Step 1 - Creating a Photo Album

Creating a Photo Album       Lets create a photo album.  Start by clicking on the menu item entitled Make Photo Album located under the Share menu located at the top of the page.  (you can also click here to open a new window)       Creation of a photo album should be done before adding images, as an photo album contains a mass import feature, to allow users to upload a batch of images at once.  It it possible to add images to an album later, but the user would need to edit the image node of the image they want added, which can be difficult and time consuming with larger albums.  This will be covered shortly.       Now that the page has loaded, we need to fill in the required information for the photo album.

1. Title - this is pretty self explanitory, like anything it needs a name.
2. Parent - we may not need to do anything with this.  Its used to place an album inside an album.
3.  Tags - enter in catagories relating to the topic of the album, seperate them with a comma (,).  if there are existing catagories similar to the album, we can select them as they appear (they will show up as more text is entered)
4. Sort Album by - the album contents can be sorted a few ways, the default is by most recent.
5. Body - enter a description if one feels it is needed.  It will display above the image thumbnails.
6. Allow others to post to this album - this check box enables other users of the site to add images to the album as well.  which is handy for collaborative projects.
7. Default album view - choice between grid view, or a list view (grid is default for a reason haha)
8. Weight - numeric value for having more than one album.  the higher the negative integer, the higher up in the list it will be (eg. -10 would be at the top, 10 would be at the bottom).  if its on its own, this setting is left default.

    If the photo album, is part of a group, we can select which group to post it in (only those groups we are subscribed to), by the audience chechboxes.       We can also choose from a few types of licenses if the default "Share Alike" doesnt fit.       Hit Submit and the album will be created.  If you wish to preview it to make sure its the way we want it, then be sure to hit preview first, then submit.  The photo album, will not be added to the site, until the user hits the submit button.        No images will be displayed yet, move to the next chapter to learn how to add images. 

Step 2 - Adding images to photo albums

Adding Images to Photo Albums Once a photo album has been created, the user can now begin adding images to that album. There are two ways of going about this. The first way, is probably the most desired way, and can be used for adding multiple images at a time. This is more suited for a brand new album, or when a new batch of images needs to be submitted. This is also used, if the images being added to the site, are not currently published to the site. If they are already on the site, they will be added the second way. This first way is the Mass Import method. Mass Importing images First step is to make sure the photo album page images are being added to is loaded. Click on the MASS IMPORT link tab at the top of its page. Beside it there should be a "view" "list" and "edit" tab links. There are some fields that need to be filled in, so the system knows its adding the images properly.

1. Parent - leave this as default, so the images are sure to make it to the correct album.
2. Tags - enter in the catagories the images fall into, the same as performed with creating the album. the catagories will be applied to all the images being added.
3. Files to upload - there are 5 boxes with a browse button beside each. use these to select the images being added.

Pay attention to the size of the images, as there is a file size limit on the site. Apparently, there is also the option of uploading zip, or tar files containing images, which will be added, but as of yet this writer has not tested this out. Hit Upload and the images will now be added to the photo album. To add more like this, simply repeat this step. If adding one more image that is already published to the site, the second method will be more suited. Adding images already published on the site To add an image thats already been on the site to a photo album, click on the image to get to that images page. You will need to be the publisher of the image you wish to add. Once on the image's page, click on the tab link called "edit" at the top of its page. Once the page is loaded, there is one thing that needs to be done. Locate the box that says Photo Albums. Select the photo album that the image is being added to. Scroll down and hit submit. the photo is now added. Congratulations, you've created a photo album.