Frequently Asked Questions

Each image on Netcells is accompanied by a small Thumbail image, to speed up browsing.
Thumbnails are now made automatically when you upload an image.
However, you still have an option to replace them with "hand-made" thumbnails, as described below.
Once you made your thumbnail, upload it in NUZ > Organize > Files > Thumbkeeper (the thumbnail file name has to be the same as the existing thumbnail).

It is best to make Thumbnails manually, using some kind of image editing program, Photoshop, or some free utility available, there is even an on-line version of Photoshop - Pixlr (check our >Internet/IT links).
Below are the instructions for making Thumbnails in Photoshop (CS2):
-- carefully chose the most interesting and significant fragment of the image, to make a Thumbnail, which is intelligible and clear in its tiny size (example: picture is rider in a landscape - you might want to zoom in on the rider/horse's head).
-- make sure the image is in RGB 8bit colour space (Image>Mode), then crop a square section of an interesting part of your image or add extra background (canvas) if you want to keep the whole image. Important! in Photoshop use the Crop (C) tool, NOT the Marquee (M) or Image>ImageSize tool, as that would distort the image.
-- once cropped, you need to reduce the file to 50 x 50 pixels size - in Photoshop you do this via Image>ImageSize menu ( the resolution does not matter, in Photoshop you might want to use the Sharpen filter at this stage)
-- save the file in .gif format, in Photoshop you do it by File>SaveForWeb (select the .GIF option). Number of colours will depend on the image (less if it is monochrome or high contrast, more if it contains smooth colour gradations) - check that the thumbnail looks OK after it is made.
-- both Image and the Thumbnail must be named correctly - name the thumbnail by inserting 'c_' between your surname and the filename ( example: you are User named Carter and have an image called 'tree' - the image filename is 'carter_tree.jpg', the Thumbnail is called 'carter_c_tree.gif' - your name is always in lowercase ), no spaces, accents or reserved characters (*, / \ | ? " ' @#~`), the name must not be longer than 31 characters
-- upload the thumbnail NUZ > Organize > Files > +1 ( your main Image file should be already uploaded ).
-- if you get this far and your Images and Thumbnails are still not working ask for ›Help and we will fix it for you.

You can also check the presence of files and filenames of Thumbnails in NUZ > Organize > Files.

If a Thumbnail is missing, on your Cell, the 'thumbnail not found' text will be shown in its place, on Netcells front page the Thumbnail will simply be omitted, it should be uploaded, as soon as possible.

It all of the above is too complicated for you, ask us to make and upload the Thumbnails for you (charged at hourly rate).
The Thumbnails ( and Images ) from your Cell can also be used on your external site ( if hosted on our server ) - they can be used in any layout and made smaller or bigger, without changing the original thumbnail file ( although that degrades the Thumbnail quality somewhat ).