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May 01
- First get the URL of the image you want to use as a background in the blog entries that are present on the front page of your space.
- Create a new Blog entry. [Click on 'add entry' in your blog module]
- This Blog entry will be a dummy as all the blog entries below this get the background you want. So try not putting anything in this blog entry.
- Click on the <HTML> button present in the blog editing tools.
- And enter the Following code :
<pre></table></table><table background="URL OF BACKGROUND IMAGE" height="xxx" width="xxx"><tr><td><div><table style="display:none"></pre>
- Replace the URL OF BACKGROUND IMAGE with a URL a picture. [see step 2]
- Replace the xxx with numbers to determine the picture size.
For e.g. :
<pre></table></table><table background="http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/3285/back1aw.gif" height="xxx" width="xxx><tr><td><div><table style="display:none"></pre>
- Press the 'Publish Entry' Button to publish your blog entry.
- Preview your space to see the final effect.
Note :-
- If you do not like it, Try getting pictures with the same width [in px] as your blog entries.
- Delete this blog entry if you feel that it has spoiled your space somehow.
- If you decide to add more entries above this dummy blog entry, you will notice that the background does not come onto them.
- Delete this dummy blog entry and repeat the above steps again, so that it is placed above all your blog entries and that all entries below this dummy one get the background picture effect.
- Take the html codes below and substitute the writing where it says your words here & substitute it with the text you want to give a glow effect to.
- Codes:
Purple Glow:
<FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt; FILTER: glow(color=purple); WIDTH: 100%; FONT-FAMILY: ????" color=#ffffff><B>Your words here</B></FONT>
Green Glow:
<FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt; FILTER: glow(color=green); WIDTH: 100%; FONT-FAMILY: ????" color=#ffffff><B>Your words here</B></FONT>
Yellow Glow:
<FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt; FILTER: glow(color=yellow); WIDTH: 100%; FONT-FAMILY: ????" color=#ffffff><B>Your words here</B></FONT>
Blue Glow:
<FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt; FILTER: glow(color=blue); WIDTH: 100%; FONT-FAMILY: ????" color=#ffffff><B>Your words here</B></FONT>
Red Glow:
<FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 8pt; FILTER: glow(color=red); WIDTH: 100%; FONT-FAMILY: ????" color=#ffffff><B>Your words here</B></FONT>
- Copy a code which you like from above and modify it as instructed.
- Then Click on
- Paste the code that you modified into you blog entry.
- Click on again. preview your entry.
- Publish your blog entry.
- Get the URL/link of an image
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Then use the code below to get Text overlaid on an image :
Code :
<div style="width: 150; height: 205" align=right>
<IMG src="Picture URL" align=right>
<div style="float: right" align=center>
<p align="center"><font face="Times New Roman">TEXT</font>
</div>
Explanation :
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The overall dimensions of this grouping in Blue need to be defined by you.[ leave the default values , change it later on]
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Replace the part in Red with the link/URL of the picture
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Now click the button and paste the code modified by you.
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Click on button again to preview the picture with the overlaid text.
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You can make changes to the size of the picture by dragging about the borders around it.
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Also drag the borders around the text to change the its settings and size. Use the blog editing tools give by msn spaces to get your desired Font and size / style of font.
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Publish your entry.
Want one?
Head over to ClustrMaps
Register and they will send you your password. It is pretty straightforward.
After you log in with the password provided. You will notice that there will be a HTML code provided.
Copy all of it. ( Ctrl + A and then Ctrl + C)
There are two ways of introducing the locator map into your space. A blog entry or a Sandbox.
Blog entry...
- Create a new blog entry.
- Press the <HTML> button present in the blog editing tools.
- Press the <HTML> button again and make adjustments like alignment, etc.
- Publish your entry.
Sandbox/ Cutom HTML module (Stay on the front page and visible all the time ; recommended)...
- Paste the code into a Custom HTML module/sandbox and press the 'Save' button.
Done!
Get a Timer Clock as above onto your space. It shows a visitor the amount of time he has wasted on your space :p.
Click here to get the code for it.
There are two ways of introducing these timers into your space. A blog entry or a Sandbox [Stays at the front page of your Space]
- Create a newblog entry.
- Press the <HTML>button present in the blog editing tools.
- Press the <HTML> button again and you will see that the timer is there. Make adjustments like alignment, etc.
- Publish your entry.
or
- Paste the code into a custom HTML module / sandbox and press the 'Save' button.
Hint:- You can just highlight the Timer above and copy-paste it into your blog entry ;-)
- Sign up for their Service. They Will email you with further details...
- A direct link to your wall will be provided to you in that email.
- Also a code to put that wall into your space/website is given.
It will be something like...
<a href=http://www.piclibs.com/graffiti.php?id=xxxx>
<p align=center>
<img border=1 src=http://www.piclibs.com/xxxxxxx></p>
<p align=center>
<font face=Arial Narrow>Click here to sign my Graffiti Wall! (Powered by
PicLibs.com)</font></p></a>
- Copy it !.
- Create a new blog entry
- Press the <HTML> button present in your blog editing tool set.
- Paste the code given to you.
- Publish your blog entry and Preview your space.
- Done !
You will see your Graffiti wall waiting for you to spoil it. Click on it to sign your wall. The wall will update automatically on your space with your signature on it.
[My wall was filled with smany mesages in 2 days time.. damn you vandals !]
- Create a new Blog entry. [Click on 'add entry' in your blog module]
- Click on the HTML button present in the blog editing tools.
- And enter the Following code :
<pre></table></table><table><tr><td>
<div style="overflow:auto;height:300px">
<div><table></pre>
- Press the 'Publish Entry' Button to publish your blog entry.
- Preview your space. What do you see ?
You will notice that All your blog entries on the front page of your space are compressed into a size of 300 px and there is a scrollbar on the side and your blog module is transparent. Keep reading to change both of these things [the Size and the transparent blog problem] Now you can play around with this code to your linking.
- Change the 300 in the code to something like 500 so that you get a bigger blog entry module on the front page.
For E.g. :
<pre></table></table><table><tr><td>
<div style="overflow:auto;height:500px">
<div><table></pre>
Advice :
- Keep the Blog entry that you put the code in at the top most position and keep it Empty. Name it something like "Welcome to my Space". When you want to publish more entries. Delete this Dummy or "welcome to my space" entry with the code above and make a new one so it is always in the top most position.
- Also You can get you Custom Blog background Image to fill in instead of having a transparent background ,with the Code below :
<pre></table></table><table><table background="url of background image" height="xxx" width="xxx"><tr><td>
<div style="overflow:auto;height:300px">
<div><table></pre>
Replace the bits in red with numbers. The xxx determine the size of your picture and in the manner determine the size of your blog module & the 300 can be changed to get the size of the scrollbar.
- You will need a Custom HTML MODULE/ sandbox
- Then, You will have to change your blog layout to 2 columns if your isn't.
- To do it. Click on Customize >> Layouts and Choose the 5th one.
- Click 'Save'
- Now place the Custom HTML module on the Top-left area. As shown by the orange area in the picture below :
Now get a good quality background picture that you would like to use as your space background. Try Google Image search.
Now insert the code below into your custom html module :
</table></table></td></tr><tr><td><table width=1000 background="Background Picture URL here"><tr><td><table>
Replace the part in RED with the URL of your picture got before.
See picture below for a better understanding:
Note: Make sure you got the Sandbox module in the right place. The layout should be the right one and the code should not be changed at all other than what is asked. If all is done correctly you will get the optimum result. If not re-read! ooh, Also I am not responsible if your space messes up in anyway. In case it does, remove the Custom HTML module. Before your start :
- This tutorial is for Advanced Users only. Please do not ask me Questions such as , Where is the notepad ?
- Try the following at your Own Risk. I am not responsible if anything goes wrong.
- If you do not do it correctly , It may have adverse effects on your space. Adding more than 2 Custom HTML boxes and Media players have know to cause many problems.
- I recommend that You try it on a Back-up/Extra space and use Internet Explorer only.
The tutorial : [See images in between the tutorial for a better understanding | Click the pictures to enlarge]
- Sign into your MSN Space.
- Type the following into the IE address bar : http://spaces.msn.com/your-space-ID/DLLayoutSettings.aspx
- Replace the ' your-space-ID ' with your space ID/name. For e.g. Mine is pauldutton1. So it will be http://spaces.msn.com/pauldutton1/DLLayoutSettings.aspx for me. Then Press the 'Enter key' or click on 'Go' .
- Now you will see a Customize Layout Page of your space.
- Click the View tab on the IE menu bar and select Source from the drop down menu that appears.
- A notepad will open with all kinds of codes that make up your space. (Save a file of this code for future use. Incase you screw your space trying out this tutorial, You can always fall back to the original Code)
- Now , Search for <br></div></FORM> this mess. [Tip : Press Ctrl + F and type in <br></div></FORM> to search]
- After you have found it. Include the code below , in between <br></div> and </FORM> tags :
<div class=Part><input onclick='selectPartType(this);' type='checkbox' title='This is an unsupported module supplied for the purpose of evaluation.' id='CustomHTML' name='PowerToy: Custom HTML' value='CustomHTML'><label for='pCustomHTML'>PowerToy: Custom HTML</label> <br></div>
- This code will give you an extra HTML module. Add this code once only if you already have a Custom HTML 'Sandbox' Module, so you end up with 2 of them. Or Add it as many times to get that many Modules more. Recommendation is 2 modules. [See the picture below for an idea]
- After adding the codes save the file using the 'save as' function as shown in the pictures below :
- Now open that saved .htm file in another IE window. You will notice there are 2 ☑Custom HTML PowerToys in the Modules frame or maybe more depending on the number of times that added that code. Check Tick the ☑ [boxes] and you will notice the Custom HTML PowerToys in the Module Arrangement frame.
- Click Save !
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Return to your space on the 'Edit your space' Page. You Shall see the multiple Custom HTML PowerToys. They looks the same, but they are different. The leftmost one is the Mother module, all others are Child modules.
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Done !
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Just add different codes in the different HTML modules and click save. You can add Pictures, Banners, Clocks, etc. See various tutorials on my space. Get their codes and add them to these modules...
Now there is a problem. [Read it carefully and dont bang your head]
In one of the modules, You cannot add any code. When you click save, nothing gets added.
Take that as your beta module.
The other one in which You can add content is the alpha module. Add code/content that you want to put in the beta module into the alpha module.
Now move the beta module anywhere on your space or the place where you want it and click You will be promted if you want to save this arrangement of modules or something like that.
'Save' it. You must do this step!
You will notice the content/code present in the alpha moule has come onto the beta module.
Now add code/content that you want to put into the alpha module into the alpha module and click save.
Done! Preview your space. You will notice 2 html modules with different content.
At first its a bit confusing and hard to grasp. But please re-read the whole alpha beta bullshit.
Now, if you ever move the beta module, the content on alpha comes onto the beta module, and you will have to do the procedure mentioned above to transfer contenet into the beta module. If you do wish to get rid of the extra beta html module. Go to 'Customize' >> 'modules'>> Custom HTML module powertoy remove. Click on that and click 'save'.
All done!
We can get Multiple media players too , please follow the same method as mentioned above. But with the exception of the code. Put the code below in the notepad file as instructed.
div class=Part><input onclick='selectPartType(this);' type='checkbox' title='This is an unsupported module supplied for the purpose of evaluation.' id='MediaPlayer' name='PowerToy: Windows Media Player' value='MediaPlayer'><label for='pMediaPlayer'>PowerToy: Windows Media Player</label> <br></div>
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This tutorial will help you add things such as Banners and Flash files on your media player. [3 parts]
Part 1 : Adding a Banner
Putting a Banner into your media player [This is similar to making a playlist but with a slight change of code ]
- First create a banner of size 32 pixels high by 194 pixels wide and host it online on
Then Open MS Notepad
 
Copy and paste the code below into the notepad [Ctrl+c - Ctrl+v]
<ASX version="3.0" BANNERBAR="AUTO" >
<ENTRY>
<BANNER HREF="The URL OF Banner Here">
</BANNER>
<title>NAME OF SONG</title>
<author>NAME OF ARTIST</author>
<Ref href="THE URL OF THE MUSIC FILE"/>
</ENTRY>
</ASX>
- Replace The URL OF Banner Here with a URL of the picture that you have hosted online. [See first instruction]
- Replace NAME OF MUSIC LIST with the name of the Music list. [E.g. My Play list]
- Replace NAME OF MUSIC LIST & NAME OF ARTIST with what they say.
- Now replace THE URL OF THE MUSIC FILE with the URL of the song. You can host your songs on many hosting services and get it's URL or the www. address. I use File-Lodge .
- Also you can Google for videos or audio files already on the internet and get its URL.
- To add more songs and banners to the play list , copy the code from <ENTRY> to </ENTRY> and make the necessary changes in the URL and Names of the song. For E.g. see Picture below :
- Save the file [on the notepad] as mylist.mp3 or whatever type of file you put in the play list and choose All files as the type of file and Encoding as UTF-8.[see picture below for a better understanding]
- Upload this file "mylist.mp3" to a hosting service.
- After uploading , you will be provided with a URL address. Paste this address into the window media player module.
- make your Player mode to 'Full'
- Click Save.
- Done !!
Part 2 : Adding a Flash Animation
Part 3 : Putting links and other things to the media player
Putting link to a Banner :
<ASX version="3.0" BANNERBAR="AUTO" >
<ENTRY>
<BANNER HREF="The URL OF Banner Here">
</BANNER>
<MOREINFO HREF="Put-a-link-to-some-site" />
<title>NAME OF SONG</title>
<author>NAME OF ARTIST</author>
<Ref href="THE URL OF THE MUSIC FILE"/>
</ENTRY>
</ASX>
Put a Link to a song :
<ASX Version="3.0">
<title>NAME OF MUSIC LIST</title>
<entry>
<title>NAME OF SONG</title>
<MOREINFO HREF="Link-to-some-site-on=song-name" />
<author>NAME OF ARTIST</author>
<Ref href="THE URL OF THE MUSIC FILE"/>
</entry>
</asx>
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[If you have come from other Power Toys tutorial to see the Pictorial, please Scroll Below]
How did I get my background to repeat & make my modules a bit transparent ?
Tweak UI [User-Interface] Power Toy !!
A new breed of Space Customization tools have been made by the MSN Spaces.Inc .
To the Tweaks now :
The Tweak UI Power Toy is designed to allow you to customize the look of your Space. Once you add the Tweak UI Power Toy to your Space you can use it to control colors, module borders and transparency, and the background image’s placement and presence. Granular control combined with existing Spaces layout and module configuration allows for almost endless customizability and personalization.
Please note that this PowerToy, like the others, is available in English ONLY for now and is UNSUPPORTED.
Follow these steps to add this Power Toy to your Space:
- Log into Passport and Edit your Space.
- In the Address bar of your web browser add the text “ &powertoy=tweakomatic ” to the end of the displayed URL.
- Click the Go button next to your web browser address bar.
- Once the page has finished reloading, click on the Customize tab in your Space.
- In the Modules drop down menu in the Customize tab there should be a listing for PowerToy: Tweak UI. Click the word Add next to it and then click the Save button.
For e.g.
http://spaces.msn.com/pauldutton1/PersonalSpace.aspx?_c02_owner=1&_c=&powertoy=tweakomatic
For. E.g.
- In the transparency Box, If you put in 100. You space will be fully visible , If you put in 50. It will be translucent. If you put in 0 , It will be invisible. I suggest you don't put 0.
- The you can change the colours in many places. But you cant just put in words. You need to put the colour Codes..
If you remove the module, The effect will go away.
The Custom HTML Power Toy is designed to allow you to add a sandbox module to your Space in which you can enter text, link to images, and use other HTML features. The Custom HTML Power Toy supports all of the same HTML that you can enter into a Blog entry and can be moved around your Space as a separate module, just like a list or any other Spaces module. Additionally you can control the Title of this module and whether the borders for this module are displayed or not.
Please note that this PowerToy, like the others, is available in English ONLY for now and is UNSUPPORTED.
Follow these steps to add this Power Toy to your Space:
- Log into Passport and Edit your Space.
- In the Address bar of your web browser add the text “ &powertoy=sandbox ” to the end of the displayed URL.
- Click the Go button next to your web browser address bar.
- Once the page has finished reloading, click on the Customize tab in your Space.
- In the Modules drop down menu in the Customize tab there should be a listing for PowerToy: Custom HTML. Click the word Add next to it and then click the Save button.
quote end
For e.g. :
http://spaces.msn.com/pauldutton1/PersonalSpace.aspx?_c02_owner=1&_c=&powertoy=sandbox
The Media Player Power Toy is designed to allow you to play audio and video files within your Space. While editing your Space specify the URL of a Media file located on the web in the Media Power Toy and hit Save. This will allow the people viewing your Space to watch or listen to the media file you have linked. You can customize the experience even more by altering the player settings (like auto start, times to play, and player mode) while editing your Space.
Please note that this PowerToy, like the others, is available in English ONLY for now and is UNSUPPORTED.
This feature is to be used for authorized content only. Please respect the creative efforts and intellectual property of others, and do not link to unauthorized materials. Linking to unauthorized material is a violation of the Spaces Code of Conduct and Terms of Use.
Follow these steps to add this Power Toy to your Space:
- Log into Passport and Edit your Space.
- In the Address bar of your web browser add the text “ &powertoy=musicvideo ” to the end of the displayed URL.
- Click the Go button next to your web browser address bar.
- Once the page has finished reloading, click on the Customize tab in your Space.
- In the Modules drop down menu in the Customize tab there should be a listing for PowerToy: Windows Media Player. Click the word Add next to it and then click the Save button.
quote end
For e.g.
http://spaces.msn.com/pauldutton1/PersonalSpace.aspx?_c02_owner=1&_c=&powertoy=musicvideo
Click on the pictures below to see how it will look like :
 
A guide to the Labels on the media player :
- Position in sec. - Begin from a specefic second. Eg. Put in 30 and it will begin at the 30 seconds mark of the first song.
- Times to play - The number of times to play your song.
- Rate to play - The speed of your song. 1 - normal | 1.5 - fast | 2 - double the speed.
- Auto start - Do you want your media player to start Automatically ? Tick the box then.
- Display Mode - Select invisible if you want your media player to be hidden to your viewers. Select none if you want it in a normal mode. Select mini if you want it small and with minimum funtions. Select Full if you want it big and with all functions.
- Right Click Menus - Disable this [recommended] . If ticked, Then people will get options to the media player and Also your URL is visible to all, when they right click your player.
- URL or the www. address of a media file.
Note:-
Many people have problems getting URL's.
Common mistakes :
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Long URLs..
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Didnt click the save Button
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Faulty Hosting service
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Input mistake
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Just put in a file stored on your computer and not on the internet.
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Didnt read this tutorial carefully.
Dont forget to click the save Button
This is something for the MSN Bloggers who are New to it...
Many people request me to comment on their space or ask me a question hoping that I will reply on their space. This is not possible if their Space permission setting is put to PRIVATE. The permission setting has to be PUBLIC. Also wondering why not many people or no one comments on your space?
To make your Space PUBLIC :
[Do not do this if you do not want to show your photos or blog entries to others and want to protect your privacy]
- Click on 'Edit Your Space '
- From the Tabbed Menu at the top Click on 'Permissons'
- If your Space is set to Private means only you can see it. But gives you an allow list option. If it was set to Messanger, all your MSN contacts can view it.
- Make it to 'Public' by selecting Public from the drop down menu.
- Click on the Save Button below
Note:- If ou do not like your Space to be public you can disable it anytime by following the same steps above but Click on the Private Button instead of Public.
See which of the following methods suits you best for Creating Your Own Guest-book.
Please read the Permalink Tutorial in the Getting Started tutorial list as it will help you in the Guestbook Creation Below.
Create a guestbook...
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The thing about the guestbook is, it's not a feature of MSN Spaces, it's a cunning use of the blog and list features.
Basically, do the following:
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HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
This Tool lets you add and customize stuff on your Blog entry. It basically lets you Enable HTML so you can put Extra Stuff into your Blog entry in HTML Code.
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Click on the <HTML> button in your Blog editing Tool set.
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You Screen Turns white and a Funny "<Div> <Div> " code appears, Ignore it.
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You will be pasting HTML codes under this. These codes you will learn from other <HTML> Tutorials all over this space.
That is all you need to know about the <HTML> Button for the moment... This is nothing to do with modding. But I am sick of people requesting me for URL. So here you go :
What is a URL ?
www.google.com << that is the URL of Google
In fancy terms:
URL is the Abbreviation of Uniform Resource Locator, the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web.
Now the main reason we spacers care about URL, is to put music or other files on the media player or into your blogs.
- First it is recommended that you get the media file on your computer.
- It must be in either of these formats : WMA, WMV, WAV, AVI, MPG, MPEG, MP3 .
If not , Click here to download an encoder and convert the media file into any of the ones above. Encoders can also be used to reduces your file size this greatly improves your media loading time. I use Poikosoft.
You need to host your files online so others can access it. Them merely sitting on your hard disk wont help.
Select a Hosting service.
Sign up.
Upload your media file.
- After the upload is complete , Go to the place where it was uploaded. Usually its in places like , 'My Files' , 'My Documents' etc.
- Now you will see the uploaded media as links in your hosting service account.
- Right click the uploaded media file link & Select ' copy shortcut '[Internet Explorer] or ' copy link location' [Firefox]
Now paste this link into the place where they ask you for on the media player or any place where its asked in any of my tutorials concerning media files.
Click Save/publish entry.
Done !!
Checklist :
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Media file on PC
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Media file in acceptable format
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Media file uploaded on hosting service
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Right URL got.
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Paste URL.
Hosting or Putting your Files online
[Click on the icons to visit the respective websites]
For Audio/Video Files
[Use for hosting your video or audio files or anything for that matter. Its easy and gives you direct download URL's]
1GB Free Storage, Sleek UI, Web 2.0 Features with search. Drag and Drop and other features...
[Hard to get a direct URL link, put people with a bit of common sense can get it]
Pictures
A Place to Host your Pictures.
Tired of images at the bottom of your Blog entries?
Well to get images into your Blog entries is easy !
- Save an image [that you want to put into your blog entry] on your computer.
- Go to and host your picture online.
- They will will provide you with a URL of your picture. The URL should be the one in 'Direct link to the image'
- Put this URL into your Browser address bar, You know the place where you type in www.google.com etc, and press go or enter.
- Your image should come up on the page. Copy-paste the picture into your blog entry,[Ctrl+c Ctrl+v] or Highlight-Drag & Drop in into your Blog entry.
- Publish you entry or change its position and size with you mouse.
Try avoiding Stealing pictures from other Websites as it eats up thier Bandwidth. Save the picture you like on imageshack first and follow the steps above to get that picture on your space.
As Maddox puts it , trackback: It's snob for "referrer."
But for msn space users here is more detail on what it is and how to make one...
You like the info or a story or any content of a Blog entry on someone else's Space ?
Want it on yours?
Press the 'Blog it' Button at the End of his/Her's Blog entry and MSN Spaces will make a new entry on your space with the Blog entry content of the individual whose work or words you Blogged with the 'Blog it' button.
Now its the person's work and you must make a reference to him/her , or atleast let them know that you have taken thier work.This is done with the 'blog it' button which automatically tells the person that you have taken his blog entry onto yours.
On the New entry that MSN Spaces makes for you with the Content of the the person who you 'Blog it'ed there will be a box with the URL of the person's Blog entry.This is a TrackBack to the persons space/blog entry.
This will not show on the Blog you publish but it will come on the person's Space that you have made a Trackback to his Blog on you space.
A
trackback has been made above >>
Well that it about Trackback or 'Tracking back to a Blog entry'
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Tools 
Help
