Online Volunteering Tips, Tools and Technology by Randy Tyler

How to Insert Images into a Gmail Message Body from a URL or Your Desktop

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Enable Google Labs Feature to Easily Insert Images into Your Gmail Message Body

In the recent past, Google allowed images to be dragged and dropped into the body of an Gmail message (without enabling the "Insert Image" Google Labs feature. However, enabling the said Google Labs feature will allow you to insert an image into your Gmail message body from your desktop as well as from a posted image (via a URL).

How to Enable and Use the Google Labs Insert Image Feature

• With your Gmail account open, click on Settings and then Labs
• Scroll down about a third of the page to the "Inserting images" option and select "Enable"
• Scroll to the bottom of the page (or to the top) and save your changes.
• Click on Compose (a new message)
• In Gmail's menu, a square green icon will now be present, which indicates the insert image option (see the above screen capture image, which also shows an inserted image).
• Clicking on the green icon reveals a window with the following two insert image options (see the above screen capture image): 1. My Computer (click on the browse button to upload an image from your computer) 2. Web Address (click on the words "Web Address" and provide the specific, full URL to a hosted image). If you have provided the correct URL, your image will be viewable.

For further information about how a non profit organization can develop a productive virtual volunteering program through the use of appropriate technology, please visit this Online Volunteering Resource.

Only Google's Web-Based E-mail Service, Gmail, Retains a Secure Connection After Log-in

Of the three major free Web-based e-mail services (Yahoo, Windows Live/Hotmail and Gmail), only Gmail retains an encrypted (secure) connection after log-in. Each mail service's secure Web site connection is identified by https (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) and verified by a Certificate Authority: VeriSign (Windows Live), Thawte (Gmail) and Equifax (Yahoo).

Yahoo mail provides an SSL (secure) connection by default but reverts back to a unencrypted http (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) connection after log-in. Windows Live, by default, is not an encrypted connection.Windows Live Mail requires a user to click on the "Enhanced Security" link (before logging-in) to connect via an https connection. After log-in, Windows Live reverts back to an unencrypted (http) connection. Gmail (Google Mail) has now enabled an encrypted (https) connection by default and remains secure while the user is logged in.

Do you use one of these free Web-based e-mail services? Do you use a public, unencrypted wireless network? If you sign in to a Web-based e-mail service via a non-secure (http) Internet connection, such as a public wireless or a non-encrypted network, you are more vulnerable to unauthorized people viewing your account information.

For further information about how a non profit organization can develop a productive virtual volunteering program through the use of appropriate technology, please visit this Online Volunteering Resource.