Adding Images to Broadcast Emails This documentation will show you how to add an image to your broadcast emails in Email Marketing. Before you start: Guidelines for using images in blast emails When you choose to add an image to your broadcast email, remember the following things: 1) Design your email so it makes sense without pictures Some people cannot see images in emails at all. Many others can see images, but their email program will block them until the user requests to see them. In addition, the blind and people with poor eyesight often rely on screenreading software, which can obviously not translate images. Because of this, you need to make sure that your email makes sense without the images. If the image is critical to the message you are trying to send, rather than just decorative, rethink using the image: Can you include the imporant part in text, and include decorative images around that message? For example, a holiday card image that consists of snowflakes with the message "Happy Holidays" could be made into several snowflake images, plus the text "Happy holidays" written into the email. If you absolutely must include an image that contains content, make sure that you use "alt tags" on the image itself (alt tags are a good idea for any image; instructions for including these are below), as well as including some text above or below the message that incorporates at least part of the message. For example, the holiday card mentioned above could have an alt text reading "holiday card", and some text below it reading "Happy Holidays from the Class of [class year]!" 2) Be mindful of image sizes For those who can see images, be considerate about the size of images. This means not only the on-screen size of the images, but the size of the image file as well - even in this day of near-ubiquitous broadband, there are people with slower internet connections. Also, many images can have extremely large file sizes while still appearing small on your screen. We do not have strict limits on file sizes, but in general, an image over 200kb is probably too large. For screen sizes, we try to keep emails to alumnae to a maximum width of 600 pixels (this applies to the whole email, not just the photos - so if you have a 600 pixel wide photo with text next to it, that's too wide). There is some leeway, but much more than that is too wide; also bear in mind that emails wider than 600 pixels may not fit on the screens of many email programs. It's considered poor design to make your users scroll sideways. While it is technically possible to resize images within Email Marketing, you should not do so, as the size changes may not be reflected in all email programs, and this can cause the size of the file to be Adding Images to Broadcast Emails - 1
larger than necessary. Edit your photos to the correct size before uploading. If you don't already have a program to do this, try using http://www.shrinkpictures.com/. If you are using pictures taken from a digital camera, you will almost certainly need to resize them; most digital cameras take very large images. Getting Started This tutorial assumes that you have access to Email Marketing. If you do not already have access, you can request it through VConnect. Log in to the system, and start creating a new email. In this example, I'm using the default classes template for volunteers; however, these instructions are applicable to all templates. Before you start, determine where you want the image in your email. Place the cursor there. Adding Images to Broadcast Emails - 2
Open the File Manager First, click the "Open File Manager" button above your email. Adding Images to Broadcast Emails - 3
Navigate to Your Group Folder A second window will open (note: if you have opened this previously, it may be behind another window). This is the File Manager, which allows you to upload images for your emails. We've organized the file manager for you to keep it clean and easy to find things. Please upload your images into a folder designated with your group's name. Click on the folder named "Group Images" to get to the list of groups. Adding Images to Broadcast Emails - 4
If Necessary, Create a Folder for Your Group Within the Group Images folder, you'll see a list of folders for groups. If you see your group listed here, click on it. If your group is not listed, create a folder for your group by entering the name in the box at the top, and clicking on "Create This Folder". Folders should be named in the format of "Class - 19XX" or "Club - Location". Once you've created your folder (if necessary), click on the name of the folder. Adding Images to Broadcast Emails - 5
Upload Files (part 1) To start uploading a file, click the "Upload Files" button. Adding Images to Broadcast Emails - 6
Upload Files (part 2) You'll see a dialog box like the one above appear. Note: this box may take up to a minute to appear; please be patient. Once you see this box, click the "Browse" button to locate your image. Adding Images to Broadcast Emails - 7
Locate and Add Your Image Navigate to the image you want to upload, and click on it to select. Then click the Open button. Upload the Image The name of your file will now appear in the window as above. Click the Upload button and wait for the file to upload. When the file name no longer appears in this window, the upload is finished. Adding Images to Broadcast Emails - 8
Return to the File Library Click the Continue button to return to the File Library. Insert Image into HTML Your file - with a thumbnail preview - will now appear in the list of files in the file library. Locate the file you want to add to your email, and click the "Insert Image into HTML" link next to that file. Adding Images to Broadcast Emails - 9
Move the Image, if necessary Your image will now show up in your email! You can now close the file manager window. If your image did not go where you wanted it to be, you can click and drag it to the correct location in your email. Adding Images to Broadcast Emails - 10
Complete your message as usual From here, you may continue editing your email as usual. Save the email when you're finished. Remember, the text version of the email cannot contain images; if you copy and paste the HTML version to get the text Adding Images to Broadcast Emails - 11