It would be very helpful to have allow full off-site image URL reference instead of local path reference when inserting an image. This feature is very helpful for, e.g., Ebay listing design with images that remain offsite on a hosting service.

There are code insertion and i-frame options however these do not allow image manipulation and the complete document cannot be reviewed in SiteSpinner. Transparent offsite image reference preserves the WSYIWYG approach of SiteSpinner, minimizes design time, and can be one of the main reasons for selecting SiteSpinner.

DH

This must not be a high priority request since it was first suggested back in Feb 2007. Maybe if more people would like it...?

It may or may not be popular (the first instance of a request is not necessarily an indication of popularity, some will simply choose another builder and not bother with a feature request, and many important feature requests do get ignored), however it is very useful, especially with the rapid increase in image hosting services.

It is also a very important change for anyone who wishes to use offsite images on a service such as Ebay which charges for local image storage. Without it the somewhat limited NVU remains preferable for its WYSIWYG feature.

DH

I can't speak to the likelyhood of this feature being added but in the meantime you should find that the code object does a pretty reasonable job of it.

If you add image code to a code object you will have a rectangle in the workspace that you can size and position as you like. On the published page or in preview, the image will appear at the size and position of the frame. You can also add things like links or borders using the quick properties editor. You could even give the code object shading to help it appear a bit more like an image in the workspace.

Things that won't work are: image rotation, contrast or brightness. But those things would not work on an image with an off-site reference either because they require image re-rendering which, by definition, won't be off-site.

The image code you need to add looks like this:

<img src='http://yourdomain.com/somefolder/yourimage.jpg' width='100%' height='100%' alt='your description'>

The parts in red are what you need to change for your specific image.

For example, try putting the following in a code object and then previewing:

<img src='http://www.virtualmechanics.com/image/banner4.jpg' width='100%' height='100%' alt='SiteSpinner 2.7' >

Another work-around that works very well and gives you a WYSISYG feature is to map the network site as a Windows Network Location (see this tutotial). This allows the off-site location to be accessed as a network drive and will appear in the File Open dialog window so images can be accessed directly.

This method will also allow you to do image rotation, contrast, brightness and any other image manipulation tool available in SiteSpinner just as if the image was on your local computer.