Choosing your images

When choosing an image or images to add to your post,  it’s important to think about what it adds to the story. As this is a blog post, it’s not the place to include whole figures or data-heavy graphs. Instead, aim to add images that showcase the points you are making in the text, which will grab the reader’s attention and help them to understand the science being described. This could be striking images from the research, pictures of science in action, or of the team themselves. For some ideas of what makes an interesting image, take a look at some of those shared on our Instagram Account.

As well as images, videos are another visual way of encouraging engagement with your post. 

Adding a poster image

Adding a ‘Poster Image’ to the top of your post will help to grab attention and engage readers from the Community home page and through email updates. You can use an image from the post, or a separate image that helps to capture the theme of the post.

For the best fit, poster images should be at least 1280 x 960 pixels in size.

Once you’ve selected the image you want to add, in the post creation page, click on the ‘Poster image’ tab, and then ‘select image’ (shown right). This will open a window showing any previous images you have uploaded to your own ‘Image Library’.

To upload a new image, click on the ‘Upload New’ tab and either drag and drop your image into the box, or click ‘browse your device’ to upload it from your device’s files. Once you have chosen your image, be sure to save your post.

Adding an image to your blog post text

As well as an attention-grabbing poster image, adding images within the text of a blog post can really help readers to navigate your post. 

Once you are happy with the image you would like to add, click on the line you would like to add the image to and then select the ‘image’ button – shown right.

This will open an ‘Insert/Edit Image’ window. Selecting ‘Upload’ will allow you to drag and drop your image into the page or browse your device for the image.

If you then move to the ‘General’ tab, you can add a caption (Image title) and alternative description of the image before saving and uploading it to your post.

Making sure your images are accessible and inclusive

It is important that any images or videos you include in your post are accessible for all users of the Community. This includes adding a clear alternative description for images and videos, and captions for videos. To find out more about how to ensure your images are accessible, take a look at this post.