How to Make Linkable Gaia Item Icons

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★ How to Make Linkable Gaia Item Icons

This is a guide for how to make clickable pictures that link to somewhere on the web. --Specifically: how to make Gaia's item icons clickable links that lead to the marketplace.

The next post shows the goal. This is what you want the code to look like.

Post 3 takes you through the steps of creating that code. You can type it all up by hand or you can use some of Gaia's features that makes it a bit easier. It doesn't matter how the code is created as long as the code is the right format.

Post 4 shows you the magic of GaiaUpgrade. GaiaUpgrade is a 3rd party tool that adds a button to Gaia that does all the work for you.

Post 5 has some extra info.

Post 6 ... isn't done yet.

And Post 7 shows a trick you can do using GaiaUpgrade to make code that uses one of the item's poses.

 

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★ The Link

Here's your goal. This is the format of how to post an item icon that links users to the marketplace when they click it.


That green portion is your basic shell of the URL link. [url=][/url] You fill it in with the image links. (Don't forget that " ] " after the equal sign; it will sit at the end of the first url)
That orange portion is where you fill in the marketplace link of the item. (You can link to any webpage, really.)
The red portion is the link to the item image. (You can use any image link, really. Orrrr, if you don't add the image tags, you can put any word here, such as, the name of the item.)
In this case, image tags are needed because you want the picture to appear. If you forget the image tags [img][/img], the image link will appear as a text link instead of the image.


It doesn't matter what order you type it up in as long as the final text follows that format. The next post will take you through the steps of a quick method to piece it together. It looks like a lot of steps, but it's quick once you've done it several times. Also, if you end up finding that a different method or order of adding text works best for you, go for it! c:

If you really want a quick method, consider downloading a user extension called GaiaUpgrade. I'm not affiliated with GaiaUpgrade. I will show some screen shots of how easy they make it to get these links. If you have any questions about that extension, please visit their Gaia thread. (You'll have to visit that thread anyway in order to get the extension.)

 

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★ How to Create the Code

Follow these steps in order to learn how to create an item icon that links users to the marketplace. (Using a PC)

1. Go to the marketplace listing of your item and keep it open (in another tab). If you'd like to follow along with these instructions, I'm using the KiKi Kitty Plushie. Otherwise, use the item you'd like to link so that it's done by the end.

2. Right click on the image of the item. Each browser uses different language, but copy the url of the image. Don't just copy the image. You need the link, not the image itself.

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3. Go to your new forum post, profile comment, private message (PM) etc (and keep it open in another tab). Click the "IMG" button.

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4. A new box will appear. Paste (ctrl v) the link and press okay. (Alternatively, you could paste the link and add the image tags after. Whatever you want to do as long as your image link gets tagged.)

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5. Return back to the marketplace listing. Copy the url of that page.

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6. Now, return back to the post you're writing. Highlight what we've created already (the image link and tags)

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7. Then click the url button.

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8. And a new box will appear. Paste (ctrl v) the marketplace link into that box.

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9. Click okay. A new prompt appears with text already in it. Don't worry about it. Click okay again. (That second box has the image link and tags because you highlighted it. If you didn't highlight, it's asking you to input that info. If you forgot to highlight, cancel and start again from step 6. Problem is, you can't copy/paste that text into the box since you can't leave the prompt to retrieve it. This isn't a big issue, but I'd have too much side explanation to say what to do when this happens.)

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10. Tada! You're done! Preview your message to make sure it's all good.

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In other words:

 

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★ Gaia Upgrade

If all of that above is too many steps, consider downloading GaiaUpgrade. It's a 3rd party tool created by users. The extension works on Chrome or Firefox.
There are tons of features (that you might also enjoy). You can opt in and out of the features. If you dislike the other features, turn them all off but leave on the "Item BBCode" option.
Please see their official Gaia thread for their features, download instructions, FAQ and any questions you have regarding GaiaUpgrade.


Make sure that the BBCode feature is enabled.

The Item BBCode feature can be found in the Items section. Have "Get item BBCode" selected (check the box).

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The BBCode Button is available in many places like, the marketplace listings, your wishlist, and your inventory. This very magic button creates the linked item code for you.

For example, here's what the marketplace looks like with GaiaUpgrade. (You can opt out of any of those buttons.)

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For comparison, this is without all those buttons.

If you click Get BBCode, a new pop up appears with a lot more options.


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The first option will provide a link to that item's marketplace listing, using its name. In other words, linked text.
The second option will provide a link to that item's marketplace listing, using its icon. (Notice how that format matches what we created in Post 3)
The third option gives you images of all of its poses, but no link to the marketplace.

Choose the middle option -- Just highlight and copy the text that's there (ctrl A then Ctrl C) and then paste (ctrl V) it in your post. Or whatever method you do for copying and pasting.
This skips allll of the above steps from Post 3 because your link was created for you.

(Click anywhere outside the pop up (that grayed out area) to close it.)

 

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★ Other Stuff

Image urls will usually have their file formats at the end of the link. You'll see something such as ".PNG" or ".GIF"
If you use an image tag [img][/img] with your image url, you can see the image. If those tags aren't working, then you probably aren't using an image link. So be sure to check that you see the file format. Here's a Wikipedia article that lists various image file formats.



As I mentioned before, different browsers use different language when trying to copy an image url. Here's what to look for:

Chrome: Copy Image Address
Internet Explorer/Microsoft Edge: Copy (This really does copy the image url)
Firefox: Copy Image Location
Safari: Copy Image Address

Any others? You can google instructions for the browser you use.  

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★ Mobile Devices

same steps, but using a tablet. .... Maaaybe. I have a lot of other guides I need to update first before I get to this  

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★ Extra GaiaUpgrade Tricks

When talking with other users, sometimes it's useful to link a specific pose.. and not the item icon. You can create this link using the steps from post 2 and the item pose, buuuut~ here's an easy way to do that using the Gaia Upgrade extension.

1. Go to Dress Up and search for the item.

2. Equip the pose you want. And only that one pose. GU will create tags for all the items you have equipped. ...This is useful if you want to post multiple links at once.

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3. Select Get BBCode.

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4. A new pop up appears with the code already made... but using the selected pose. Copy the "Linked Item Thumbnails" text.

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5. Paste the text.
[url=http://www.gaiaonline.com/marketplace/itemdetail/3856/][img]http://s.cdn.gaiaonline.com/images/thumbnails/2f833712f14.png[/img][/url]

You now have a linked pose:

Instead of the main icon:

Really, if you have a whole outfit equipped, it will provide a list of your items, using the poses that you have equipped. If you no longer have room in your closet space to save avatars, you can use this feature to save a list of your items somewhere (create a thread or journal entry) for you to check later. Be sure to add an image of the avatar too.  

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