Overview
The article serves as a guide for incorporating images into challenges within AdvocateHub, detailing the process of selecting, cropping, and uploading banner images, as well as inserting additional images using Markdown or Embed.ly. It emphasizes the importance of image selection guidelines and provides step-by-step instructions to ensure images are optimally displayed in the challenge pop-up format.
Information
It's always a good idea to add banner images to all of the challenges in your hub. This is super easy to do, and this article will walk you through the steps!
Before we get started, choose an image you want to add to your challenge. Our guidelines for Banner Images are the following:
- Supported File Types: jpg, png, and gif
- Recommended Dimensions: 820 x 460
- Maximum file size: 5MB
Your challenge will look its best with an image that is wider than it is tall due to the formatting of the challenge pop-up. Keep in mind, we give you the following options to add an image to a challenge:
- From your computer files
- The web
- Unsplash, a royalty-free and high-quality image provider
- Link (URL)
- Google Drive
- Box
Here's what this article will cover:
- Adding a Primary Image to your Challenge
- Adding Additional Images inside your Challenge
- How Images are Displayed in Online Action Stages
Adding a Banner Image to your Challenge
1. Begin designing your awesomely creative challenge. Then, when you're ready, click on Choose Image and choose from one of the options listed to add an image.
After clicking Choose Image, you will be directed to the following window:
There are a few options you can choose to select and upload the image:
- Select Files to upload from your computer. Either drag and drop the image to the upload box, or click on the upload box to open your computer files to search for the image.
- Search for the image from the internet. Influitive only provides internet searches for images that are royalty-free and available for commercial use.
- Search and select using Unsplash, a royalty-free and high-quality image provider.
- Adding URL link of the image
- Cloud based image hosting platform (e.g. Google Drive, Box, Facebook and Instagram).
2. Next, be sure to crop and adjust the image to make sure it fits the challenge card just right. To do so, click on Crop Image. If you chose the image via Unsplash, the image you selected will be automatically cropped to fit your challenge.
3. The cropping tool will allow you to move and resize the image until you get it to span the full challenge card, which we highly recommend!
Note the difference between the challenge card preview above, and the preview below after it has been cropped:
4. When you're happy with your challenge, just click to Publish it!
Adding Additional Images inside your Challenge
If you'd like to add an additional image into one of the stages of your challenge (besides the banner image), you can use Markdown .
First, you will need to place your image to an image hosting platform so that you can get the image URL. One suggestion here is to use imgur.com ( https://imgur.com/upload ) to host your image and obtain the URL.
Another suggestion is to upload the image to a blank challenge banner and click on the image to obtain the URL link. Here's how:
- Download the image to your computer.
- Go to the Hub and create a blank template challenge. (Note: we will not publish the challenge, this will only be used to get a secure file link for the image).
- Upload the image as the Banner Image.
- Right-click on the banner image that has just been uploaded and right click on your mouse and choose "Open Image in New Tab"
- Copy the URL link for the image in the new tab (it should be nested under "filepicker.io")
- In the challenge description, insert the image URL along with this Markdown formatting: ![descriptive text here](imageURL.png)
For example, the following text:
Look at these cute kitties!
From Imgur:
![cute cats](http://i.imgur.com/YMsdYCw.png)
From Filepicker:
![cute cats](https://www.filepicker.io/api/file/ga5Gt44uRCiD38SSxa8R)
will look like this in a challenge:
How Images are Displayed in Online Action Stages
AdvocateHub uses a platform known as Embed.ly to pull images from the websites you link to in your challenges. For example, if you are creating a Share a Link challenge, you'll input the link you would like to share and embed.ly will retrieve a selection of images from that page. You'll then be able to cycle through the images and decide which one you'd like to be displayed with the URL and link description.
FAQ
How do I select the right image for my challenge?
Choose an image that is wider than it is tall to fit the challenge pop-up format, and use the provided tools to crop and adjust the image to cover the full challenge card.
Can I add images inside the challenge content, not just as a banner?
Yes, you can add additional images inside your challenge using Markdown code to insert images from hosting platforms like imgur.com or via secure file links from the Hub.
What is Embed.ly and how does it integrate with AdvocateHub challenges?
Embed.ly is a service that integrates with AdvocateHub to extract images from linked websites for "Share a Link" challenges. It uses the oEmbed API to fetch images, allowing users to select preferred images to accompany URLs and link descriptions.
How do I use Markdown to insert an image in a challenge?
Upload your image to an image hosting platform to obtain the image URL, then use the Markdown code format ![Image Description](Image URL) to insert the image into your challenge content.