Composer: Images

Important note about Image Files: When you see an image online that you want to use in a webpage, you need to download it from the Internet and save a copy in your folder. To do this, just right-mouse click on the image and choose "Save Image As." You can rename the image file to make it easier for you to identity (make sure you leave the suffix unchanged - image files suffixes are usually jpg, jpeg, gif or png). The image file also needs to be the right size for your webpage; here's a Tech Tip on resizing images if you need to do that. You also need to make sure you bookmark the webpages where you are getting your images; you will need the address of the webpage later to include in the Image Information citation. 

So, if you now have your correctly sized image file(s) in your webpage folder, and you have bookmarked the webpage(s) that you used to get those images, you are ready to add the image(s) to your Composer webpage:

STEP ONE: Insert image. Start by positioning the cursor where you want to place the image. Then click on the Image icon. Next, inside the Image box that pops up, click on the Choose File button. Navigate to your webpage folder, and then click on the image file you want to use. 

When you have highlighted the file you want to use, click on Open at the bottom of the file listing. This will close the file listing and return you to the Image selection box.

STEP TWO: Add alternate text. You will now see the image location box automatically filled. You need to then type in "Alternate Text" which is a quick description of the image. 

Click OK at the bottom of the image selection box. You should now see the image in your webpage.

STEP THREE: Add image information. Somewhere on your page, you need to include Image Information, which includes a caption of the image, and a link to the webpage you used as your image souce. Usually it's best to put the image information down at the very bottom of the page somewhere, where it will not distract from the image itself. Make sure your the Image Information is complete, and that you have linked (instructions for links) to a webpage, not just to an image file address. If you are not sure what the difference is between a webpage and an image file address, you should do this Tech Tip on Google Image Search.

If you are having trouble, here are some Tips for Troubleshooting Images - there are four main problems you might run into, and I've provided detailed instructions for how to take care of them.