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Article Submission

Do you have a passion for writing? Please help support this site by contributing your articles

We are looking for volunteer writers who are able to write and contribute original articles to the PicturesOfEngland.com website in an attempt to get the article section off the ground and established.  You don’t need to be a pro writer; you just need an interest in something relating to the country of England. This could be a special interest in a particular period of English history, famous English people, buildings, particular towns, villages or attractions, myths and legends, wildlife or photography, the list is endless! Articles could even be based around a particular picture or set of pictures from the site.  As long as the article is your own original work, adds interest to the site, and is legible, it will be published!  Please give it a go! If you have a website, submitting regular articles to PicturesOfEngland.com is a great way to promote it and gain a healthy amount of new visitors!

How to submit an article to wwwPicturesOfEngland.com - Simply create in word and then email it.
Below are some optional guidelines for helping you to compose and submit your articles to the site. Alternatively (and the easiest way for novices) is to simply create the article on your own computer and then email it to: uk2@picturesofengland.com. Once received we will then put it on the site for you and add any relevant images, after which you'll be able to edit the article at any time you like.

If you would rather use the on-site form to submit your articles, please read below.

1) Guidelines - 2) Preparation - 3) The Submit Article Form - 4) Insert Image & Preview - Help & Contact

Step 1 - Guidelines

For the type of article we accept, please browse some of the articles listed here which will also give you an idea of what articles have already been covered by other people.
If you'd simply like to write a short travel review or travel experience, please use our 'England Travel Experiences' forum which can be found here.

Step 2 - Article Preparation

1) Compose your article in a word processor
Please compose your article in a word processing program like 'Microsoft Word' or similiar, and regularly 'save' your file on your own computer. This ensures that you don't lose your work due to the website 'timing out' or from a loss of connection.

2) Find images first..
Before attempting to submit your article, you may want to browse the site to find any images that you may wish to include. Once you have found an image you wish to include, take a note of the image 'ID' which can be found in the first box directly below the image.

Step 3 - The Form (Skip this if you want to simply email your articles to us instead)

The easiest way to create and submit an article is to use a word processor such as 'Microsoft Word' so that you can save your articles regularly as you compose them, then when your article is finished simply email it to us at the following address: uk2@picturesofengland.com.
However, once your article is complete, you may wish to use the article submission form on the site, which allows you to add images etc and submit the article yourself. (if you email the article, we will add the images for you, however you can still edit your own articles once they are on the site)

To create an article directly on the site, go to your 'My Articles' page and click the link 'Add an article' found in the middle of the page.
You will now see the form used to compose your article, and a page heading of Submit Article.
Here is a description of the various form fields and what they do -

Click here to open the 'Add Article' page in a new window so you can still follow these instructions.

1. Location - Linking your article to the correct location

You will need to associate your article with a relevant town, attraction, county or country. Here is how to do this:

In the first form field which is labelled 'Location', begin to type in the name of the town, attraction, county, or even country that you want your article associated with.
For instance, if your article is about Big Ben, start to type Big Ben, if it is about Castles in England simply start to type 'England'.
A dynamic list will appear matching results to the characters you type. Once the correct 'location' that you want your article linked to appears in the dynamic list, click on it and the dynamic list will vanish leaving the correct location automatically filled in.
If you make a mistake or chose the wrong location, simply delete the text and try again. If your article is about a particular attraction or a town, but it fails to appear in the dynamic list when you type, simply associate your article to the most relevant county, or England

2. Title
In this field simply type in the title of your article, e.g. 'The History of Big Ben'

3. Sub-Title (optional)
You may want a sub-title for your article, which will appear in bold text just under the main article title when it is published.

4. Article
This is the largest part of the form and where you 'paste' your main article text (minus its title) into the form.
If you are pasting from Microsoft Word do yourself a favour and use the button from the form toolbar 'Paste from Word'. This will help format the article correctly, eliminating any strange 'Microsoft Word only' formatting. If paragraph breaks are too big after you've pasted, simply delete some of the space by positioning your cursor in the article and using your 'Backspace' key.

5. Meta Description (optional)
Though not necessary as one will be auto-generated if you don't put one in, try and type in an accurate and readable description for your article. E.g. 'An article about the history and architecture of the famous Houses of Parliament by John Smith'
A good description will help your article be found in the search engines.

6. Meta Keyword (optional)
Though not as important as the above description, some search engines still use keywords to pick-up on your article. These are words seperated by commas that tell the search engine what words relate to your article. If your article was about the history of Big Ben, keywords might be: big ben,london,history,bell,sir benjamin hall,westminster palace,houses of parliament,england

Step 4 - Image Insert Tool & Article Preview

1) Image Placement
To place an image in your article, simply click in the article body where you want the image positioned, so that the cursor is flashing in the desired location such as the top-left (recommended if your only using 1 image), then on the toolbar at the bottom of the 'Article' field, click the button 'Insert/edit image' found to the left of the smiley face.

When you've clicked the 'Insert/edit image' button, a small pop-up box will appear. This is the tool used for inserting images into your article.
Having already clicked in your article so that the tool knows where you want to insert the image, in the pop-up box type (not paste) the image ID into the top form field of the tool, and the image will appear in the preview window of the image tool.
Please note that if you DO paste the image ID into the box instead of typing it in, you'll need to delete and re-type the last digit of the image ID to make the image 'Preview' appear.
You can also use the tool to change image size (please only use medium size images) and change image alignment.

If you're happy with the image simply finish inserting it by clicking the button labelled 'Insert' and your image should appear in the article and the pop-up box will disappear.

3) Preview & Submit
Now that you have placed some images in your article, use the 'Preview' button from the article toolbar to preview your article (minus its headings). You can close the preview window by clicking its cross in the top-right corner, just like you close a browser window. You can preview your article at any time and as many times as you want.

Once happy with your article, simply click 'Submit Article' to finish adding it to PicturesOfEngland.com. You can then instantly view your article on the site by going to 'My Articles' where it will be listed, and from there you can also edit it as many times as you like.
See below for some useful tips..

Tips:

• You can drag images around in the 'Article' form by left-clicking on the image and holding the mouse button down, allowing you to drag the image until your happy with placement.
• To delete an image when editing your article, simply click on the image then press the 'Delete Key' on your keyboard, or use the 'Undo' button on the article toolbar.
• USE the 'Preview' button on the toolbar, to preview what your article will look like when it's pblished.(minus its headings)
• Don't saturate your article with too many images, just use them to complement the text, not overwhelm it.
• Once you have submitted your article, you can 'Edit' your article straight away and as many times as you like, so please don't worry about making mistakes. Your article, even when submitted will ONLY be visible to you until it has been approved.
• When logged in, you will find an 'edit' link directly at the bottom of your article, and on your 'My Articles' page where your articles are listed.
  

 

Help & Contact

If you have any questions at all, please post them in our member forums or email Chris & Sarah at: uk2@picturesofengland.com and we will get back to you asap.

Thank you for supporting PicturesOfEngland.com.
If you would like to support the site in other ways, please see our support page here.