Downloading Images from External Sources

Objective: Download an image from an external source and upload it to your wiki files.   To design a site that's visually appealing, you're going to need some images. Here's how to get them -- but remember, you're the designer, so what you choose is up to you!

Task 1: Downloading images

Finding the right image is often not difficult. What's challenging is finding one that complements the purpose of your wiki. Open-source photography sites like morgueFile are useful; all you usually need to do is resize or crop the image after you acquire it. Exercise responsible use of others' materials, and read the rules for the use of each site's images.

For the purposes of this tutorial, 'external source' means external to the wiki. This can be a cloud source like morguefile.com, a storage device like a thumb drive, or a local site like a folder on your desktop. You can find other sources for images on the Resources page.

1. Think about the purpose of your wiki (e.g. collaborative classroom interaction, social interaction, a particular course or aspect of language learning, etc.). Consider what kinds of images might serve to reinforce or support your message visually. We'll use Morguefile.com for our image source.
2. Make a new folder on your desktop and call it 'Images.'
3. Open a browser and go to Morguefile.com. Choose an image that's appropriate for your wiki's purpose. I like 'alligators', which I plan on using for a class before a field trip to the zoo.
4. Find the image you like and mouse over on the thumbnail image. Click on the 'Download' icon. Click 'Save as...' and download the image to your desktop folder.
5. Congratulations! You now have an alligator (or whatever image you chose) in your Images desktop folder.