Create a Signature Under Your Posts About This Page:

[Jennifer Marx]

How to Create Your Signature

This tutorial explains how to create a signature that appears under your posts in this message board. This is a multi-page tutorial -- use the Contents box above or the page numbers at the bottom to navigate.

All registered members may create and use a "signature." A signature is text and/or images that is automaticaly inserted at the end of all your posts -- it's a little like having personalized note paper.

Show Printable Version of this Tutorial

Here's how to create a signature:

Go to My Home Click the My Home link -- it is on the far left end of the orange bar at the top of every PassPorter Community page.

Open Your Signature For Editing Once you're in My Home, click the Edit Signature link in the menu on the left side of the screen. A editor window will open, ready for your text and images.

Note: If you are lacking the buttons above the white editor box, as shown in the image above, that may be because your editor options are set to Basic. To change this, go to My Home > Edit Options and choose either Standard Editor or Enhanced Interface from the Message Editor Interface drop-down list near the bottom.

Type Your Signature The simplest signature is simply your name. Type your name in the white editor box. You can use the buttons at the top of the white box to format your name with colors, styles, and sizes.

Save Your Signature When you're done, scroll down and click the Save Signature button.

Check Your Signature To see your signature, click the Edit Signature link again (step 2) and a preview of your signature will appear at the top.

[break=Adding a Signature Picture]
Adding Images to Signatures

In addition to text, you can display images in your signature. There are two ways to place images in your signature -- one is to use the Signature Picture option, another is to use the IMG tags. We'll start with the Signature Picture option.

Adding a Signature Picture Return to the Edit Signature link (see step 2) and scroll down to the Signature Picture area below the white signature editor box. Here you can add a signature picture with two options -- direct URL or uploading. If your image is already on the web (perhaps with an image hosting service like Photobucket) and you know the web address of your image (URL), you can type it here in Option 1 and click Save Signature. If your image is on your computer, click the Choose File/Browse button, locate your image on your computer, and click Save Signature.

IMPORTANT LIMITS: Images cannot be larger than 300 pixels tall x 400 pixels wide, or 30k. You may have a maximum of three images in your signature. You may have a maximum of 7 lines in your signature. Text size in a signature can be no larger than size 5. If any of these limits are exeeded, a message will display indicating this and you should reduce the appropriate size before saving your signature. See our guidelines for more details.

Put the Signature Picture in Your Signature Once you've successfully uploaded your signature picture, it will display in the Signature Picture section (see photo below). Now you need to actually tell the system to include the picture in your signature. Look for a link called Insert Signature Picture and click it.

Clicking the Insert Signature Picture link will add two SIGPIC tags to your signature (see image below) -- these tags tell the system to display your picture in your signature. Click Save Signature.



Here is how our example signature appears with the text and the picture:


[break=Using the IMG Tag]
Using the IMG Tag

As I mentioned at the start of page 2 of this tutorial, you can also use the IMG tag to add images to your signature. You can use the IMG tag in conjuction with a Signature Picture or alone. To do this, go to Edit Signature (step 2 of this tutorial) and click the Image Button in the editor's toolbar -- it looks like a mountain and sun (see image below):



Once you click on the Image button, a dialog box (see image below) appears and asks you for the web address to the image. Type this in and press OK.



If the system was able to connect to the image successfully, your image will appear in your signature editor either as the image itself (see below) or as an IMG tag link to it. How you see your image in your signature editor depends on your type of browser and whether you're using the Standard Editor or Enhanced Interface. Click Save Signature to save your image in your signature.



You can also include the IMG tag manually by typing the open tag [ I M G ], the web address to the image, and the close tag [ / I M G ] (without any spaces), like this:



You can move your text, Signature Picture, and image(s) around in your signature as you like. You can also add a countdown timer and a Previous Vacations box, which we cover in separate tutorials.

Check out more tutorials in the PassPorter Tutorial Collection.