Adding images to articles and reviews using the Gallery2 Image tool

There is now a fairly easy method of adding images to a review or article.

Under the content field there is a link called add Gallery2 images. Place your cursor in the body where you want the image to appear, and then click the add Gallery2 images link.

A window will pop up (make sure you allow pop-ups from CollectionDX if you have a pop-up blocker.)

At the top you have a section called Current Album. This path will show where you are in the photo gallery. Under that is Subalbums. Use this drop down to select a sub album until you get to the album that has the images you previously uploaded and hit Go.

Once you arrive at your target album, you should see a page of thumbnails that looks something like this:

Clicking any thumbnail on this page will insert the code for the image where you left your cursor previously. This will add a 600 px image centered in your page. You don't need to touch any other setting if you just want to add a large image in your review.

Advanced Options

Now, say you want a small thumbnail, either left or right justified. You need to check the advanced options box and then click a thumbnail. The page will now look like this:

You are now presented with a series of options

• Drupal Gallery2 Filter - This is the default, centered 600px image
• Thumbnail with link to image - this creates a 100px thumbnail with a link to the full size image
• Thumbnail with link to parent album - this creates a 100px thumbnail with a link to the album this image is in
• Thumbnail with link to custom URL (from text box below) - Use this option if you want to use a thumbnail from the gallery but want to link to another website or page. Enter the Page address in the box below labeled Custom URL.
• Thumbnail only - no link, just image.
• Text link to image - If you want to make a text link to an image in the gallery, choose this option and in the box labeled Text for image alternate text or text link enter the text you wish to be displayed as the link.
• Text link to parent album - Same as above, only to the parent album.

The ones I find I use often is Thumbnail with link to image and Text link to image.

Alignment class

This is where you can play with the alignment of your images. Under Alignment Class there is a dropdown with the following options:

• None - Just places the thumbnail with a break before and after the image. Each image will be on its own line
• Normal - Allows you to place one thumbnail after another on the same line
• Float Left - When you place the cursor before the first word of text, this will make the text wrap to the right of the image
• Float Right - When you place the cursor before the first word of text, this will make the text wrap to the left of the image
• Centered - centers the thumbnail

Examples

None	Normal	Float Left
Float Right	Centered

HELPFUL TIPS

• Make sure there are no odd characters in your file names or titles. # and & will cause the tool to throw an error. Only letters, numbers, underscore, dashes and spaces are allowed.
• If you are having issues with thumbnails being indented by other thumbnails when using the float class, put <br clear="all"> between the images, preferably right before the second image in the series. This will cause the thumbnails to be on their own rows
• To center a row of thumbnails with the Normal class, put <div align="center"> before the images and </div> after.
• You can still use the old G2 image code described here instead of this method.

Tips on modifying your profile

Q: How do I modify my profile?

Once you are logged in, click on your profile, then the edit tab. From there, you can choose the Collection and Personal Information sections.

Q: How do I add my collection?

Once you have created your collection, your collection link on your profile will automatically change.

Q: How do I get those classified ads in my profile?

Sign up for an account at tfieds.com, and copy the code into your "about me " box

Q: How do I get that playlist in my profile?

If you are a last.fm user,sign in and go to the tools section. There you can copy and paste code into your profile.

Q: What else can I do with my profile

The "About Me" field accepts the basic HTML tags, so whatever you want to put in there, go ahead. Of course, objectionable content will be deleted at our discretion.

Answers to your most common questions.

Q: I want to buy a toy from your site.

A: Sorry, we do not sell any toys. All of the toys displayed here are for reference purposes only. From time to time we sell some of our extra toys on ebay.

Q: Can you tell me where I can buy this toy?

A: We recommend you check out the Toy Stores section of our links page.

Q: How can I buy items from YahooJapan?

A: Unless you speak Japanese, you must use a service to handle your transaction. Check out our guides here and here.

Q: Why is the site so slow?

A: When we built the new CollectionDX, we underestimated how popular it would be, and how many images we would be hosting. Our image management application isn't handling the load very well. The new version of the application has been released, and it appears to be much faster. We are in the process of migrating to this new version, and we hope to have it up and running during the summer of 2006.

Q: Can I write a review or article?

A: Of course! We welcome new authors. Just contact us with what you want to do, and we will walk you through the rest!

Q: What kind of camera do you use?

A: Currently, most of my reviews are shot with an Olympus C8080. Prior to that, I shot with an Olympus 2100UZ.

Adding your collection is free and easy. Just follow these simple steps:

Adding your collection is free and easy. Just follow these simple steps:

1. Sign up for an account and log-in to CollectionDX
   
   
   
2. Click on the Collections link
   
   
   
3. Once in the gallery, click on the "Your Album" link on the top right
   
   
   
4. Click on "Add a photo"
   
   
   
5. Click browse button to select an image from your computer
   
   
   Some tips about photos
   • Try to keep your images under 150 kb each
   • Images stored here cannot be linked to from other web sites except for certain sites such as:
     • ToyboxDX
     • Robot-Japan
   • Site admin has final word on appropriateness of images, and reserves the right to edit or delete photos as deemed necessary, for any reason. Adult content will be removed and user banned. Illegal content will be reported to the authorities
   • Make sure the images are yours - respect peoples property.
   • Right now there is no limit on how many photos you can upload, but please be reasonable and not upload hundreds of images.
     
     
6. You can add captions to each image. This text will be displayed below the thumbnail of the image.
   
   
7. You can add a small logo to the corner of your image. This helps deter image theft by showing where the image came from. This step is optional
   
   
8. Once all your images are uploaded, you can view your album by going to the "Your Album" link at the top right of the page.

That's it! You are done. If you have any problems, dont hesitate to contact us

There are some optional steps you can take from here to further customize your collection.

1. Under each thumbnail are additional options:
   • Delete Photo
   • Edit Permissions - Decide who can see your photo
   • Edit Photo - crop, rotate and resize your image
   • Make Highlight - make this thumbnail the one that represents your gallery
   • Move Photo - move this image to a different location
     
2. On the left are general options for your gallery
   • Add Album - Add a sub-album to your album
   • Add Comment - Add a comment to any photo that allows it
   • Add Items - Upload photos
   • Delete Album
   • Edit Album - Edit the album name, thumbnail sizes, description and more
   • Edit Captions - Edit the information for your images all at once
   • Edit Permissions
   • Make Highlight
   • Move Album
     
3. Add your collection link to your profile
   1. copy the address of your collection by highlighting the url and then right click on it and select "copy"
   2. go to My Account under your username on the left hand menu
   3. click the edit tab
   4. Click the "collection" link
   5. in the field under Collection Link, right click in the field and select "paste"
   6. Save your profile

We have a few basic guidelines when preparing images for inclusion on CollectionDX.

We have a few basic guidelines when preparing images for inclusion on CollectionDX.

Image Size

• Images should be about 640 x 480 pixels and the resolution should be 72. Our gallery will resize images larger than this, but resizing the images beforehand saves on server load.
• File sizes should be kept under 100k.

Image Quality

• Images should be crisp and clear. Blurry / art photography is fine for your personal gallery, but not for reviews.
• Try to fill the space of your image with the toy. Don't be afraid to use both portrait and landscape shots.
• Close ups are your friend. Learn to use your macro mode.
• NO CELL PHONE CAMERA SHOTS.

Suggested shots

For each review, we like to see at LEAST the following photos

• Box front ( back optional)
• Close up of face / head
• One image demonstrating each of the toys modes
• One image demonstrating each feature of the toy (weapons, accessories etc)

If the toy has a light or sound function, we like to see audio or video of the feature. A lot of digital cameras have movie modes. You can upload your video to YouTube, and then just copy and past the code into your review.

Photo Tips

It's relatively easy to get crisp clear shots. What takes time is developing your own style. Here are a few tips to get you started.

• You can tape a piece of white posterboard to a wall to create a seamless white backdrop. If you want to invest a few dollars, you can buy one like the one shown here. A Light tent (or light cube) helps light your toy from all sides, eliminating harsh shadows.
• You can use any kind of light to light your subjects, but the best lights are studio lights. You can make do by going to a hardware store and getting clip-on shop lamps and high-wattage halogen bulbs. These lights get HOT so be careful. If you want to spend a few dollars, you can get an introductory lighting kit like this one.
• Invest in a good tripod. Cheap tripods with plastic clasps will break easily. Using a tripod will steady your shot and allow you to get longer exposures without blur.
• Learn about your camera. If you are using household lights, learn to use your camera's white balance. Home lights give off a yellow hue, and white balance usually has some kind of control to correct for it. Also learn about exposure control (letting more light into your camera), and Macro Mode (focusing on close objects).

This special bit of code, when inserted in between paragraphs, allows you to display images from the gallery in the middle of a review or other text area.

The basic code looks like this:

[g2:55555]

Where 55555 is the image number from the gallery. This will display a 150 px thumbnail of the image. You can change the dimensions of the image by adding a bit to the g2 code, like:

[g2:55555 size=640]

This makes an image where the widest side of that image is 640px wide (or tall). Keep in mind that the body of CollectionDX is about 500px, so dont use 640 for wide images, only tall images. Also worth noting is that you cannot make the image any bigger than the original. So if your image is only 300px tall, giving a size of 640 will still only make it 300px.

By default, images are left-aligned. If you want to center an image, you have to add some tags around the g2 tag:

<div align="center">[g2:55555]</div>

Lastly, if you want to add a caption under an image, you would do something like this:

<div align="center">[g2:55555]Your Caption Here </div>

I allow certain people to publish their own reviews, solely based on if I trust them or not. Trust is gained by being a personal friend, or past contributions to CollectionDX. If you want to publish your own material on CollectionDX, and you don't meet the above criteria, you can contact me about doing a few reviews first. ANYONE CAN SUBMIT A REVIEW, but not everyone can publish it themselves. Please contact me to inquire about doing a review.

I allow certain people to publish their own reviews, solely based on if I trust them or not. Trust is gained by being a personal friend, or past contributions to CollectionDX. If you want to publish your own material on CollectionDX, and you don't meet the above criteria, you can contact me about doing a few reviews first. ANYONE CAN SUBMIT A REVIEW, but not everyone can publish it themselves. Please contact me to inquire about doing a review.

If at any point during this process you are confused or need help, Contact me via email or via AOL Instant Messenger (my AIM is quibx)

General Review Guidelines

A CollectionDX review consists of 3 parts - Images, text and stats.

• Images are a crucial part of a review. Images should be clear and clean. Please see the Image FAQ for tips on shooting, and what we like and don't like. Generally, we like to see an image of each of the toys' modes or features, the packaging, and close ups of the face or other important areas.
• The text is your write up of the toy. We prefer the reviews to be 500 words or more, but we are not picky. Good grammar is a must. Use the AP style guide if you have a concern about what style to write it. Try to have an opinion, but don't be overly negative. Tell the good and bad about each toy. Who would buy it and why?
• Stats - Each review has certain set fields that should be filled in if all possible. Most of this information is available on the manufacturers web sites, or on e-commerce sites. For vintage toys, google is your friend.

Submitting your review.

Trusted Reviewers have permissions to add and edit content in both the gallery and the reviews.

Step 1 - Adding your images.

Log in to CollectionDX and go to Gallery > Toys. Find the manufacturer for the toy. You need to create an album for the toy you are reviewing, If there is no manufacturer for that toy listed, you must create one.Once that is done, create an album for the toy line (if applicable) and then an album for the toy itself.

• Create an album by selecting "Add album" from the left hand navigation. Please fill in all the fields as best as possible.
  • Name - The name of this album on the server. It must be unique in this album. Only use alphanumeric characters, underscores or dashes. You will be able to rename it later.
  • Title - This is the album title. Please stick to proper names (example "Mazinger" instead of "A review of Mazinger"). Capitalize.
  • Summary - This is the text that shows below the thumbnail of your album. Consider it a subtitle.
  • Keywords - Keywords are not visible, but are searchable. Use this for common misspellings, or related terms.
  • Description - This is the long description of the album. Once you are in the album, this is displayed at the top of the page. Use this space for additional information if required.
• Add your images - Once your album is created, select "Add Items" from the left hand navigation.
  • click Browse to select images from your computer. If you have large images, only do a few at a time.
  • select "more" at the bottom for additional windows.
  • the Caption field is for the image descriptions. You don't have to fill these out now, but you can if you like.
  • "Set item titles from:" Select caption if the caption fields contain the image names. You will edit this later, so you probably will leave this alone.
  • Thumbnail - leave this alone
  • Watermark - select logo_sm.jpg from the drop down to add a CollectionDX watermark to each image. This discourages theft.
  • click Add Items to upload your images. This may take a while if you have large images, or if you have a lot of images. Try resizing them in a photo editor before uploading them.
• Add Metadata - Browse to your album and then:
  • Select Edit Captions from the left menu
  • Title - This is the Image title. Please stick to proper names (example "Mazinger" instead of "A review of Mazinger"). Capitalize.
  • Summary - This is the text that shows below the thumbnail of your image. Consider it a subtitle.
  • Keywords - Keywords are not visible, but are searchable. Use this for common misspellings, or related terms.
  • Description - This is the long description of the image. Looking at the full size image, this is displayed at the top of the page. Use this space for additional information if required.
• Leave this window open and open and create a new window or tab in your browser.

Step 2 - Create the review

In this process we will be creating the actual review. Before you get to this part, please have your review written and your images uploaded to the gallery. You should have two browser windows or tabs open for this process. I wish it were easier, but it isn't.

• On the left hand menu, under your username, select Create Content, then Review.
  • Authored by: - shows your name. do not edit this
  • Authored on: - this is the date that the review will show as being published. You can change this date if you want to post at a later date. Keep in mind, changing this date still will post when you click submit at the bottom. All this does is change the date stamp.
  • Options - Most of these you can leave alone, but I will explain them anyway.
    • Published - Leave this box unchecked until you are ready to publish it. Selecting "Publish" at the bottom puts the review into our system, but it is not "live" until this box is cheked.
    • In moderation queue - If you were to require moderation, check this. Ignore it for now.
    • Promoted to front page - Leave this checked to push the review out to the front page of CollectionDX.
    • Sticky at top of lists - This is a special box that stays at the top of the index page, or any category page it is a part of. DO NOT CHECK THIS BOX.
    • Create new revision - ignore this.
  • Title - This is the title of the review. The toy line is automatically added in front of this title, so do not add it. (example: "Mazinger Z" and not "Soul of Chogokin Mazinger Z"
  • Category: - The category is the general group that the toy belongs to. You can select more than one category by holding the Ctrl key and clicking on the terms you want to include.
  • Manufacturer: - This is who made the toy. Some toys have more than one manufacturer, in the case of Zoids, Hasbro is putting out a Tomy product. In this case, you would select both by holding the Ctrl key and clicking on the terms you want to include. If the manufacturer you want is not listed, just choose <none> and we will add it later.
  • Materials: - What is this toy made out of? Modern Japanese toys have this printed on the box. Older toys, just select all that apply in significant amounts. Screws do not count as metal, FYI.
  • Release Date: - Choose the year of release. If unsure, leave blank.
  • Series: - What Show or Series does this toy come from? (NOT TOY LINE). For example, Getter Poseidon comes from Getter Robo G. Not all toys have shows, so leave blank if it does not apply. If the show you want is not in the list, we can add it after we finish the review.
  • Toy Line: - What toy line is this a part of? Soul of Chogokin is a toy line, Mazinger is not. If the toy line is not in the list, we can add it after we finish the review.
  • Toy Name: - This is the proper name of the toy. For example, if you are reviewing the Deluxe Zeo Megazord, the Toy name would be Zeo Megazord.
  • Toy Line: - Some toys, like the Soul of Chogokin line, have a number identifying them given by the manufacturer. Add it here if applicable.
  • Scale: - If the toy has a scale on the box, add it here. Don't guess or calculate scale. Use the format like 1:144
  • Designer: - Who designed this toy? We prefer the actual sculptor over the character designer, but whatever you have is fine.
  • Currency: - select either $ or ¥ based on where the toy was originally sold.
  • Original Price: - If you know the original retail price, enter it here, without the $ or ¥ sign. If you are using yen, use commas (example 1,000)
  • Summary: - This is the blurb that shows up on the front page of CollectionDX. You can take text from your review, or write something new. The idea of this is to interest the reader enough to read the full review. You can write plain text in this box, but if you want to past HTML, please select FULL HTML
  • Content: - This is where you paste the body of your review. You can write plain text in this box, but if you want to past HTML, please select FULL HTML. You can add images to the body of your review using a special link at the bottom of the window. Please see the adding images section for more information about how to use it.
  • eBay Link: - ignore
  • eBay Referral Code: - If you have affiliate accounts with Amazon, Play Asia or other stores, you can earn some money with your reviews. Log in to the appropriate stores' affiliate program and generate your ad code. Paste it here to display your ad on this review.

Step 3 - Add your images to the review

This is where you need two windows or tabs open. You need to use Mozilla or Firefox to do this. We are working for a solution in IE to do this. In one window, you you have your create review page. In the other, you need your album open of the toy you are reviewing. On the page where you are creating your review, there are fields for each image. You need to enter an image number in each of these fields. This number can be found by holding your mouse over the thumbnail of the image you want to display. After a short delay, a small pop up box will appear with a string of text in it. The number at the end of the string is the number you need to use represent that image:

The red box shows what the image number is

• Lead Image: - This image is the large image shown at the top of the review.
• Teaser Image: - This is the thumbnail shown next to the summary on the home page that links to this review. Often it is the same as the lead image.
• Image 1-10 - These images show beneath the review.
• Album link: - Paste the web address of the location of your gallery here. (Example: http://www.collectiondx.com/gallery/Toys/Bandai/SOC/GX-30/ or just /gallery/Toys/Bandai/SOC/GX-30/)

Step 4 - Publish

Hit the Submit button to see how it looks. Select the Edit tab at top to make any changes. Once you are happy with your review, and everything has been spell-checked and tested, check the Published checkbox at the top of your review, and then press the Submit button at bottom.

Adding missing categories

Select "Categories" from the left menu to add Manufacturer, Series, or Toy Line if they are missing. Next to the appropriate section, select "Add term". Then go back to your review and the terms you added are now in the drop-down lists. Select the proper terms, and publish.

Over at the Skullbrain message boards, I put up this topic figuring it would helpful to direct newcomers to when they ask questions like this. Any input is welcomed.

General Note: Before you get started with any of this, it is recommended that you make sure your browser can display Japanese character sets. To test this, go to any Japanese site listed below and see if the characters display correctly. You can do some of this "blind" without the character set, but it's tough.

How do I search for items at Yahoo Japan Auctions?

First, go to Yahoo Japan auctions.

Next, put in your search criteria. Some listings do have English text in them, so if you put a search term in like "ultraman", you will get some results.

Obviously, you will get the most results using Japanese. For non-Japanese users, it's easiest to copy and paste kanji and katakana from other pages.

Company names:

• Bandai: バンダイ
• Bounty Hunter: (need characters for this)
• Bullmark: ブルマァク
• Charactics: キャラクティックス
• Dream Rocket: ドリームロケット
• Gargamel: ガーガメル
• Marmit: マーミット
• M-1 Go: Ｍ１号
• Marusan: マルサン
• Real X Head: リアルヘッド
• Sakamoto Showten: 坂本商店
• Secret Base: シークレットベース

Character names:

• Blobpus: ブロッパス
• Dougram: ダグラム
• Ganime: ガニメ
• Gezora: ゲゾラ
• Gojira: ゴジラ
• Gundam: ガンダム
• Hedora: ヘドラ
• Kameba: カメーバー
• Macross: マクロス
• MOSPEADA: モスピーダ
• Megaro: メガロ
• Rumble Monster: ランブルモンスタ
• Rumble Monsters: ランブルモンスター
• Rumble Monster Damudoron: ダムドロン
• Rumble Monster Faraosu: ファラオス
• Southern Cross: サザンクロス
• Ultraman: ウルトラマン
• VOTOMS: ボトムズ

Other terms:

• clear: クリア
• crystal: クリスタル
• kaiju: 怪獣
• mechanic: メカニック
• mini: ミニ
• robot: ロボット
• skeleton: スケレトン
• sofubi: ソフビ

CollectionDX has links to many Yahoo Auctions here. Zinc Panic also has many names and terms listed in Japanese that you may find useful.

Other useful places to find names for Japanese characters are the Ultraman Wikipedia entry and the Godzilla Wikipedia entry.

Once your search results are entered, hit enter or click on the gray button that has this text:検索

YJA normally displays listings as plain text, without pictures. It's easier for non-Japanese readers to browse them in Gallery mode. To do this, find this link above the auction listings and click on it:画像のみ

After that, browse through the auctions by using the previous 20 ( 前の20件 ) or next 20 ( 次の20件 ) links at the bottom right.

You can combine multiple keywords in one search by putting them in parentheses and separating them with commas.

For example, entering this displays anything with "Charactics" or "Gargamel" in Japanese or English:

(キャラクティックス charactics ガーガメル gargamel)

As another example, entering this displays anything with "kaiju" that has the words "clear", "crystal," "mechanic", or "skeleton":

怪獣 (クリア クリスタル メカニック スケレトン)

How do I find items on other Japanese sites?

You can either click on the company sites listed above, or do a Google search using the kanji and katakana above.

How do I buy items from Yahoo Japan Auctions or other Japanese sites?

To bid on Yahoo Auctions, you have to be a Japanese resident. For other sites, you might want to try them directly via email and cross your fingers that they 1) read English and 2) are willing to ship something internationally. This works sometimes.

Often, though, barriers like these will prevent you from having a simple shopping experience. Luckily, services exist to handle this for you. Some of the common ones are:

• Celga
• M-World Service
• Rinkya
• Shopping Mall Japan

Each one has different rates, procedures, and policies, and you will definitely want to research them before signing up.

How do I buy items from Amazon Japan?

Go to Amazon Japan, and look for the link on the top right or bottom center that says, "In English." Even if you have an account at Amazon USA, you will need to register for a new account with them. Amazon Japan will take American credit cards, ship to America, and is a very good source for books if you know the ISBNs. You'll find that the site is exactly the same as the American one.