SpeedBreeze

In the past, I explained how to use image effects in Microsoft Word 2007. In today’s tutorial post, I am going to explain how to use the image effects built into Windows Live Writer, or WLW.

How to Add a Picture to a Blog Post

1. Click the “Insert Picture…” link in the “Insert” section of the WLW sidebar.
   
2. An “Insert Picture” dialog will pop up. Select the photo that you want to put in your post.

Basic Image Options and Effects

Under the Image tab in the sidebar, you can find several basic image settings:

• The layout section allows you to set the image’s margins and set how text is wrapped around it.
• The borders section of the sidebar contains pre-made borders for images. These include a drop-shadow style and a photo paper style (Note: these seem to only work in Windows Vista).
• The Link to section allows you to add a hyperlink to your image.

Under the Advanced tab in the sidebar, you can find tools to make basic tweaks to the look of images in your blog post:

• The tools in the image size section of the sidebar allow you tweak the size of the images in your blog posts.
• The tools in the image actions section of the sidebar allow you to change the contrast of the image and rotate the image.
• The text box in the other section of the sidebar allows you to set the text that will be displayed instead of the image in case the user shuts off images in their browser.

Advanced Image Effects

Under the Effects tab in the sidebar, you can find more advanced image effects. To add an image effect, click the + icon, and then select an effect from the menu. There are currently two types of image effects that you can use:

• Overlays are used to take one type of media and put it on to an image. Currently, WLW only supports putting text watermarks onto images.
• Transformations allow you to change the overall look of the image. Currently, there are several different types of transformations supported in WLW:
  • Black and white
  • Sepia tone
  • Adjust temperature
  • Color pop
  • Sharpen
  • Gaussian blur
  • Emboss

My Thoughts

Overall, I was impressed by effects in WLW such as watermarking. However, I think that Word has a far wider range of image effects than WLW. I also think that the image tools are arranged in a far more less logical fashion in WLW than in Word. This makes WLW a bit confusing to use at first.

I wouldn’t worry about these minor issues. WLW is currently in beta; these issues will probably be sorted out in the near future.

I hope that users hoping to learn more about Windows Live Writer will find this post useful. Have fun blogging!