Using The Star Boulevard Transload Service

Ok, now that you've got your homepage, you're ready to transload. Let's start with images; they're the easiest. Once you've found the image you've just gotta have, make sure you're at the right place; the image will be alone on the screen, without anything around it but a black background. You can also make sure you're at the right spot by pressing your Info key; The URL should end in .gif, or .jpg; it should not end in .html. Once the image is on your screen, go directly from it to the Transloader. The URL is http://transload.starblvd.net/  I've found, though, that it's much easier in the long run to simply store it as a shortcut in my F keys.

Now that you're at the Transloader, you'll notice that in the first field, it will show the URL of the image you were hopefully just viewing. Directly beneath the first field, on the left, you'll see a teardrop shaped image. Click it to transfer that URL into the second field, which denotes what will be transloaded. If, for some reason, you'd like to rename the file, do so in the field provided for that purpose. Under that, enter the name of the ftp server to transfer the image to; for example ftp.tripod.com, if you're a Tripod user. Enter your account name, and then your password. If you're uploading to a subdirectory, which is optional, don't forget to enter it's name in the space provided for it. One very important word of caution: Never , for any reason, transload a page that has a name, for instance, index.html, identical to one you already have. Doing this will cause the already existing page in your directory to be overwritten. Your chances, at that point, of getting that page back do not exist. (My thanks to Paul Erickson for that excellent point.)

All that's really left to do is the actual transload. Click the button, on the lower left, that says Transload. You'll be taken to another screen where, in about 10 seconds, you'll be shown a Status Report. If it's not done immediately, wait about 30 seconds to a minute, and use your reload option. You'll occasionally have to reload more than once, but not often. Scroll down to the bottom; when your session is done, you'll be instructed to click the button at the bottom of the page. Doing this clears the session, including your password (for security reasons), from the Transloader, and also, frees up the Transloader for another session.

To upload midi or wav files, while you're listening to the file, press Go To, then Show Last on your keyboard to get the URL; when you get to the Transloader, enter that URL into the second field; again, the second field contains the file to be transloaded.

You're now ready to go out there, and fill up your homepage. From there, if you're so inclined, you can link your images and sounds into your e-mail. One final note; the Transloader has made it simple to upload virtually any image or sound that WebTV can handle into your homepage, right from your WebTV. That's an ability we haven't really had before. Please be careful, though, not to abuse it. Most of the pictures, gifs, sounds, etc. on the web are in the public domain, but not all. Please respect copyrighted material and don't use it without permission. We have an opportunity here; not just to improve our image, but to take our place in the web community. It'd be a shame if we just swapped one form of theft for another.

Transloading Scanned Pictures and Images

It's also fairly easy to transload pictures and images that have been scanned, and sent to you in e-mail; to do this, though, you'll need to set up an e-mail account. I've had very good luck, personally, using Eudoramail.

Forward the e-mail containing the image file to your Eudoramail addy. When you log into Eudoramail, make sure to use the No Frames option. Click the e-mail to open it up; once you've done so, click the on screen button that says "Download Attachments". Click the image that you want to transload; it should come onscreen by itself, surrounded by black. I wouldn't recommend writing down the URL at this point, unless someone has a gun pointed at you; it'll be one of those novel-length URLs. Instead, go straight to the Transloader, click the teardrop icon, and transload as you would any other image file.

Occasionally, for some reason, Eudoramail doesn't want to play ball. That's rare, in my experience, but if it happens, you might try MailExcite, MailCity, or Net@ddress. If it turns out you need to use any of these services, not to worry; they're all free, and easy to use.

If you're ready, click here to go to Anthony Chu's Star Boulevard Transloader.

Paul Erickson's Transloader Page
Tony Cassista's Transloader Page
n2play's Page on E-Mail Extraction