The Image Bank Help section is divided into two categories: Help and Tutorial. The Help section allows the user to choose a specific subject to learn more about, and the Tutorial section shows the Image Bank workflow.
We recommend new Image Bank user to take a few minutes and read through the Tutorial to gain a basic understanding of how the Image Bank works. This section teaches the basics from a regular search to downloading images and how to manage the Folders.
Users who are more interested in learning how a specific function works will find answers in the Help section. Every major segment of the Image Bank is described there in detail.
All functions such as Search, Advanced search, Results per page, Home, Help, and Logg in are positioned at the top for easy access at all times. The area beneath is reserved for requested content (search results, folder management, comparing images and personal settings).
This gives the Image Bank a sense of consistency, as well as differentiates the user's actions from the results of the actions.
For example: the user enters keywords at the top, sets the number of desired images to view per page and clicks the Search button. The results of that search appear as a gallery in the main area where it is possible to interact with the results.
The Quick Search gives you an easy access to the different Categories directly without writing and key words. Just click on the link and the category chosen will open up.
The Search is a simplified search. This is a free text area in which you write key words and choose how many images you want per page. This may give too many results, which is why there is an Advanced search available.
The Advanced search has 6 options: Keywords, Photographer, Year, Media type, Image format and Categories. Combined, these may narrow or broaden a search until the user finds what he or she is looking for.
Keywords are basically the same as the Search, except it is not possible to search for Photographers or Year. These have been separated to accommodate a more utilized search.
Media type lets the user direct a search to include only images or only video, or both. The function for Image format is similar. The user selects the desired Image format (landscape, portrait or square), and only images with the selected preferences are displayed. It is possible to select one, two or all three formats.
Lastly, there is the Categories' box. This is an easy way to navigate among our different Categories.
Plus signs (+) mark which Categories have subcategories or "children". Clicking a Category marked with the plus sign expands the subcategories. To add a Category to a search, simply click the Category; it will be marked with a light blue background. Once the user starts moving through the Categories, a dashed border will become apparent around some of them - the border indicates the "parents" of the selected Category.
Operators can be used in all of the search fields to fine-tune the search. These are: + - * ".
An initial `+` indicates that the word must be present and a `-` indicates that the word must not be present in the results. E.g. `+image -snuff` will result in hits containing `image` but not `snuff`.
When appended to a word, `*` is used as a wildcard operator. This means that words match if they begin with the word preceding the `*`. E.g., `apple*` will match `apple`, `apples` and `applesauce`, but `apple` will only match `apple`.
A phrase enclosed within double quotation marks, " " will only match rows that contain the phrase exactly as it was written, e.g., "general meeting" within quotation marks will match the exact phrase.
Words shorter than four (4) characters will not be matched.
To preview an image, simply click on it, and a preview window will open up. The background will fade to better accentuate the preview window and separate it from the rest of the content.
The preview window contains a relatively small version of the image, some useful information about the image (Name, Photographer, Dimensions and Description) and two or more links. The links represent the available image formats. These are: JPEG - a format with lossy compression for small filesizes; TIF - a lossless format suitable for printing with a medium to large filesizes; and a low resolution JPEG link that enables a smaller JPEG version of the image to be downloaded that is suitable for quick web purposes.
Folders offer a way to manage a number of images conveniently. They are used to Save, Compare and Share images with others as well as keep track of favorite images.
By default, there is an empty Folder on the right side of the page. This is a temporary folder which is used to Compare images, create new folders and add to existing folders. The temporary folder is just that, temporary. The user must Save or Share a folder to make it permanent.
Click on the Image Folders link at the top of the page to edit a folder. This will take the user to the folder managing area.
To preview and compare several images at once, first either drag the images to the Folder symbol or click on the Add to Folder link just below the image thumbnail. Users will notice that the image title appears in the list to the right. Select the desired images to Compare by ticking the checkbox and then click the Compare button.
The selected images will be cascaded on the screen where they can be moved around freely.
Enter the desired keywords to search for in the top left field and either click Search or hit the Enter button. This will result in one or more pages of search results. Locate the image that is of interest (the user may need to browse through several pages to find it), and either click on the thumbnail or image name to open it up in a preview window. If clicking the name of the desired file format, the image will be downloaded in that specific image format.
If the search results in too many hits, it can be refined by clicking the Advanced Search button located just below the search field. This opens up the Advanced Search dialog and provides several options.
For example, if the user searched for "Snuff", this would result in 50 hits on three pages (provided the user chose to display 24 images per page). But if "Pepe Nilsson" were entered into the Photographer field, the search would return approximately 20 results.
More information about this is available in the Help - Search Section.
To preview an image, simply click the thumbnail or the image name and a preview window will appear that contains a relatively small version of the original image. From here it is possible to download the image in high resolution JPEG or TIF or a low resolution JPEG that is suitable for web purposes.
To add an image to a Folder, move the cursor over the image, click on it, hold down the mouse button, drag the image to the Folder icon on the right side of the page and then release the mouse button. This will drop the image into the Folder so that it appears in the file list as the most recently added image.
It is then possible to click on the Save button and choose an existing Folder or create a new one.
Click on the image name in the Folder to preview it or click the Delete icon to remove it from the Folder.
It is important to note that merely adding an image to the Folder list will not create a Folder. What the user sees is temporary Folder content. To actually create a Folder, the user must either Save or Share the Folder content.
If the user chooses to save the Folder by clicking the Save button, two fields will appear. These fields represent the folder's title and Description. Try to use as unique names as possible to facilitate Folder management. The description is optional, but entering a few words to describe the content simplifies Folder management. It is also possible to merge with an existing one.
Sharing images with others differs a bit from Saving a Folder for personal use. The Folder will not be saved to the user's profile, and it is not possible to edit a Folder that has already been sent. To Share a Folder, click the Share button and fill in the fields below. These are the same as when Saving, with the addition of the Address field where the recipient's e-mail address is entered. In this case, the title becomes the subject of the e-mail and the description becomes part of the message to the recipient.