[ How do I add pictures to my signature? ]


Section 1: Finding a host and the image's URL.

Web hosts and getting your image online.
To get your image on the internet you will need a host for the world wide web! Many places offer this service for free, though the quality and style can be different for each place. Here I will provide a short list of available free web hosts that will host your image for you!

  • http://www.uploadit.org/ It is advised you not use this host for Art Arena picture hosting.
  • http://www.photobucket.com/
  • http://www.angelfire.com (requires you make a webpage of some sort.)
  • http://www.walagata.com/
  • http://www.hostultra.com
  • http://graffiti.net
  • http://mywebpage.netscape.com/
  • http://members.roleplayworlds.com/
  • http://250free.com/
  • http://imageshack.us/

Please do note that I pay for my own hosting and as such using free hosts is not something I am very familiar with.
Simply go to one of these sites and sign up for your free account. The signup method is different for each but none of them should ask you for any sort of credit card or payment information. Once your account is working and you are logged into your account, simply upload your image. The method may be more obvious with different hosts and more concealed with others but they all have their own ways, and they should each have a handy FAQ or 'How-To' guide explaining this to you.

URLs, Domains, and what they mean.
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. That's a pretty weird name, but in essence, what it is is an address. Here's an example that should be able to help you understand.

A website or URL usually comes in a common format. I will use the image of Gaia's Rock Puppy as an example.
User Image
http://graphics.gaiaonline.com/GraphicElements/rockpuppy.gif

This is what a URL looks like. You need to find what this is for your picture. If you view the picture directly online, it should appear in your address bar at the top of your browser. You may also get it by right clicking on the image and selecting properties. This will give you the image’s URL. Just copy and paste it.



Section 2: Adding the image to your signature.

Where to put your signature.
Now that you have the URL for your signature image, it's time to add it to your signature.
Go to your profile and click on the User Image button. This will take you to your profile editing page. Scroll down to your signature box. (It's the big one.) This is where you'll be putting your signature image.

For a list of the available BBCode options available on Gaia feel free to check out the BBCode FAQ.

Putting the picture into your signature.
You need only to put the URL of your image between the image tags for BBCode.
For example, if you wanted the Rock Puppy to be in your signature, you would put in:

[IMG]http://graphics.gaiaonline.com/GraphicElements/rockpuppy.gif[/IMG]
If you want to make your image a link to web page or site, just put the image inside the URL tags, like so:

[URL=http://www.gaiaonline.com][IMG]http://graphics.gaiaonline.com/GraphicElements/rockpuppy.gif[/IMG][/URL]
Then if you clicked on the image you would be taken to the Gaia home page!