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Help!
Below are answers to the most common questions that we get asked.
If you cannot find the answer to your question here then you may email us
using the address near the bottom of this page. Thank you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Fonts
Names
Email
WebTv
Miscellaneous
Why does my image stop working after 1 hour? (Back to Top)
The URL on our result page links to a temporary image that is automatically
deleted from our server 1 hour after the image was created. You must
download the image to your Web server and link to it
there (or you can save the image on your computer).
Can I make these images on my PC? (Back to Top)
How do I download an image once I make it? (Back to Top)
The easiest way is to move the mouse over the image, and make the menu appear (usually done by pressing the right most mouse button). Then choose:
- Netscape: Save Image As...
- IE: Save Picture As...
- AOL: Save Picture As...
Alternatively, you can forward the image directly to your web site using the
"FTP" option.
How do I put the image on my web page? (Back to Top)
- We get a lot of questions about this, and we don't really answer them.
This is because there are *so* many different ways, and it's different for
everybody. The best solution is to save the image to your computer
(see download), and then do what you normally do
to copy an image to your web site. If you don't know how to do this,
consult the documentation from your ISP, and/or the program that you are
using to create your webpage.
- Front Page
- Right click on the image, and select "Save as Picture..."
- Save the image to "My Pictures".
- Start front Page
- Choose Insert -> Picture -> Clip Art.
- Now a clipart window appers.
- Choose "Import Clips" and the "My Picture" window appears.
- Click on the picture to insert it into your web page!
- - help from Jim Voss
- DreamWeaver 6.0
- Save the image to your computer.
- Run Dreamweaver.
- Choose "Insert" menu and select the "Image" entry.
- Now select the image you just saved. Click Okay
- If you get message "This file is outside of the root folder...", then
click "Yes" to copy the image. A new save window will appear, choose where on the web site you want to save the image, then choose "Save"
How do I change what the logo says or its size? (Back to Top)
You can change the font size of all our images by simply entering the
required size in the "Font Size" box when you create the image. As
for the text Color, most of the styles allow you to change this.
Look for "Text Color" on the form that generates the image.
If you see this option, then you can click on the color to change it.
If you do not see this option, then it is not possible to change it.
Why does it take so long? (Back to Top)
Don't Wait! If your image is not generated in a few minutes,
go back and start the generation again. The exception is that if the queue
lenth is really long (very very unlikely) and your position in the queue is
steadily getting better, then it might be worth the wait. In general, most
images are generated in a few seconds, but some images might take
up to 30 seconds to generate.
I believe in some cases, the original "wait" page doesn't change. If this happens to you try this: add "?a=1" to the end of the URL .. eg
http://www3.flamingtext.com/net-fu/jobs/034028802.html?a=1
If this happens to you, and happens all the time. Please let us know what Operating System/Browser/etc... and what "cache settings" you have.
How do I use the color picker? (Back to Top)
Just click on the color that you like, and it will fill in the red, green
and blue values for you!
How do I make multi-line logos? (Back to Top)
Simple -- just put "\n" at the end of each line (except the last!) of your
logo. For example, "Line1\nLine2"
What does the message "Your job has expired" mean? (Back to Top)
The jobs are only around for one hour. If you come back after 1 hour,
then you job will be gone. If you get this, please don't email us,
just regenerate the image. If you regenerate the image and you
get the error straight away, then please email cameron, but don't forget to mention that you read the FAQ (else I'll
just send you right back to it!)
My image isn't animated on my website. What happened? (Back to Top)
AOL won't let me save GIF or JPEG images. What do I do?
Make sure that you do not modify the image as you save it. Do not
load it into other programs and save it again. Some web page editors,
such as Microsoft FrontPage, may automatically re-save images when you
use them to add the image to a web page, breaking the animation.
Another reason why GIFs may not animate (any GIFs, not just those from
FlamingText) is firewalls. Several people have reported this problem
with ZoneAlarm. ZoneAlarm has an option to disable animated GIFs. You can find
this option under Privacy >> Ad Blocking >> Custom >> Animation in ZoneAlarm's
Control Center.
The AOL browser will compress images by default using AOL's proprietart ART format, which will stop the animation.
(Kaye kindly offered us this fix from
the support people at AOL).
To turn off Compressed Graphics, do the following:
- Click on the MY AOL icon and select PREFERENCES.
NOTE: If the computer hangs after clicking on PREFERENCES, you will need to
follow these steps while online.
- Click on the WWW button.
- Click on the WEB GRAPHICS tab.
- Make sure that there is no check in front of USE COMPRESSED
GRAPHICS. If there is a check, click on it to remove the check.
- Click APPLY and then OK.
- Close PREFERENCES.
and that should do the trick.
Where did my favorite font go? (Back to Top)
Where did all of the fonts go?
All the fonts are still available. Since we have so many fonts now,
we moved all the extra fonts to a different page so that the main page will load
faster (it's now at least 5 times faster!)
To get access to
the rest of the fonts, select "More Fonts..." at the bottom of the list.
You should automatically be taken to the extended font selector.
If you are not, then select "More Fonts" and then click the Create Logo
button at the bottom, and it will take you there.
What does this (mrn) and (bin) in the font name mean? (Back to Top)
We discovered that we were missing many of the font styles available
because there was no way to ask for a font that is italics or bold.
So, we added a qualifier such that you can pick the font that you want.
There are always three letters and here is what they mean:
- l=light, m=medium, b=bold, x=black, s=semi bold, t=thin (how thick the font is)
- r=regular, i=italic (the slant on the font)
- c=condensed, n=normal, s=semi expanded, e=expanded, u=ultra condensed (how drawn out the font is)
so (mrn) would mean the font is a medium, regular, normal font. This is the basic default. (bin) would mean the font is bold and italic.
Also note that we calculate these three letters from the information stored in
the actual font.
Some fonts do not follow the standard and many (most) of the fonts do not
contain italic and/or bold versions.
How do I use the fonts on my PC in Microsoft Word and other applications? (Back to Top)
How can I download my favorite font from FlamingText.com?
Most of the fonts have a link to the original font creator. If there is
no link, then it is a Unix font and will not work under Microsoft Windows.
If you are dead keen on a font try the Resources section and the font links, or use Google.com to search for it.
See the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article for instructions on Adding New Fonts in Microsoft Windows.
I found a cool font on the Internet. Can you please add it? (Back to Top)
Short answer, no. Long answer: If you are the font owner and you email
us permission to use the font then we will add your fonts (with links back to your site).
If you are not the font owner, then
you could ask (nicely) the font owner if they would consider letting
us use their fonts (direct them to
http://www.flamingtext.com/fonts/).
How do I find the font owner? Check the find original font help.
But the font is free to use, can you please add it? (Back to Top)
Sorry, but we must have written permission from the owner of the font
to use it. It's the policy we force upon ourselves.
Can I use these fonts on my website? (Back to Top)
If you would like to use the fonts (not the styles!) for regular text on your
web pages, you can use Microsoft's
Web Embedded Font Tool (WEFT)
to create a font object that you can embed in your web pages and then reference
to display your text in that font.
Your fonts don't work in my language, why not? (Back to Top)
We would love to say that FlamingText works in all languages, but it does not.
We have added a European section that
describes the fonts that support the "standard set" of character extensions.
We hope in the future to be able to support a much wider set of languages,
but that is not currently possible.
How can I check if you have my favorite font? (Back to Top)
First, I would try the FindFont option (on the left of the page). If that doesn't work then start using other search engines.
I personally use Google
and if that doesn't work
HotBot
or AltaVista.
Usually, I type in the name of the font and "font".
Where can I find the creator/owner of one of your fonts? (Back to Top)
For most of our fonts, we have a link below of the font (in the Fonts section). However if there is some other font you would like
us to add, you will need to find the original font site (no, not just a
site that contains it, the *original* one).
I personally use Google.
(or HotBot
or AltaVista)
If I can't find the original font site, I will pick a couple of font sites
and download the zip file and open the .ttf file. This contains the name
of the font and usually some other owner information. I use this information
to search again for the original font owner.
I have looked for many fonts in my time and always been able to find the
original font owner, so you can too. Please do not ask me to find it for
you.
What are FontBats and DingBats? (Back to Top)
We define a DingBat as a font that contains pictures, and a FontBat as a font
that contains pictures around the glyphs (letters).
Why are letters I entered not in my generated logo? (Back to Top)
Some fonts don't have lowercase letters, punctuation or even a "space".
If you try to use these missing symbols in your logo they may simply be ignored
or you might get a box or some other character in the logo instead.
If the lowercase letters are missing, then you can either change your text
string to all uppercase letters (e.g. "ABC" instead of "Abc") or you can
select a different font. You can check what characters are available in
a font by clicking on the "charset" link for the font in the
fonts area.
My name isn't in your "Names" section. Can you add it? (Back to Top)
Look in the ClipArt-Names section, if you
don't find your name, you can email me, but better still, you can create it
yourself. Goto Start and find the style that
you like and follow the directions.
Can you add my nickname to your "Names" section? (Back to Top)
The ClipArt-Names section is for
real first names. If you want other text, you can easily create it yourself.
Goto Start and find the style that
you like and follow the directions.
You have my name, but I want different colors/size/font/style... (Back to Top)
We are all about flexibility! The "Names" section contains ready-made images
of names in a few styles/colors. If you don't see what you want then goto
Start, find the style that you like and follow
the directions from there to customize the font, colors, etc. to get a perfect
logo of your name.
How do I email an image I made to myself or a friend? (Back to Top)
Easy! Create the image, and then click on the email link.
How do I use an image I made for my email signature? (Back to Top)
Well usually this is very tricky. But we have tried to make it as simple as possible. And now that we have done the leg work, I am sure you will see this feature pop up on other sites. For Yahoo, Hotmail, USA.net and Outlook first create the logo that you want
to put into your signature. Then click on the link that is on that results page. Follow the step by step instructions.
For all email clients the basic idea is that you set up a HTML signature. And inside that signature you put: <img src=http://yoursite.com/path/to/image.gif>
There are so many emailers out there, we can't provide instructions for
them all. Below are some hints for the most common email clients.
- Outlook Express
- To save the file, make sure you right-click on the "this file"
link and then select "Save target as..." from the browser's pop-up
menu to save the small signature.htm file this link points to. If
you get an error about the signature being too large or not being a
text file then you have saved the image and not the HTML.
- If you have more than one Outlook Express account (i.e. for different members of your family), you have to select which account to use the
signature with. After you click the Set as Default button you need
to click the Advanced button and check the box for the account to use
the signature with before it will work. (Thanks for this tip Melanie!)
- In some cases, you may need to restart Outlook Express before your new signature will be used (Outlook Express bug).
- Outlook
- Make sure that you are not using Microsoft word as your editor.
- To save the file, make sure you right-click on the "this file"
link and then select "Save target as..." from the browser's pop-up
menu to save the small signature.htm file this link points to. If
you get an error about the signature being too large or not being a
text file then you have saved the image and not the HTML.
- If your signature stops working, check Tools -> Options -> Mail Format (Tab) and then look at "Use this Signature by default:".
- Hotmail
- Yahoo
- here you need to make sure that when you send messages, the Use my signature is checked. If you are not using IE, then you will need "Allow HTML tags" to be checked.
- If you just get: "Image by FlamingText.com", see the line above.
- I added a Graphical Help for step-by-step instructions.
- USA.net
- Not free anymore. Definately the nicest system for HTML signatures. Make sure that you select the correct signature name at the bottom, that you would like to send. When you create the signature, make you that you select Send as HTML
- Netscape
- As far as I can figure out (and I use netscape for my emailer), you can't set a HTML signature with netscape. If you figure it out, you could be famous, so let me know how!. Well here you have it, the technical article that says it must be plain text. On the bright side, it receives all the signatures generated by the other mailers very well.
- Excite
- Not too good. It's not possible to have a HTML signature, but
you can attach images. I tried to send images from excite to excite, and it
works okay, however on most emailers, it would probably just look like at
attachment. So save the image to somewhere that you know, and then
when you send emails, click attach, then browser, then select your image
and attach it again.
- AOL
- Currently (AOL 6.0), it is not possible to include an image
in your signature. You can insert pictures into your email, but that's about it. I think what you do is save the image to your desktop, then drag the image
into your email. It's a pain, since you need to do it each time.
- ezboard
- Make sure you have "use custom signature" and "ezcodes" selected when you post.
- Some boards don't allow this feature, but you can test it here
WebTv (Back to Top)
How do I stick that cool image in my WebTV email?
Create an image, then click on "Save for webtv email (signature)" and
follow the instructions.
All I see is HTML stuff in my signature
The first <HTML> must be at the very top of your signature box.
Move your cursor to just before the <HTML> and press backspace a few
times just to make sure.
How to I delete the contents of my signature?
To remove your current signature, goto Mail -> Settings -> Signature and then press CMD-A, and then press delete.
I have more than one image in my email signature, how to I remove them (or just get one)?
The easiest way is to delete your current one, and then copy the new one in.
How do I replace the image in my email signature?
First delete your old one, then copy the new one in.
How do I set the background color of an image?
Check the options when you first generate the image, if you see
backgroundColour as an option, then you can click on the colour
to change it. Else it is not possible to change.
How do I set the background of my whole email?
This is not easily done. It can be done, but it is quite tricky.
Refer to your WebTV manual. You can set the "stationary". This is the easiest
way. (sorry, I don't know exactly how to do that)
How do I add a link to my site in my signature
Just after the <HTML> in your signature, enter:
<a href=http://community-2.webtv.net/myname/MyName/>Visit my home page</a><p>
(Don't forget to change the URL to point to *your* homepage)
I get the instructions in my signature, not the image. What did I do wrong?
When you press CMD-A to copy everything, make sure that the cursor is flashing in the TEXT AREA, and that the yellow border is around box. So what you need
to do now is delete your signature and start again.
How do I change my signature to do this or that?
We are doing our best to make it as easy as possible to set your
signature. Your signature when used properly has almost all the possibilities
that are available in a web page. So to use it to it's full potential
you need to know all about HTML. We can't possibily teach everyone
how to code all the HTML elements, and so we recommend that you check
out the HTML Resources on our resource page.
I get HTML and not the image. What did I do wrong?
You must make sure that the <HTML> is at the very top of your signature. There can't even be an empty line above it. The easiest way to check this is to get your cursor (the flashing thing) to the left of the <HTML> and then press delete a bunch of times.
How do I change the text (so it says my name or something else)?
Where the box says "text" enter the text that you wish the logo to say.
Can I move my image/signature to the top?
Sorry, but no you can't. (At least I don't know how)
How do I make my signature appear centered on the page?
Right after the <HTML> at the top of your signature add <CENTER>,
and just before the </HTML> at the bottom of your signature add </CENTER>. Everything in your signature will now appear centered on the page.
My image goes away after about one hour. Why?
Well it does say that the image is only stored for one hour. But you
are in luck. Press "Save image permanently" and follow the instructions
for the new image location.
I want a picture of xxx in my email, can you help?
No sorry, we can't. We don't currently offer that service, and if
you try to do it someother way, you run into "bandwidth stealing" issues.
We allow you to use our logos that are created on our site, but that
is all at the moment. This may change in the future.
How do I create a web page?
The easiest way for web-tv users is to use pagebuilder. Here is a help link
on how to use
Page Builder.
Can I upload images made here and then link to them from my "Scrapbook" for my email (signature)?
Step 1. Using the scrapbook uploader at www.transloader.com ...get all your images you want to use into your scrapbook.
Step 2. Add all the images you want use in your email sig on a page using PageBuilder and publish the page.
Step 3. Click on your new webpage to make sure all your images are there and then press your "Goto" then "Show Last" and then copy the address of your PageBuilder webpage using "CMD-C" making sure you hear the click that confirms your address was copied to your memory.
Step 4. Now take your Pagebuilder address to then Domania Source Viewer and erase
"hidden" and paste your address using "CMD-V" into the input field at
the bottom, then check "all links" and then click on "submit it".
Step 5.
On the next page you will see the codes of your Pagebuilder
webpage in a textarea and below that you will see links of your images
which you can click on to see them show up on a black background. Copy
all those codes which you can now use in your email.
Step 6.
(IMPORTANT) When you go to paste your image codes in your
signature box make sure you erase the -2 in the address or the images
won't show up in your email.
If you need to know how to arange your images in your email read through
WebGizmos Signature101 tutorial for tips how to do that.
How do I transload to my homepage?
1) First you must go to Transloader.com and save it in a "Favorites Folder".
2) Once you have saved the transloader in your favorites folder, you must asign an F-Key to the transloader by doing this;
(A) Click on the folder in which you saved the transloader.
(B) Once your folder opens up, click on "organize".
(C) Then click on "shortcuts".
(D) Then click on the button next to the file you want to assign to an F-Key.
(E) Then click on an F-Key number you want to assign the file to, then scroll down and click on done.
Ok, I've found an image, now what do I do!?
(1) First click on the image.
(2) It must be visible by itself on the center of your screen with a black background.
(3) Once it is on your screen, press your "Goto" button... then "Show Last" to get the url address of the image... when you see the address press "CMD-A" to highlight the address then "CMD-C" to copy it.
(4) Now press your asigned F-Key for the transloader. Now you will now be taken to the transloader along with the image you've chosen.
Input descriptions For Transloader.com
The "URL" input:
This is where the actual address of the image, midi, or page you wish to transload should be entered.
The "FTP Server" input:
This is where you will enter the FTP (File Transfer Protocol) for the website server you are transloading to. Below are several examples of what these are.
Talkcity ~> home.talkcity.com
Tripod ~> ftp.tripod.com
Geocities ~> ftp.geocities.com
Angelfire ~> ftp.angelfire.com
Note:If your website server name does not appear above you can write to the support service for your site. You should also be able to find this information somewhere on your site.
The "Username" input:
This is where you will enter the name you used when you signed up for your website.
The "Password" input:
This is where you will enter the password you used when you signed up for your website.
The "Subdirectory" input: (optional)
This is where you will enter the name of a specific subdirectory (which you create in your website files) you wish to transload your image, midi, or page to. For example, if you have a subdirectory you named gif, jpg, or midi, you would enter /gif, /jpg, or /midi. Then after entering your subdirectory name whatever it is your transloading will be sent directly into that directory. If you don't have any subdirectories just leave this blank.
The "Rename" input: (optional)
This is where you can rename the image, midi, or page your transloading to whatever want.
NOTE: You must be careful when doing this because you may already have something in your files under the same name. If you have an image in your files named something like "coolback.gif" and are transloading a different image to your files and should happen to name it the same thing the previous image will be over-written (erased) and replaced with the new image. Once that is done you cannot retrieve the previous image. The same is true if you should happen to have a webpage you worked hard on and send something to your files under the same name...all your hard work will be lost. And all files must end with the same file type as the one your transloading...such as .gif or .jpg or .html...you cannot change these endings.
The "Transload" button:
This is where you start the actual transload process to move images and/or files to your website. Just click on transload and your image or file will be moved to the destination you specified.
The "Scrapbook" Uploader:
This is used to move images to your Webtv "Scrapbook". Enter your image address then click on "Scrapbook Uploader" and your image will be added to your Webtv scrapbook and then can be used in your email signature or Pagebuilder.
I have some problem specific to WebTV
Although we don't have WebTV, we have endeavoured to make this site
as WebTV friendly as possible. Please ask your questions on the
WebTV Help Board or try the WebTV newsgroups; the people that read these are very helpful.
Click Here for more webtv help
Why does my saved image have the default Microsoft Windows icon and not the usual icon for images? (Back to Top)
When I try to open my saved image Windows says it can't find a program to open it. What is wrong?
If your saved image has the default Windows icon or Windows keeps
prompting you for the application to use to open the image when you
double-click on it then you forgot to add the image extension to your
filename when you saved it. All of our images should have either a .gif
or .jpg filename extension. Make sure you add the same extension that was
on our original image filename to your filename when you save your image.
It is not enough for it to show "Save as type: GIF (*.gif)" or "Save as type: JPEG (*.jpg)". You must still enter the extension eg coollogo.gif or coollogo.jpg .
How can I get my image with a transparent background? (Back to Top)
We have changed a number of styles to support transparency. Some styles
do not work well with transparency, but over time we will change
all the styles that can use transparency to use it. Look for a
Transparent or Background Mode: Transparent option on the
style's form.
Is this great service really free? What's the catch? (Back to Top)
How can I thank you? (Back to Top)
The best way is to simply link us!. You
may also like to tell your friends about us, write to magazines, or even
publish information about this site in books, magazines, and e-zines. Every
little bit helps.
If you would like to make a small financial contribution then the best way
is to buy a copy of FlamingText GIMP. We
get a few dollars and you get a great piece of software that lets you create
images on your PC, just like you do online at
FlamingText.com.
How did you guys come up with the idea for FlamingText.com? (Back to Top)
The site was something that I (Cameron) always wanted to do. I had
written a (simple)
button generator
in 1993, but never had the time to go big on it. One day, Dave showed my
GIMP and a cool script he had found to add animated flames to an image. Then
we found CoolText.com. Well it turns out that CoolText is an interface to
GIMP.
So we wrote our own interface to gimp, and have been making enhancements
ever since.
Dave did most of the initial work getting the
GIMP server
up and running (non-trivial), and writing the queuing modifications.
Our main goal is to be the number one source of on-line generated images
and our secondary goal is to increase the visibility of GIMP and Linux.
How do I become a "Featured Site" on your front page? (Back to Top)
Currently, we are not accepting submissions for sites. We are going to change it to a vote scheme.
When it is ready, then to be considered as a featured site, you will need to:
- Make good use of FlamingText graphics.
- Contain only family friendly content and links.
- Have a sharp, clean look to it. Preferably it should look better than ours does!
- No broken links, images etc.
- Work on at least Netscape and IE, and preferable WebTV too.
- Contain an appropriate link to say:
Graphics created online with <a target="top" href="http://www.flamingtext.com/"><b>FlamingText.com</b></a>
Where can I get help with HTML? (Back to Top)
My question isn't answered here, may I email you? (Back to Top)
Of course! But please, we get a lot of email so check carefully to make
sure that your question is not covered in this document first. If you do
email us then mention that you have read the FAQ! If you don't then there is
a good chance we will just send you the URL for this page :-)
Be sure to fully describe the problem. The more information you can provide
the better the chances are that we will be able to help you. For example, if
you encounter an error on the site then please include the URL of the page in
your email.
If you are sending a reply to one of our messages, then please include a summary
of the previous email(s) to jog our memory. (Like I said, we get a LOT of email!).
Ok, now that we've got that out of the way you may
email us.
Sometimes you can find me on IRC irc.gimp.org #flamingtext, feel free to come and chat, but don't ask me questions that are already answered here.
Enjoy!
FlamingText.com
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