom of the screen. You may repeat this process for multiple photos, it gets easier once you get the hang of it.
Having uploaded your photos, make your way back to the Uploads screen. Under your recent uploads (3 pics) there is a link that says All My Uploads, click it, this will take you to a screen with thumbnails of all uploaded photos. To add your picture anywhere you will want to click on the image box under the photo you desire, clicking the box will select the entire link, just copy it(right click or crtl+c). The copied link maybe used as is in forum posts, like so:
but it must be edited when being put on your swap page.
Return to your unfinished swap page, click on icon that looks like a tree, it is next to the anchor and above the smiley face, a new window will appear. In the box that says image url paste the copied link of your photo. Before you close the window, go to the end of your pasted link and delete [/img] and go to the beginning of it and delete [img], after deleting those a preview of your photo will appear. IF YOU DO NOT DELETE [IMG][/img] YOUR PICTURE WILL NOT APPEAR! You may now fill out the description and title or just click the insert button, if another window opens just hit OK.
IV. Wheel of Morality turn, turn, turn, tell us the lesson we have learned
Once we have our descriptions and picture all put together in the proper order (I prefer descriptions followed by a photooh so OCD, you have no idea), there is one important step to completeHIT THE PUBLISH CHANGES BUTTON! Ever lose a 10 page term paper after typing 7 pages, I have (I say as I am saving this for the first time). Nothing sucks more than going through all that work, closing your window, THEN realizing you didnt publish your changes, its the equivalent of locking your keys in the trunk and having that WHACK sound slap you back to reality (also done that). Moral of the story, save your changesand get one of those little boxes with a spare key that you hide on the bottom of your car.
V. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to Your Swap Page
Having published your swap page, you will now be taken to see ittis a thing of beauty, isnt it? To share your lovely swap page withsay, your favorite swap chain just click on the address bar of your browser, this ctrl+a (to select the whole link) and copy it. You may now post it in any forum post as is, like so: http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=100537-make-your-own-swap-page
If you ever happen to edit your swap page, the address will remain the sameas long and you do not rename it, which Im not sure if you can.... either way, you can remove claimed items just by deleting them and publishing the changes. An easy way to find your swap page is to go to your My Page and clicking on your Swap Page link at the top, or you could just bookmark it in your favorite web pages(I used to collect bookmarks, but I found out it involved readingbleh).
With your new found uploading, posting and linking skills you can go back and edit your swap page anytime you want, or even make that blog page pop. I hope this has helped, and that you enjoyed reading it, its been a fun hour and a half of typing for mealmost makes me miss collegenot really, but it has been fun. Good luck with your swap page.
Edited by UncleTommy - 10/14/11 at 11:08am
BTW not wanting to go look for the road atlas, where is Sanger in Ca. Got family there in Ca and I'm thinking cookies for gifts. 
The instructions alone are a novel. 
DH says he will work on it for me, just got too late last night to try and get it done. Tonight we are going to the local fair to see how I did with all my entries so I guess it will be another day or two yet before I get that swap page. 
