Dripbook User Guide.

Getting Around Dripbook.

1) The easiest way to get around Dripbook, especially between public and private areas of Dripbook, is with the Quick Nav dropdown menu in the upper right of the screen. You'll be able to get to your backend Controls where you can administer your Dripbook account. And, if you'd like to display artwork, you can get to the Organize section to upload, organize, and publish a Dripbook site.

2) You can access your Dripbook Controls - the backend Controls of your Dripbook account - at any time from either the Quick Nav, or even quicker, from the Controls link in the top right corner of your screen. Send messages. Invite other artists. Make networks. Read and approve comments. Get around.

3) In the Browse section, you'll be able to check out the work of other Dripbook artists. Holding your mouse over the art displays will pull up a Quick View that allows you to preview work without going all the way to the artist's site. You can browse by genre, tag, and you can specify a sorting method. It's a great way to see what's around.

4) In an artist's Dripbook site, you can check out different books, add books to your Short List, and comment on a book (among other things). Also, below the artist's name, you'll be able to visit the artist's profile to find out more about the artist. In the artist's profile you'll be able to request that they join your network and more.

5) Check out the Dripbook Map (accessible from the Browse menu in the upper right row of menus). It's interactive and can be set to display artists based on location, Genre, and Tag. Zoom in to check specific areas. Click on a pin to see the artist and the work.

6) And make sure to keep an eye on your Short List and Recently Viewed dropdown menus. These will keep a record of where you're looking to go and where you've been.

Alright - get on with it and look around. It's all intuitive. These are the basics and you'll figure out the rest in short order.

Organize - Introduction.

Dripbook will accept most any standard image format - JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg), GIF (.gif), PNG (.png), TIFF (.tif, .tiff), PHOTOSHOP (.psd), BMP (.bmp), and PPM (.ppm) - so it is okay if you have a mixed bag of media. And PictureSync supports all of those and PDF (.pdf) files as well.

If you'd like to upload a large batch of images all at once, check out the instructions for uploading multiple images at once .

As far as size goes, Dripbook prefers images around 1,500 pixels on the longest side. At a minimum, we need images at least 500 pixels high. The maximum size of an image you can upload through the Dripbook is 10 MegaBytes. If you have a lot of large, high quality images, take a look below at the instructions for using PictureSync . PictureSync can make uploading lots of larger images easy. Easy is good.

Okay. So once you have an idea where the images are you'd like to upload, and once you've given them a check to make sure they're a good size for uploading to Dripbook, you're ready to get started.

1) Access the "Quick Nav" menu in the upper right portion of the screen - to the right of the other menus. Select "Organize My Artwork" from the list of menu items.

You can also access the Organize section from your Controls > Basics page, under the Your Books section to the right.

Organize - Overview Tab.

Dripbook's Organize section is made up of five tabs - the Overview tab, the Upload tab, the Add Images to Books tab, the Sort Images in Books tab, and the Sort Books + Publish tab.

The Overview tab gives you an overview of your images, your books, and your entire Dripbook visual arts account. You can see which books are published, which books are in-progress, and which books are private. To add a new book, head to the Add Images in Books tab and click the Add New Book in the lower left hand corner.

You will aso see an overview of which images you've selected to be your splash page image. Your splash page is the public face of your Dripbook visual arts account - you and anyone else can access it at http://dripbook.com/YOURUSERNAME

In order to set an image as your splash page image, head to the Add Images to Books tab or the Sort Images in Books tab, click the Open button under the image you'd like to set as your splash page image, and check the 'Make this your Splash Page image?' box. If you select more than one image, they will rotate randomly. Vertical images will be right-justified and horizontal images will be centered. To have a full screen splash page image, upload a 920 by 475 pixel image and set it as your splash page image.

Organize - Upload Tab.

Dripbook will accept most any standard image format - JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg), GIF (.gif), PNG (.png), TIFF (.tif, .tiff), PHOTOSHOP (.psd), BMP (.bmp), and PPM (.ppm) - so it is okay if you have a mixed bag of media. And PictureSync supports all of those and PDF (.pdf) files as well.

As far as size goes, Dripbook prefers images around 1,500 pixels on the longest side. At a minimum, we need images at least 500 pixels high. The maximum size of an image you can upload through the Dripbook is 10 MegaBytes.

To see instructions for uploading groups of images all at once, head here .

1) To upload images (or a Zip archive) one at a time, click the 'Browse...' button. A 'File Upload' window will open. Browse through your computer to select each file to upload. You can upload a single image file up to 10 MegaBytes or a Zip archive. Click the 'Open' button to select the file.

Note: You can only upload ONE image or Zip archive at a time using this Browse button. To upload more than one image at a time, check the instructions here .

2) Select the book you'd like to upload the file into, or leave that selection menu at 'none' to upload the file into your general image archive. Click the 'Add File to Upload List' button. The file will then go into the 'Upload List' below. You can then repeat Steps 3 and 4 as many times as you'd like as you collect images off of your computer to upload to your Dripbook account.

Note: You can choose to click the 'Add + Start Uploading' button instead of the 'Add File to Upload List' button to speed the process along. This way, you'll upload while you choose other images.

3) When you're all done queuing up images to upload, click the 'Start Uploading Files' button. You can leave the 'Upload' tab and images will continue uploading in the background.

4) If you see an error message, you may have attempted to upload an unsupported file type or you may have attempted to upload too many images into a single book. Clicking on the error message will remove it. If you have trouble with an error message, send us an email and we'll do our best to help take care of the situation.

Organize - Add Images to Books Tab.

Here are some hints for the Add Images to Books tab:

• Hold the Shift key to select multiple images.
• You can add images to more than one book at a time.
• You can queue up multiple images in multiple books before hitting the Add Images to Books button.
• You can set an image as the Key Image and add it to the book all at the same time - just drag it into the book area over the Needs Key Image icon.
• Click on the name of a book at the left to open that book (you'll proceed to the Sort Images in Books tab for that book).

Here are the full instruction for the Add Images to Books tab:

1)The first thing you need to do before adding images to a book is to create a book. Click on the Add New Book button in the bottom left of the screen.

2)Enter the name and select the properties you'd like for the book. Like most things on Dripbook, all of these properties can be changed later. So don't feel the pressure.

Name: The name you'd like for the book. Genre: The genre the book is assigned to. Status: Public books are books the public can see. Private books are books you plan to send to private recipients. In-Progress books are ones you're still working on. Tags: Tags are terms you'd describe your book with so that other users can find your book while browsing Dripbook. Good tags are general and descriptive. 'Travel' or 'Acrylic' are good tags. Presentation: Try both out. Each has its strengths. Allow Comments: Just like it sounds. You can block or allow comments. Mature Content: Mature Content refers to explicitly sexual or otherwise explicitly mature content. Clicking this check box will prevent this book from showing up on the Dripbook homepage as well as in Browse sections of Dripbook. You must, however, check this box if any image in your book the meets these standards.

3) Next, drag images you'd like to add from your image archive on the right into the book you'd like them to go into on the left.

4) In order to find certain images in your image archive, you may want to change the sorting / display mode from the drop down menu. The system defaults to showing you all of your images, with the most recently uploaded first. You can change this, though, to suit your needs.

5) Click the Open button under any of your images to look at a larger version of the image and to change the properties of the image.

Check the Make this your Splash Page image? box to make this image appear on your Splash / Homepage. If you select more than one image, they will rotate randomly. Vertical images will be right-justified and horizontal images will be centered. The dimensions for a full-sized splash page image are 920 by 475 pixels. The Caption will show up to the public. The Title will not. The Keywords field is for your use only - you can search for your own images later using these.

6) When you've added all the images you need into your books, click the Save Images in Books button. You're all set - you can go on to putting the images into the order you'd like the public to see them in the Sort Images in Books tab.

Organize - Sort Images in Books Tab.

Here are some hints for the Sort Images in Books tab:

• Modify book info on the left (don't forget tags so others can find your book).
• Hold down the Shift key to select multiple images.

Here are the full instruction for the Sort Images in Books tab:

1) Select one of your books on the left to edit.





2) Drag and drop your images into place according to the order you'd like them to be seen on your Dripbook site.

Hold the Shift key down while selecting images to select multiple images.





3) If you need to sort all of your images in this book by their name, use the sort dropdown to change the order of all of the images in your book all at once. This is particularly helpful if your images were all uploaded together, were named according to their order, and appear different from their original order.





4) Use the slider at the top of the screen to make the thumbnails of your images larger or smaller. This is helpful for zooming out to order a large set of images and zooming in to see which image is which.





5) Click the Open button under any of your images to look at a larger version of the image and to change the properties of the image.

Check the Make this your Splash Page image? box to make this image appear on your Splash page. If you select more than one image, they will rotate randomly. Vertical images will be right-justified and horizontal images will be centered. The best dimensions for a full screen splash page image are 920 by 475 pixels. The Caption will show up to the public. The Title will not. The Keywords field is for your use only - you can search for your own images later using these.





6) Drag an image over the icon next to the book's name in the upper right corner to set that image as the Key image for this book. The Key image shows up to the public as the image that represents this book.





7) Drag images toward the bottom of the screen to delete them. The left hand box removes them both from the book and from your entire Dripbook account (be sure you're sure). The right hand box only removes them from this book - they'll remain in your image archive.





8) Want to see how this book will look? Click the Preview this book button next the Presentation chooser in the left hand area of the screen (where you modify the book's properties). You'll be able to see exactly how the book will appear to the public. Rad. Look for the red 'X' at the upper left of the gray display box to close it, or press the ESC key.





9) Change any of the properties you'd like to in the left hand side of the screen.

Name: The name you'd like for the book. Genre: The genre the book is assigned to. Status: Public books are books the public can see. Private books are books you plan to send to private recipients. In-Progress books are ones you're still working on. Tags: Tags are terms you'd describe your book with so that other users can find your book while browsing Dripbook. Good tags are general and descriptive. 'Travel' or 'Acrylic' are good tags. Presentation: Try both out. Each has its strengths. Allow Comments: Just like it sounds. You can block or allow comments. Mature Content: Mature Content refers to explicitly sexual or otherwise explicitly mature content. Clicking this check box will prevent this book from showing up on the Dripbook homepage as well as in Browse sections of Dripbook. You must, however, check this box if any image in your book the meets these standards.

10) When you're all set, click the Save + Close button at the lower left of the screen. It's a good idea to save your work as you go, so feel free to click the Save button next to the Save + Close button periodically while your working. Better safe than sorry.

Organize - Sort Books + Publish Tab.

Here are some hints for the Sort Books + Publish tab:

• Only Public books are live and visible to the public. New books you create are in In-Progress until you make them Public.
• Public - Books in black are public and are viewable in your Dripbook site. Drag books into the Public section to make them live.
• In Progress - Books in blue are in progress (you're still working on them) and are not viewable in your Dripbook site.
• Private - Books in red are private (invitation-only) and are only viewable to people you send announcements to. You can send announcements for private books in your Controls > Invite/Announce section.
• Drag books up or down to set the order they'll appear to the public.
• Drag genres left and right to set the order they'll appear to the public.

Here are the full instruction for the Sort Books + Publish tab:

1) Drag and drop books into the order you'd like them to appear on your Dripbook site. You can drag books from being Private or In-Progress into being Public, and vice-versa. You can even drag books between genres.

Note: To make a book live and visible to others, drag it into the 'Public' area. When books are first created, they are 'In-Progress' until you set them as 'Public.' This is the place to do that. If you'd like to make a book live, make sure you place it in the 'Public' area.





2) If you have more than one genre, you can drag your genres left and right to set the order that they'll appear on your Dripbook site.





3) To delete a book, click on the trash can icon to the right of the book's name. Don't worry, the images won't be deleted. They'll still be in your image archive. Only the book is deleted.





4) When you're all set, be sure to hit the 'Publish' button to publish all of your changes.





5) To see the results of all that you've done, click the 'Go to Splash Page' button. You can also navigate away from the Organize section using any of the links in the Quick Nav menu in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

Uploading Multiple Images at Once.

There are two easy ways to upload a collection of images all at once. Here's how:

Method 1 - Use PictureSync. We really like PictureSync. We've worked with the developer of PictureSync to produce a version specifically made for Dripbook. Currently PictureSync only runs on a Mac. PictureSync is a desktop utility that allows you to drag-and-drop images of nearly any sort and size from your desktop into the PictureSync application. It converts, resizes, and uploads them directly into your Dripbook account. Take a look at the instructions for using PictureSync with Dripbook here .

Method 2 - Create and upload a Zip archive.

Zip archives are collections of multiple images. You can take an entire folder or several image files (or combinations of both) and combine them all together. Then, you can upload the Zip archive all at once using the Organize > Upload Tab. As long as each image in the collection is under 10 MegaBytes, you're all set (don't worry, your Zip archive itself can be over 10 MegaBytes, but the individual images inside must be under 10 MegaBytes each). For information on how to make a Zip archive on a Mac, look here. For information on how to create a Zip archive on a PC, you can use WinZip , and Windows XP allows the creation of Zip archives from the desktop.

To upload a Zip archive, follow the normal uploading method using Dripbook's Organize > Upload tab. Instead of selecting a single image, select a Zip archive to upload. You can even designate a specific book to upload the images into.

Using PictureSync.

PictureSync is a really crafty third party application that works with Dripbook. The main advantage of PictureSync is that it automatically converts your images from many different types of formats, resizes them, and uploads them directly into your Dripbook account.

Using PictureSync, you can easily batch upload images. You don't have to worry about which format your image is (within reason) and you don't have to worry about what size your image is (as long as your original image is over 500px high). PictureSync will even upload images directly into your books.

All you have to do is drag and drop your images (as many at a time as you would like) from your computer into the PictureSync application and it does the rest. Leaves you more time to do what you're better at.

Oh yeah—its free! The paid version (we encourage you all to pay for it if you use it heavily) is really cheap.Here's a set of instructions for how to get ahold of PictureSync and configure it on your Mac (no Windows, yet):

1) Download the Dripbook specific version of PictureSync here . For more information, and to fully license PictureSync, head here .

2) A disk image will be downloaded to your desktop (or your download folder). Double click on the 'PictureSync_com.dripbook.dmg'. Copy the PictureSync application to your Applications folder.

3) When you see the 'Welcome to PictureSync' window, click the button that says 'Setup'.

4) In the next window, enter the following information:

Username: Enter your Dripbook Username Password: Enter your Dripbook Password Description: Leave as is (Dripbook)

5 Start dragging images you'd like to upload to your Dripbook account into the PictureSync window. PictureSync supports the same images as Apple's Preview program does - for a list of them, look here . It is important that you upload images that are large enough. PictureSync will automatically downsize any images that are too large, so go ahead and give PictureSync the largest version you have. At a minimum, images must be 500 pixels high. If your images are smaller than this, please go look and find a larger version of the image - don't just upsize them in an program like Photoshop.

6) If you'd like, you can enter information in the 'Title,' 'Caption,' and 'Keyword' fields - this information will be uploaded to Dripbook along with the image. The 'Title' information is purely for you - to help you remember which image is which. The 'Caption' information will become the caption information for the image in your Dripbook portfolio - the public will see this. So, if you'd like, give the image a caption or any descriptive info you'd like. The 'Keyword' information is also purely for you. You can use this later to help search for this image in the Dripbook Organize tool, which might be helpful if you soon end up with tons of images in your Dripbook account. You can enter this information separately for each image.

7) When you're ready to upload your images into Dripbook, click the 'Upload' button in the upper right of the PictureSync window. You will then be prompted to select a destination for the images - you can direct images into either your general Image Pool or into a specific book you've already created. Pretty crafty. Click 'Continue' when you're ready.

8) PictureSync will convert and upload your images.

9) PictureSync's done and you can log into your Dripbook account, go to the Organize section, and begin sorting the images you just uploaded. If you uploaded your images into a specific book, open that book to find the images you just uploaded. If you uploaded your images into your general image archive, you'll see them there.

Mature artwork on Dripbook.

Dripbook welcomes artwork considered by some to be "mature" or otherwise depicting graphic sexual themes, illicit drug use, or other material clearly inappropriate to young viewers. Books on Dripbook marked by you or other Dripbook users as "mature" will:

• a) not be included on the homepages, in searches, or in areas on Dripbook accessible to the general public, and
• b) users will need to confirm that they agree to view mature themes in order to proceed to view your work.

If you are not sure, artwork or imagery that would reasonably be expected to be viewed in a public museum or traditional publication is not to be considered "mature." Reasonable nudity not of a sexually explicit nature is not necessarily considered "mature." Imagery like that you would expect to see in a magazine or museum show clearly restricted to adults should be considered "mature."

We hope you understand our procedures necessary to follow common decency laws. We're doing this in order to allow you to post "mature" artwork. Our other option is to disallow it. Which isn't a good option. Please contact us with any questions.