Tag Archives: iphone

Posting images to your blog from your mobile device

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Significant improvement in smartphone cameras combined with increased mobile device usage means we’re getting more people asking us for the fastest option for uploading their photos from their mobile devices to their blogs.

Here’s a few different ways you can do it!

Using a blogging app

There’s a wide range of blogging apps available for smartphones, iPads and android tablets.

They vary considerably in terms of ease of use and functionality.  You can read our review of iPad blogging apps here.

Personally I’ve found they can vary in terms of reliability – an app that works well previously can suddenly experience problems (but maybe it is me since I do have a lot of blogs connected to my apps?).

The best option for quick image upload is probably the WordPress app which you can download for free.

To be able to use any blogging app XML-RPC first needs to be enabled.

XML-RPC is automatically enabled on Edublogs.org blogs if you are using an Edublogs Pro blog or a blog which has had extra features enabled using an Edublogs Pro blog.

If you are using an Edublogs Campus (and most likely WordPress) blog you’ll need to enable XML-RPC within your blog dashboard in Settings > Writing.

You aren’t able to enable XML-RPC on free Edublogs.org blogs.

When adding your blog to any app you need to select the self-hosted WordPress blog option for your Edublogs or Campus blog.

Below’s a quick overview of the post interface to help you.

All you need to do is click on Add Image to insert an image into your post.

Using a mobile web browser

You can choose to write posts directly within your blog dashboard using your web browser on your iPad.

For the most part everything works pretty well except you need to be aware of the following:

  1. You can only write using the HTML editing mode as the visual editor isn’t supported by an iPad.
  2. You’ll need to use a browser like iCab mobile as most of the mobile browsers don’t support the upload of images.  Uploading images using the web browser on an Android isn’t possible.
You would use this type of option if students are sharing mobile devices and need an option that allows students to log into their own accounts.

However, there’s still a trick to inserting images using iCab mobile.

Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Click on the ‘Add Image’ icon
  2. Select and upload your image
  3. Click on Show next to the image you uploaded
  4. Copy the Link URL
  5. Click back in the web browser toolbar to return to your post
  6. Click on ‘img’ and paste your Link URL

Posting by email using Flickr

Posting by email to your blog using Flickr is a really cool and simple if you use Flickr.  This is a really handy option for when you’re out or if you have multiple students posting to a class blog.

All you need to do is first set up your Flickr account to upload by email to your blog.

It’s as simple as:

1.  Log into your Flickr Account.

2.  Go to Sharing and Extending tab under your Accounts.

3.  Click on More Sites and Select WordPress.

4.  Add your blog details and click Next.

5.  Click on Edit and then Select Blog Layout.
6. Choose which blog layout option you want to use.
6.  Go to Upload by email to your blog,  set up your blog and click Save.
7.  You’ll now see the email address you need to use to post to your blog.
8.  Add this email address to Contacts on your mobile device.
9.  Now all you need to do is go to Photos on your mobile device and select the photo you want to upload.
10.  Then just select Email  photo, add the Flickr email address, your subject line and your text then press Send.
  • Tip:  Only text written above the image in the email will be posted onto Flickr and your blog.
11.  Presto!  When you look at your blog you’ll now see your post.

Want to blog from your iPhone or iPod Touch? Here’s How!

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Looking for a blogging app for your iPod touch and iphone? Maybe not yet, but we’ve had quite a few people asking what to use.

UPDATE (10 Aug):

  • Both BlogPress and WordPress for iPhone now work on Edublogs blogs
  • You need to be an Edublogs supporter or have ads disable on your blog (by an Edublogs supporter blog) to be able to use these applications with your Edublogs blogs

Thankfully Mr B. from Teach Me Tekkie blog saved research time by telling me how he has been using BlogPress to post from his iPhone.

All you need to do is:

  1. Install BlogPress from your App Store of your iPod touch or iphone
  2. Launch BlogPress and add your blog details
    NOTE: Edublogs users need to select WordPress as your blog Service Provider)
  3. Click on the Write tab to start writing your post.
  4. With BlogPress you can write text, add one or more photos from your iPhone, edit the images and add categories and tags to your posts before uploading.
  5. To post just click on Save and then Send Now!

WARNING:

If you haven’t adjusted the timezone on your blog dashboard to your current timezone when you upload your post it may be uploaded as scheduled to post and won’t publish until the scheduled date/time.

Change your timezone inside your blog dashboard by clicking on Settings > General and scrolling down page to timezone.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Always looking for new apps to use on my iPhone (as is many of us). Please leave a comment to tell us about your favorite apps and why you to like these applications.

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Quick Start Tips For New Flickr Users: Part I

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Image of seagulls photoWith time you realize taking your own photos to use in your blog posts is often easier, and more fun, than searching for and attributing creative commons images. And sharing these photos online with your friends, using photosharing websites like Flickr, is even more fun!

This post is part of a series to help people started using Flickr or if you’re experienced using Flickr please share your tips for new people, by leaving a comment on this post.

About Flickr

Flickr is an extremely powerful image and video sharing website widely used by bloggers as a photo repository. Reasons for it’s popularity include:

  1. It’s amazing range of tools and options for organising, editing and sharing your photos
  2. It’s excellent features for connecting with others to create groups and communities
  3. The extensive range of third party applications that let you use public Flickr data like photos, video, tags in new and different ways
  4. The incredible number of creative commons images hosted on the site

Setting Up Your Flickr Account

Image of new accountTo get started you will need to go to Flickr and create an account using your Yahoo ID. Create a Yahoo ID here if you don’t have one.

Once you’ve signed into Flickr with your Yahoo ID it will ask you to choose your screen name i.e. username. I recommend you choose a screen name that makes it easier for others to relate to you as a real person. e.g. Compare spwat3 with suewaters — which is easier?

Image of buddy icon

After creating your account you will be taken to your home page. Make sure you take the time to Create your Buddy Icon, Choose Your Custom Flickr URL and Personalize Your Profile. These make it easier for people from your other social networks to connect with you on Flickr; they are important for building your personal learning network (PLN).

Here is my Flickr profile and bubby icon.

WARNING: Your custom Flickr URL can’t be changed once created so if unsure skip this step and complete later!

You can edit any of this information, except custom Flickr URL, at any time by hovering mouse over your buddy icon, clicking on drop down menu and selecting Your Account.

Tagging and Flickr

Image of tagged item

Before uploading any photos it’s important to understand tagging as they are very important for finding your photos.

Tagging is an method of categorizing where users choose their own keywords or terms to describe online content such as web sites, pictures and blog posts. The idea is that the user chooses tag terms that are meaningful to them to make it easier for them to find their stored information.

There are no guidelines to choosing tags and it’s common to see the same item tagged using different keywords by different users. To make items more findable in searches it’s worth using a range of terms commonly used to describe the image.

Image of taggingOn Flickr, to use more than one word together to describe an image you will need to enclose words with quotation marks. For example, to use the tag candy jar you need to write as “candy jar” or it will be tagged candy and jar.

Uploading Photos

Flickr has a wide range of options for uploading photos including:

  1. Upload page
  2. Uploader application that you can download and install on your desktop – applications available for PC, Mac and Linx – excellent when uploading lots of photos
  3. Email your photos from your phone- configure your email address for Flickr here
  4. Upload photos from your iphone using applications such as Flickup or PixUp

Emailing photos from your phone or uploading from an iphone is a fast and quick method of sharing photos when you’re out and about. Applications like Flickup means you can share your photo on Flickr as you are uploading.

Editing Photos

Once your photos have uploaded you can edit:

  1. Details like their title or description by clicking on eachImage of editing titles
  2. Photos by clicking on the photo which will take you to it’s photo page where you have options including Add notes (here is an example of a Flickr photo with notes), rotating image, adding more tags and Editing the photo directly on Flickr using Picnik.

Image of Picnik editing

FINAL THOUGHTS

Flickr is definitely a site that you need to take the time to explore thoroughly.

If you’re a Flickr user please leave a comment on this post to share:

  1. What you like about using Flickr
  2. Your tips for new people getting started using Flickr
  3. Links to your favorite Flickr photos — bonus points for chocolate photos :)

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