Chart & Link Posting 101
The following information provides brief details on how to add links or charts/images to your posts on this site. The information was based on Windows XP with FireFox or IE, probably a little different if you're using Vista or Apple/Mac etc. (This is just a first pass and we'll try to make improvements as the site progresses).
Also when posting please consider copywrite protection.
1) Tiny URL
2) Links to Articles and Web Pages
3) Direct Links to Charts etc
4) Homemade Modified Enriched Stuff
1) - "Tiny URL "
The new platform on Drupal does not have the same problems as the old blog which necessitated the use of "Tiny URL". When you copy a URL into your post the system will create the link automatically but will only display about the first 50 characters in the post.
** Note at the present time there are a few special characters which will cause the automatic link process to fail. In these cases you can usually still copy the URL from the post, paste it into another window and call up the link. The other current workaround is to create a "Tiny URL" for the link and paste that into your post.
These are the problem characters in quotes.
"|", "$", "!" ,"^", "(" , ")", "[" , " ]"
Here's a short video I found which explains "Tiny URL" quite well.
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=76932651125...
*** Courtesy Note****
When posting the TinyURL link, always tell readers the site where you are sending them as some sites have been know to cause browser or pop-up blocker problems and crashes. Also you can enable the preview feature at TinyURL, home page, left menu, sets a cookie that will take you to a page showing complete redirect URL and gives you the option to proceed or not. You can also post this preview link directly by selecting and posting the TinyURL preview link instead of the direct link.
Workaround option 2 is to use the format below, just copy this and replace the section with the URL in quotes with your link, the text of the link displayed can be anything you choose.
<a href="http://somesite.com/blah">this is a link</a>
2) Links to articles and web pages
Just copy the URL and paste it into your post.
3) Direct links to charts etc
Now you may find a chart in an article on another site that you want to share, but don't want the whole article just the chart or image. Remember copyrights and give credit where it is due.
In Firefox I right click on the chart and open it in a separate tab, it will be just the chart by itself and I can then copy the URL. Or I can right click on the chart and select properties which will bring up an element (image) properties box and under location I can highlight the address, right click select copy and then paste it in a new window / tab. If I've got the right address I will just see the chart by itself. If OK then paste in your post.
In Internet Explorer, you have to right click on the chart, select properties, highlight the address URL, copy and then paste in a new window to check it. If OK then paste in your post.
Note the above will only work for image files, it won't work if the chart is in a Java window or the like. In these cases you would have to take a screen shot, save it on your computer, then upload the file using the "File Attachments" process at the bottom of the post comment input screen.
If you need to use a screen shot program to grab the chart from your browser I recommend www.gadwin.com , it works very well.
Special Note: For Stockcharts.com
Stockcharts do not allow linking directly to just the chart, if you try to do that the user following the link will receive an error saying "Visit Stockcharts to view this chart". The link will start with "..stockcharts.com/c-sc/sc?s=.." However they are happy to have you link users to their web charting page which will display your chart. These chart links will start with "..stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=.." When you've created a chart at Stockcharts just click the "linkable version" button below the chart, this will add the stock symbol and a "P XXX" code (chart settings) to the URL shown in you browsers address bar. If you forget to use the link button then users will end up at the charting page but will see the default chart and settings, usually the stock symbol $INDU.
Now for non-Stockcharts members they will just see the basic version of your chart, for logged in members they will see the full version of your chart dependent on their subscription level.
There are also options at Stockcharts for "Public Folders" and "Snapshot" folders which I believe will work but I haven't tried them. (I'll update as time permits)
(You may notice on some forums such as SI or IHUB (legacy supporters), you can still do direct linking or embedding of a chart, however Stockcharts is gradually phasing this out as part of the change to the Sharpcharts2 charting engine.)
** Note all the index charts at Stockcharts.com start with "$", which is a problem character in links on this site as noted above. Workaround is "Tiny URL" or just upload (attach) a static copy of the chart here or use the method addressed above under special characters.
4) Homemade modified enriched stuff
So you've got a chart off the web and saved it on your hard drive, then used MS paint or something to modify it, add comments, trend lines etc, and saved it on your hard drive.
Problem here is nobody on the web can read files on your hard drive, we hope!, thats a good thing. So that chart has to be stored (uploaded) somewhere on the WW Web, in a public place on a webserver, where our browser can go and get it. On the old site that location had to be your own webserver or a third party server, but now thanks to Bill, we can upload and store files on the server here. (At least until Bill decides the storage space is being abused).
Stockcharts.com has a very good annotation tool, but you will have to be an "extra" member to easily use it and store the charts. Once you've saved the annotated chart on Stockcharts just save a copy of the image itself to your computer, it will usually default to " SC.PNG ", just change the file name to whatever you want.
If you are a free or basic member you can use the annotation tool but can't save the chart in the Java window, thus you will have to take a screen shot of it and save it to your computer.
If your charting software does not have editing capabilities just save the chart and then edit with a third party editor. For general editing I would recommend you forget about MS Paint, the one that comes with Windows. Get yourself a free copy of Paint.net it is much superior and is much easier to erase and modify items you have added to your chart. It uses layers which you can turn on and off and modify, so original chart is layer 1, then trend lines are layer 2, text can be in another layer etc etc. And since everything is in different layers you can delete a text box without wiping out the chart behind it, that was always my major complaint with MS Paint.
Note Paint net runs under windows net frameworks, so if you don’t already have it installed download the larger version which includes it.
Once you've annotated the chart to your liking just use the "File Attach" option when making your post.
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