In order to share your photos with the world, you first need to create a URL for each one. This can be a difficult process if you’re not familiar with how it works. In this blog post, we will provide easy tips for photographers that will help them create URLs for their images quickly and easily!
How To Create A URL For An image?
Step 1: Title and Description
First, you need to know that URLs can be anything from an image’s name to the link to its page. For now, let’s focus on how to create a URL for an image. You should start by giving your work a title and description, which are different from the title tag of HTML. Let’s say I’m uploading this GIF file of Donald Trump dancing. First, I’ll give it a name, “Dancing Donald”. However, because links can’t have spaces in them, I’d better make it “Dancing_Donald” instead.
Next is adding a description. If you hover over the little info button next to where you upload files, you will see something like this:
If you don’t know how to edit your description, but something short and sweet like “Donald Trump dancing” or “WDYDWYD”.
Both the title and description should be relevant to your image. The description should also include a few keywords that might help you reach certain audiences:
Step 2: File Names
Remember that spaces need to be converted into _ or %20. Also avoid special characters such as, < > ^ ” ‘ unless you want it to show up in the URL. Avoid? because search engines will think it’s part of the query string. If possible, use – instead of /, since they are not interchangeable. Some types of files are not supported by hyperlinks either, which is why you shouldn’t start an image URL with /. Some types of files are not supported by hyperlinks either, which is why you shouldn’t start an image URL with/unless it makes sense.
Because file names can also be used as URLs, make sure your file names are search engine-friendly. You should avoid unnecessary capitalization and use hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_). My file name for this GIF will be “donald_trump_dancing.gif”. It’s shorter, cleaner, and has fewer characters than “donald_trump__dancing.gif”. For bonus points, I’ll remove the space between Donald and Trump, since that would only mean one extra character in my link.
Step 3: Web Server
Now that your image is titled and described, it’s time we can move on to creating a URL for this file. You will need a web server that supports the .htaccess file of your files. To check whether your site has one or not, upload your GIF file to your site root folder/public directory. Most hosting companies will support this feature through CPanel, but if yours doesn’t, you might want to consider finding a new host.
If you don’t have access to a hosting company with an htaccess file, I’m afraid you’ll have to make one yourself by downloading some free web server software like XAMPP
You may also need FTP software such as FileZilla. Just look for “FTP client” and “XAMPP documentation” in your search engine.
Step 4: URL
Your web server should be set up by now. Now we will create the actual file path and name of the GIF file. If you’re using Microsoft Windows, it’s quite easy, since there is a standard called SMB (Server Message Block) that most web servers support. Open NotePad or notepad++ and paste this line:
C:\inetpub\wwwroot\donald_trump_dancing.gif
-Change C:\inetpub\wwwroot to where you own your files e.g public_html/var/www/roflpedia/images
-Add forward slashes after \ like above instead of backslashes
Now, save this file as a .txt file. Change the .txt to .htaccess and upload it to your webserver directory, replacing the old file if you already have one.
That’s all there is to it! This method can be used for almost any operating system since SMB is a universal protocol. So now if someone tells you that they have a picture of “Donald Trump dancing”, just tell them that you know how to create a URL for an image.
Step 5: Testing Your Work
Visit your site and check whether your GIF shows up without problems or not. If so, congratulations! You’ve created a URL for an image, and have at least one extra trick under your hat. However, I usually like to do a small test using Google. Just copy and paste your web address into the search bar, then click on “Images”.
If it works, then congratulations! You’ve successfully created a URL for an image. If not, then you may have made some sort of typo or configuration error. Feel free to contact me with any problems you may have encountered so I can update this article accordingly.
When image URLs are clicked or shared online they are typically stored in personal computers as markers indicating the presence of certain images rather than being used to view them directly.
What Are The Different Types Of Images You Can Use On Your Website?
A website is much more than just words and social media. While these elements are important, images contribute a lot to the look and feel of the site too.
There are many different types of images that you can use on your websites, such as logos, photos, or screenshots. Each has its own purpose and this article will give you some insight into each type.
Logos: Branding and recognition
Your logo usually represents your brand and is easily recognizable by customers. It should be included in several places across your site because it’s part of how customers recognize who they’re dealing with. Also known as favicons, logos can be placed in various sizes according to where you want them displayed – such as the browser tab, navigation menu, or social media links.
Photos: Showing the product or service
People like to see what they’re buying. Whether it’s a big-ticket item, such as an expensive watch, or something that needs to be assembled, customers will want to know exactly what they’re getting. Photos are also useful if you want customers to visualize themselves using your product or service – this is why restaurants often include photos of food on their websites.
Screenshots: Product demonstrations and tutorials
If your product can be demonstrated with screenshots, then screenshots are very valuable for explaining how it works. They make it easier for visitors to understand your explanation of how your product works, which saves time and makes processes more efficient Screenshots are usually placed near the relevant text to illustrate how a concept or process is used in practice.
Graphics: Links to social media profiles and email address
Logos are probably the most common type of image found on websites, simply because they’re convenient and easy to use. However, you can also include small-scale images, such as graphics that link to your social media profiles or email addresses. These images help customers find you online, so it’s important that they look nice and make sense.
These images help customers find you online, so it’s important that they look nice and make sense. Favicons and graphics logos usually represent your brand and are easily recognizable by customers. It should be included in several places on your websites, such as the browser tab, navigation menu, or social media links.
Where To Find Free Images That You Can Use On Your Website?
1. Unsplash
Unsplash is a database of 10 free high-resolution photos every 10 days. These are released under the creative commons public domain license, which means you can use these images for anything without asking permission or giving credit to the photographer who originally took it. You can do this even if you’re making money from your website.
2. Pixabay
Pixabay is another great resource with over 1 million free stock photos, vectors, and illustrations in its archive that you can download right away. The nice thing about them is that they also have an API that allows you to easily add their images to your blog posts or web pages using code. On top of this, they have no copyright restrictions whatsoever, thus you can use the images for commercial purposes.
3. StockSnap
StockSnap offers some great high-resolution, royalty-free stock photos that are curated into collections. The collection is broken up into 6 categories; Abstract, Business, Technology, Travel & Nature, Life Science, and Food/Health/Medical. What’s nice about them is that they also offer non-stock photo downloads too (for members) like vector graphics, PSDs, and even videos (which cost money).
4. Flickr Creative Commons
Flickr has one of the largest databases of public domain photos in its Creative Commons section. This means you can reuse these images however you’d like without needing permission or worrying about copyright issues so long as the original photographer follows the Creative Commons guidelines. One thing to note, however, is that there are a lot of fake photos in Flickr’s Creative Commons section so it’s important to double-check before you reuse an image.
5. MorgueFile
Morguefile offers a large collection of public domain images from all kinds of different photographers. You can search the directory by photographer name or just browse through what they have available. Plus, even if you want a custom photoshoot, they also work with photographers who can provide this service for you as well at a very reasonable price range.
How To Add An Image To Your Website?
The first step when adding an image to your site is finding the perfect image for your article. Having a nice featured picture on the top of your page will catch people’s eyes when they scroll through their newsfeed or just randomly look at popular content with their friends. When you have that picture, then save it onto your computer and upload it into Google Drive.
The next step is to click on the ‘Upload’ button and navigate through the folders until you find where you saved that special picture from step one. After choosing that file, there should be a thumbnail preview of what the picture looks like. Next, click on ‘Open’ to return to the upload window and select ‘Google Docs’. This will open up a new tab in your browser.
The third step is to copy the link of that file in Google Drive when it asks you “What would you like to do?” By pressing command + c (or control+c). After that, head over to the Pastebin website. Paste the URL into one of their boxes with either code or text selected – depending on how you want your image formatted – and press submit.
For step four, paste the URL onto your website by clicking on where you’d like it placed, selecting all of the coding there via command + a (or control+a), and paste it by pressing command + v (control+v).
The final step is to save those changes. So, head over to the drop-down menu and go to ‘View >> Show Hidden Files. This will show all of your hidden files on your computer. Select that .html file with Ctrl + A (or Command + A) and copy the URL via command + C (or control+c). After that, head back to Blogger and inside of your post, you should see HTML or Rich Text editor, depending on how old your blog is. Paste the link you copied from step five inside of either HTML or RTE – but make sure not to change anything else. After that, click on ‘Save Changes’ at the bottom of the page and it should show up as an image instead of a link!
