In E-Mail
Have you found a gif you like and want to put it into your signature but you aren't sure how?
I have a few gif sites and many people write me and ask how to put the graphics into their signatures. I usually write an email back and explain how to do that. But sometimes I get so busy I can't answer each email with such detail. Or maybe I'm not online at the time someone needs help. So I thought maybe I'd do a little webpage explaining (as best I can) how to go about putting the gifs in your signature. If you like you can save this webpage in your favorites, or if you have a friend, you may wish to send it to them if you find this helpful. Anyway, here goes....
First of all let me explain that Tripod and some of the other servers do not allow jpg's to be remote loaded from their websites. They do allow gif's. So if you encounter a problem, you can always transload the jpg to a gif. Let me breifly touch on transloading. If you don't know what it is, you obviously can't do it. First, in order to transload, you need your own webpage. These are free from many servers including Tripod, Angelfire, and Geocities. Just register for one and they will give you space to store your own graphics. Transloading means taking a graphic you find on someone else's website and copying it into your own files of your website. It makes it easier for you and it takes a load from the person whose bandwidth you are using if you link to their website and graphics directly. So if you can possibly transload, do so. Here are the transloaders I use most...
The Freeloader
Starblvd Transloader
Your Signature Box
And HTML Codes
HTML sounds very complicated and intimidating. It isn't really. In fact it takes longer to explain how to put a picture and/or sound into your e-mail than it does to actually do it. I'm certainly NOT an expert on HTML codes, but I can get you through putting a nice gif and midi on your mail. Don't get nervous, take it step by step and you'll get it. It's not rocket science or I wouldn't be able to do it. You can always erase it if it doesn't come out right and start over again. That's what the delete button is for. You have nothing to lose by giving it your best shot. You'll do just fine. Here goes...
On your e-mail page on the left sidebar you will see the button marked SETTINGS. Click on that and then on SIGNATURE. You'll see the signature box. Make sure that it is completely empty. Nothing, not even a space can come before the HTML codes for the background, text, and graphics. If there is, the computer won't read it.
When you've found a graphic you like, get the URL for it. If the site owner asks you to transload it to your own site, please do that. If they say it is okay to link then get the URL this way. While viewing the graphic, hit your GO TO button and then your SHOW LAST button (not show current) and the URL for the gif will appear. I cut and paste it so I don't leave anything out. If you don't know how to cut and paste, copy it EXACTLY as you see it. Then decide what color you want for your background and text. Now you are ready to go. Spacing is very important. So I'll give you an example and afterwards I'll tell you where the spaces go. Otherwise let it all run together with no spacing or the computer will not read it and it will simply show up as text or a blank black box. Make sure you have the quotation marks, dots, etc. in the right places. It's quite easy to skip one and then it doesn't work and you wonder what went wrong. So if something doesn't come out right, check these things for typographical errors. It could be as simple as that. In the example below I have used parenthesis symbols instead of the opening and closing brackets for HTML codes. You just change the ( and ) to those HTML brackets. If I use them in this webpage, the computer reads them as HTML commands and they don't show up....
EXAMPLE
(html)(body bgcolor="black" text="white")(center)(img src="http://urlofgifgoeshere.gif")(/center)
(/html)
Spacing
There is one space after the word body and before bgcolor, and again a space after img and before src. Other than that let it all run together and flow onto the next line as you type. The computer will read it that way.
I like to center my graphics but if you do not, leave the (center) and (/center) out and the pictures will automatically go on the left hand side. You can use any other colors you like instead of black for a background and white as text color. This is just a simple example. Below I will show you how I put midi music into an e-mail. Again, many of the servers are not allowing direct linking to midi files, so this may or may not work for you, depending on the server you are trying to link to for your music. The only server I know currently allowing linking to midi files is Angelfire.
Adding A Midi
Finding a midi is just like finding a gif. If the site owner asks you to not to link, don't do it. But if they permit it, again while listening to a wav or midi, hit your GO TO and SHOW LAST buttons and get the URL of the midi or wav. The way I show you below is how I put it into my e-mail. There are other methods, this is mine. This method will make the music start automatically and not have a "speaker" button show up to click on. Here we go again...
(html)(body bgcolor="black" text="white")(bgsound src="http://urlofsoundgoeshere.mid"autostart="true")(center)(img src="http://urlofgifgoeshere.gif")(/center)
(/html)
Spacing
One space after bgsound and before src. None between .mid" and autostart.
Well, that's it! We're done. Now there are more complicated ways to do signatures, and there are other methods. Mine isn't the only way. But it's pretty easy and it'll get you started. That was all I was trying to do with this page. Just get you to put a gif and maybe a little midi in your e-mail. Good luck and remember...
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
And check for typo's!
And smile...it's only HTML
