HELLO + PICASA

This is an example of using whiteboards in classes. I'm using this picture to test out the BloggerBot feature of Picasa.
With Hello + Picasa, publishing pictures on Blogger is really simple and easy. 

Posting pictures to a web site, particularly a blog, can be frustrating. For a long time, the only pictures I placed on any of my blogs came from other sites. The problem with that is that those sites pay the cost of the increased bandwidth for each time a viewer loads the page. Naturally, the original site would prefer that other pages soak up their own bandwidth, particularly if the referring page gets a lot of hits.

Picasa is software that facilitates finding, editing, and displaying graphics. It really is easy to use. When first started, it finds and loads any graphic format into an Explorer-type window. You can add to those pictures by Importing from a camera, scanner, or other media. They can be viewed as a slideshow. The Timeline is neat, since it organizes your pictures by date (which, for pictures that are taken with a camera, separates them by event, more-or-less).

You can create a CD with a slideshow with a single button (Gift CD).

Sending the photos to a webpage or Hello can be done with a single Action button. First, select any pictures you want to be able to post. Then, select either the Blogger button, or select the Action button next to the selected pictures, Send to Hello choice.

Hello is a web service. You'll need to create a username. When you first open it up, you login. Then another window pops up, and the actions you need to take are not obvious.

From Hello, move the slider, and click on the gray-out thumbnails until the one you want to post is displayed in the tray. You will find that the insertion point appears in the caption box, lower right of the screen. This is where you type your text. Once that's completed, click on the left button of the box to Send.

Where will they go? If you're like me, and have multiple blogs, you will need to adjust the Settings (button bar at the top). When you click it, the Blogger screen shows. You can either use the blog displayed in the drop-down box, or select another. The first time you use Hello, you will sign into Blogger, and select a blog. After, you will post to the default blog, unless you select another.

You can adjust other settings from there, including size of picture, caption placement, borders, and attribution.

It doesn't always work. Sometimes, due to network issues, you need to re-send (button next to the Send button). When you do, the frustrating thing is that you have to type your caption again.

What will post to the blog? The picture sent will be displayed in a single post. That post will have no title, so, if you want one, you will need to edit the post. You will probably will want to do that anyway, to add other commentary to that post. I've done that with this post. To see other pictures I've posted, go to my Family News blog.

I highly recommend this software. It's a free download; just select Hello + Picasa.