The combination of digital camera, scanner and graphics editor turns your computer into a fair imitation of a photography studio. Add to this combination XP's Web Publishing Wizard and you can turn your private collection of photos and images into a feast for friends, family and the far-flung public.

The Web Publishing Wizard lets you publish pictures – as well as other types of files – to a Web site. Once your pictures are on the Web, you can provide access to them to your friends and others.

If you don't have a Web site of your own, the wizard will link you up with one of the free or commercial online services willing to host a site for you.

Of course, if all you want to do is share one or two photos with a few friends, a better option is to e-mail those pictures as attachments.

Publishing in action

To publish a file:

  1. Click Start -> My Documents and then open the folder which contains the picture or document you wish to publish.

The Web Publishing link in the Task Pane

  1. Click the item you want to publish and select Publish This File To The Web from the Task Pane. You can select multiple files and publish them simultaneously.

A dialog lets you choose which files to publish

The Web Publishing Wizard will give you a chance to modify your file selections.

  1. Follow the instructions in the Wizard to publish the photos. Depending on the service you use to host your site, you may need to obtain a .NET Passport (see the article on Windows Messenger for details).

You'll find a choice of online services for publishing your files

Select where you'd like your files published from the list of free and pay sites.

  1. Resize any large photos so they're more suitable for Web viewing. When you click Next, the Wizard will then upload each of your files.

Resize any large photos

Choose whether you want the Wizard to resize any photos you publish to make them faster to upload and view.

  1. After you've published a file or folder, you'll be able to view it immediately online and you'll also find a shortcut to the site in your Web browser's favourites.

Once published, you'll be able to view the files online immediately

Once your files have been uploaded, you can view them immediately.

geekgirl.tip: Publishing folders
You can publish the entire contents of a folder by selecting the folder you want to publish and then clicking the Publish This Folder To The Web task to open the Web Publishing Wizard. Note, though, that while you can publish all files within a folder, the contents of any sub-folders will not be included. If you want to include sub-folder contents, you should first copy all the files to a single folder before using the Web Publishing Wizard.

Direct from camera to Web

You can cut out the middle steps and publish images directly from a scanner or digital camera to the Web, although this method doesn't give you the chance to preview or edit your images:

  1. Click Start -> My Pictures.

  2. Click the Get Picture From Camera Or Scanner task to open the Scanner and Camera wizard. You'll only see this option if you have a scanner or digital camera installed.

  3. Follow the wizard steps. When prompted to select a picture name and destination, make sure you select the Also Copy The Pictures To The Internet option.

  4. On the Destination Web Site page, select the Other Network Location option or an Internet Service Provider and then specify the location.

© 2002, Rose Vines  

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