Media Centre Overview and Uploading Media

(order as listed in Media Centre)

• Media Inbox: Part of Media Workflows if applied, Contributor media appears in the Inbox and needs to be approved by Media Editor to go live
• Design Images: Several separate Image folders used for Design Centre Images - chiefly two folders - 'Background' and 'Icons' - note that these images override if multiples of same name are uploaded vs Main Media Library where additions are appended with 1, 2 etc.
• Media Items: This is where you upload most Media on the Control-side - you select Album (Media Library Section) and then Upload option, you can also browse existing media here
• Media Editor: A Flash-based Media Editor for manually creating and manipulating image assets from master file, this will soon be deprecated and replaced by an HTML5 alternative
• Media Export: Allows you to Export your Media Master Files / Originals where possible, and where those have been retained
• Documents: An older system of storing and displaying Docs and PDFs, since superseded by the Main Media Library - this 'Documents' will soon be deprecated as this is essentially duplicate functionality
• Dropboxes: Sync personal or company Dropbox folders with Affino - very useful when dealing with extremely large file sizes
• Get New Dropbox Files: Sync trigger which checks and brings across new files
• Media Image Profiles: The individual 'Cookie Cutters' which create smaller re-sized assets from the original uploaded master file - e.g. 1280x720 or 720x486: 'Maintain Aspect Ratio' is recommended
• Media Library Profiles: Display Format Settings Profiles for Display-side Media Libraries - various display option settings and icons - for Main Media Library, Media Panels and Bars, Media Details, Music and Video Players, Media Scroller and Slide Show
• Media Provider Profiles: Embedded Media Provider Profiles - e.g. SoundCloud, Vimeo, YouTube etc.
• Media Upload Profiles: These Profiles, assigned to Media Library Channels, control the Media Upload to the Media Library - file types permitted, and 'Cookie Cutters' employed - usually 4 varieties at least - Thumb and Detail for Content Display, as well as Media Library Previews
• Media Workflow Profiles: Settings Profiles which allow 3rd Party Contributors to submit media in a controlled fashion
• Streaming Sources: Simply a Streaming Server URL for Media stored outside of the Affino Hosting setup, or outside that particular main server - usually done for sake of efficiency and load management

On your initial Affino site setup you will usually find a default 'Media Library' Channel and Section  called simply that. You may need to add further Media Library Sections or Channels depending on usage and display requirements. There is normally one central repository for most content images, and then additional Media Libraries for display purposes - for Image Galleries and the like.

You can either Upload from an Article Edit Form - simply clicking on one of the default media image thumbnails - which then pops up a mini library / lightbox window showing the most recently uploaded media and also giving you the options to [Search] and [Upload]

Alternatively you can simply hit the: Media Items - [Add] option

This will bring you to an Album [Select] screen where you select which Media Library Section applies - make your selection

Options:

• Green  = Upload single file instantly
• Red = Enter either Media Embed Code or URL - e.g. YouTube URL from video page - this will upload a reference of that file to Affino, which means it is indexed into Affino's display-side content, search etc. even while still being called through from the source reference - e.g. YouTube in this example

For all different upload options you will encounter a Media Item edit form with several settings - this is already pre-ticked for 'Live' so except for special requirements, Ecommerce use etc. you can simply skip all the various settings and hit [Save] directly.

Note - your account manager should advice you on optimal Image sizes for your Affino site design - if there is a significant disparity between largest and smallest image size deployed on site, you may need to upload smaller Thumbnail type image in addition to Main Large Master File. We typically advice larger image format not exceed 2000 pixels in width or height.

On Channel, Section and Article / Item edit forms, you will see small picture icons labelled Thumbnail or Image 1 etc. You click on these to make your image selection or to upload images via article edit stage.

Affino pops up a mini lightbox / library - displaying a variety of your most recently uploaded media. You will see duplicates of the same image, but these are actually the various cookie-cut smaller sizes, as well as the original master. Beneath each image you will see pixel dimensions which help you choose the correct one for each application. - e.g. 72x468

You can page through the lightbox, or else hit the [Search] option - which highlights the importance of Naming Convention, and how easily your image files are identifiable and retrievable,

Note - For Responsive Affino will Scale images down to size to fit, we don't by rule scale up though, as images will appear distorted and fuzzy, and contain compression 'artifacts'

• Most issues with Media are around selecting the correct Image / Image size - which is helped by having a smart Naming Convention, and applying due diligence when creating and selecting such images - there are visible references onscreen at all times
• Be aware that there are two types of JPEG - one is a CMYK variant and is intended for print, Affino will only accept the RGB Web variant version
• Issues with Upload options are usually to do with how Media Upload Profile is set up, there are also Media Upload Limits assigned on Media Workflow Profiles for Contributor Users
• If your image is appearing distorted their are three main causes:
• You have selected the wrong image size - usually too small a size, but occasionally way larger
• There is too great a gap between largest and smallest image sizes on-site and you require a separate smaller image reference
• We are running a custom script to 'fix' image sizes on the page, and the original source image / master file is simply too small for the new requirement