UBB Helper Help

Who Are We

“We” are http://istockphoto.com/1photodiva, a photographer and member of iStockphoto. Because we found
ourselves doing certain tasks repeatedly, we created this UBB Helper.

Purpose

This tool is intended for making certain tasks on iStockphoto easier. Specifically, these tasks surround creation of text for:

• Sitemail
• Blog postings
• Descriptions of images
• Profiles

These (and possibly other) methods for users to put information on iStockphoto rely on what is called “UBB” to create formatting,
embed images, etc. The UBB helper is an encapsulation of the gobbledy-gook that comprises the UBB for accomplishing these
tasks.

Along the way, you may find some helpful tooltips. These are reminders of things that just don’t pop out at you.

How It Works

The UBB Helper has – essentially – two panes. An entry pane where you type your UBB and a preview pane below that.

When you type plain text in the upper (entry) pane, the same stuff appears in the lower (preview) pane. This would not be
particularly special except when you introduce formatting.

Simple Formatting: Bold and Italic

Occasionally, you want to give a word or a phrase a little extra zip. To do this, highlight it in the entry pane. Then press the
“bold” button on the menu bar (right above the entry pane). You will start to see formatting appear in the entry pane, but the
preview pane will show you how the result will appear once you’ve sent your sitemail or posted to the blog. It’s all about the
visualization.

Quoting What Others Have Said

In forums, it is common to quote a snippet of what someone else has said and tag your own comment either above or below. UBB
provides a way to do this, and so does the helper. Here are the steps:

• Copy the text you want to quote from “John Doe’s” post.
• Click in the entry pane and paste that text.
• Select (highlight) that text and press the “quote” button on the menu bar.

Note: It is considered good form to attribute with the original poster’s name, and when they posted. For example:

More Complicated Stuff

Links to Images

This is one of the more important uses for the UBB Helper. Say you have this really keen image and you want Suzie Photographer to
add it to her “Keen Images” lightbox. Just start composing in the entry pane as normal. For example:

Hello, Suzy. I have an image I think might fit well in your "Keen Images" lightbox. Whatcha think?

After you’re happy with your plea for inclusion in the lightbox, press the “Image Link” button to open the image linking drawer.
It will slide down, and you can enter the image number (that’s the iStockphoto image number). At present, iStockphoto supports
display in several different sizes. You should choose the size that best illustrates your image while at the same time leaving
the text readable. You select the size from the dropdown menu marked “size.”

Once you press “Insert Image!”, the UBB code will be inserted in the entry pane and a preview will appear in the preview pane.

A word about sizes. At first, it can be tempting to pick Ginormous for everything. I mean, it’s true what they say: If you can’t
make it good, make it big, right? But here, you are trading size and readability of your message, so if you put a ton of
ginormous images in a sitemail or a forum post, people’s eyes may glaze over. It’s your call. We only make the tool, you have
to decide how to use it.

Links to Images. Again.

Linking to an image has some subtle extra features. If you must link, then link you must, young Skywalker. Here are some other
gee-whizzy things you can do:

• Link to a whole slug of images at once. Assuming you read and understood the caution about ginourmous images, the same goes for
  lots of images in a small space. Use judiciously. When you want to link numerous images, simply type the image numbers separated
  by commas. When you press “Insert Image!”, presto! All the images are inserted at once.
• Link to images hosted on other servers. If you need this feature, you know why it’s useful. Everyone else, feel free to skip.
  Linking to off-site image is as easy as typing the full URL including the http://. Give it a try.

Links to Lightboxes

This is kind of the inverse of links to images … at least in some ways. Say you have this really fun lightbox and you want
to tell your whole Creative Network about it. Just go to the entry pane and start typing:

Yo! I have a new lightbox called "Celebrity Look-Alikes." If you have a celeb look-alike image, let me know.

At this point, press the “Lightbox Link” button on the menu bar to reveal the lightbox drawer.

• You enter the lightbox number (you can find this in the address bar when you are viewing your lightbox).
• Also enter the image number you want to represent your lightbox.

When you press “Doit!”, a thumbnail that links to you lightbox is inserted in your UBB.

Links to Lightboxes. Again.

It is possible you want to showcase a few images for a given lightbox. To do this, just enter a series of image numbers,
separated by commas, and you will get multiple thumbnails all linking to the same lightbox.

Similarly, it is possible you want to use an off-site image to represent the lightbox. Just type in the URL to the image,
including the http://.

Scraping Lightboxes

Finally, there is “scrape”. The idea of this is to reach out to iStockphoto and grab a bunch of images in the lightbox. Images
chosen at random. These images are then proposed as a sort of potpourri of what someone might find in the lightbox. Try it
and if you like it use it.

Notes:

• This only works on public lightboxes
• Only the first page is scraped
• From a technology perspective, this is pretty whizzy, but in practice it’s not clear people are using it. Let us
  know if you love the “scrape” feature

Lists

Ok, now we’re getting into the nits and bits of UBB. It is possible to construct bulleted lists in UBB for those of you
who think in a very organized fashion. Forming that in code is a PITA. Here is how to get the UBB helper to do the
heavy lifting for you:

• Type in the list items, one per line
• Select the entire list, but don’t select the end of line for the last item
• Press the “List” button on the menu bar

And there you have it, lists.

return to home