One of our MyCopper bloggers recently made a blog post and had an issue with an inserted image becoming cut off because it was wider than the blog layout would allow.

http://www.mycopper.net/blogs/imweezie/2009/09/05/The-mother-of-all-hidden-objects-pictureHELP-JEFF2/

Here are several tips on how you can handle this:

1) When you place an image, scale it smaller then make the image a hyperlink to the original URL source.

I made this post as an example:  http://www.mycopper.net/blogs/Kurticus/2009/09/08/Lifes-a-Bear/ 

To do this, insert the image to your post using the Insert Image control. Select your image then drag the corner image control to scale your image smaller. With your image still selected, choose the Create Link control. Paste in the URL for the original image. You may want to select "New Window (_blank)" under the Target drop-down-list to launch the picture link in a new window.

2) Leave image large and add scroll bars.

Insert image using Insert Image or Insert Image from Editor. Do not scale.

Click on the HTML tab of the post editor and look for the IMG tag for the image that needs scroll bars. Place the <IMG /> element within a <DIV> element like this:

<DIV style="OVERFLOW-X: auto; WIDTH: 100%;"><IMG border=0 alt=burritocat.jpg src="http://www.mycopper.net/files/Kurticus/Cats/burritocat.jpg" width=960 height=730></DIV>

The style applied to the DIV element is the key. WIDTH:100% will make sure the DIV element is as wide as the parent element allows it to be. OVERFLOW-X:auto will add the horizontal scroll bar if the contents are wider than the DIV container.

I noticed the horizontal scrollbar caused a vertical scroll bar as well so in my example, I also added OVERFLOW-Y: hidden; to the style so the vertical scroll bar would not show.

See http://www.mycopper.net/blogs/Kurticus/2009/09/09/Feeling-Crispy/ for an example.

3) Try writing your blog posts using Windows Live Writer.

This tool has some nice advanced image control utilities such as the ability to place a small sized preview in the blog that links to a larger version.

This pumpkin image was dragged to the Live Writer  editor from a web page. Then the corner was dragged to scale it smaller. That’s it – Live Writer does the rest.  http://download.live.com/writer

View the blog post on Publishing with Windows Live Writer for more information on setting up and using this free tool from Microsoft.

A concern has been brought to my attention that dial-up users have limited monthly connection time and may not want to remain connected to Copper.net while drafting their blogs.

But perhaps a more pressing reason to draft blogs offline is the inactivity cutoff. For dialup users this happens after 4-minutes which goes by fast while developing thought and writing (at least for me). When you Add a Post using the online editor, there are no postbacks to refresh the page unless you remember to make frequent document saves.  Copper.net will see this as inactivity and the countdown timer starts. You may find your connection dropping while in the midst of drafting your blog and losing everything since the last save.

Well, I have a solution. You can draft your blog entries on your computer while unconnected. When you are ready to publish your blog posts, you can connect and upload your posts.

Though I’m always connected to the internet, I have been using Windows Live Writer to edit and publish my blog posts for several reasons:

• I like the idea of editing and saving post files locally then publishing when ready.
• I can maintain and post to several blogs from one interface.
• Local resources such as images are easier to insert. The Live Writer interface handles the uploading for me.
• During the beta testing phase, I may lose my post – I want a local copy to republish if this should happen.

Windows Live Writer is a free download from Microsoft and works well with MyCopper blog as well as the following blog services: Windows Live Spaces, SharePoint Blog, Blogger, WordPress, TypePad, etc.

File size is 1.08MB.

Once installed, launch the Live Writer application found in the Windows Live folder on your Windows Start menu. Follow these simple steps to set up a blog account for Writer to post to. The automatic initial setup may take you directly to step 2.

1) Choose "Add blog account..." from the Blogs menu.

2) Select "Other blog service" then click Next

3) Enter Web address for your blog, this is found by logging on to the MyCopper portal and selecting MyBlog from the main navigation menu. You will need to enter you login Username and Password for Windows Live Writer to access your blog.

Important: Select “Remember my password” unless you want to enter your login information each time you make a post.

4) Writer will attempt to connect to your blog. You will then be prompted to allow Writer to detect the theme of your blog. If you select Yes it will post a temporary post on your blog.

5) Most likely you will receive an alert that Writer could not delete the temporary post which you will need to do manually. Press OK.

6) Enter a Blog Nickname for your blog. This is used by Writer and will appear in the Blogs menu.

7) Go to MyBlog on the MyCopper portal and you should find a new blog post that looks something like this.

Click Delete.

Note: You will need to be logged in to delete a post on your blog.

More support on Windows Live Writer.