2.3 Preview and Access Media with the Media Bar

Using Flock's Media Bar, you can quickly preview online videos and photos, subscribe to video feeds, keep up to date on your friends' picture postings, search media files, send videos to friends with one click, and much more!

In this section:

• View Media in the Media Bar
• Search for Media Using the Media Bar
• View Media in Your Own Online Account
• Find Media Streams
• Bookmark Favorites and Get Media Updates
• Drag and Drop from the Media Bar
• Post, Email and Share from the Media Bar

View Media in the Media Bar

1. To open the Media Bar, click the Media Bar camera icon button on the Flock Toolbar, or from the menu choose View > Minibar > Media Bar. (In Windows, CTRL+SHIFT+M is also a toggle for the Media Bar.)

2. Click the Media Streams button and choose a pre-configured stream from the drop-down list to view.

3. Rest your cursor over any thumbnail in the Media Bar to see a slightly larger preview of the picture along with tag and source information.
4. Click the arrows at the right or left sides of the Media Bar to scroll forward and back through thumbnails.

5. Click the buttons on the Media Bar's own mini navigation toolbar at top left to move forward and back, refresh, or mark as a favorite.

6. Click on any thumbnail to go directly to the web page source and see the full picture or video in your browser.
7. To change view settings, click the Media Streams button and select Settings > Show Advanced Controls.
   • The Display Mode button allows you to toggle on and off the display of additional data such as the photographer or posting date.
     
   • The Large View button allows you to set which size of thumbnail image you would prefer to view.
     
8. You can move the Media Bar to the bottom of the Flock window by clicking the Media Streams button, and then selecting Settings > Move to Bottom. Select Settings > Move to Top to move it back to the top of your browser.
9. To close the Media Bar, click on the camera icon button again, uncheck the Media Bar on the View menu, or click the X at the top right of the Media Bar.

Search for Media Using the Media Bar

1. Open the Media Bar (see above).
2. Click on the website icon at the left-hand side of the Media Bar Search Tool.
3. From the drop-down list select a Flock-supported media service to search, like Flickr or YouTube.

4. Type your text search terms into the Media Bar Search Tool.
5. Press Enter or click GO.
6. Thumbnails of photos or videos with descriptions or tags matching your search terms will appear in the Media Bar.

View Media in Your Own Online Account

1. Set up your online photo or video account in the Flock Accounts and Services Sidebar. (To learn how to do that, see Bring Your Social Network Together.)
2. Open the Media Bar (see above).
3. Click the Media Streams button.
4. Select My Accounts and then the particular account that you'd like to view. Only those accounts that you have previously set up in the Accounts and Services Sidebar will appear in this menu.
5. Thumbnails of your own public photos and videos in that account will automatically appear in the Media Bar.

Find Media Streams

1. Use the Media Bar Search Tool to search for media (see above), or click the Media Streams button and choose a pre-selected stream from the drop-down list.
2. Click on a thumbnail, and if the media source has its own Flock-supported media stream, the Media Stream camera icon in the Location Bar will turn orange.

3. Click on the orange camera icon in the Location Bar and select the media stream's title from the drop-down menu to view that stream.
4. Another way to find a stream is to click on a thumbnail in the Media Bar to visit the web page of the source photo or video.
5. Rest your cursor near the top of the source picture or video until the Flock Magic Bar appears, and then choose View Stream.
   Note: The Magic Bar only appears if the photo or video is located on a Flock-supported service.

6. You can also find media streams by using the Media Bar thumbnail popup (see Post, Email and Share below).

Bookmark Favorites and Get Media Updates

1. If you see a media stream you'd like to track, click the Star icon next to the Media Streams button to bookmark it as a favorite, or click the Media Stream button and select Add this stream to favorites.

2. From now own, the Media Bar button in the Flock Toolbar will glow orange when your favorite stream has new updates.
3. Click the Media Streams button and then select Favorite Streams to view your favorite media streams. Recently updated streams will say (NEW) beside them.
4. To remove a media stream from your favorites, click the Star again while viewing the stream, or click the Media Streams button and then Remove this stream from favorites.

Drag and Drop from the Media Bar

1. Click on any thumbnail you see in the Media Bar and drag it.
2. Drop the thumbnail into a web-based email like Yahoo mail.
3. Drop the thumbnail onto a friend's Facebook Profile Card in the People Sidebar, and the image will be automatically pasted into a Facebook message addressed to this friend, along with a link. If it's a video, just the link and thumbnail, not the entire video, will be pasted. (To learn more about working with the People Sidebar, see Bring Your Social Network Together.)

4. Drop the thumbnail just about anywhere: into a web-based email like Yahoo mail, a comment forum, a Flickr message, etc. If it's a Flock-supported service, there's a good chance the image itself will be automatically pasted in. Otherwise, Flock may paste in only the link to the image. In other cases, Flock may paste the HTML code for that part of the web page or, unfortunately, paste nothing at all. We're working on it!
5. Drop the thumbnail (or source image) into the Web Clipboard for easy saving and sharing later with your contacts through emails, blogs, forums etc. (To learn more about using the Web Clipboard, see Share Pictures, Text and Video.)

Post, Email and Share from the Media Bar

1. Rest your cursor on a thumbnail in the Media Bar.
2. Click on the white arrow which appears in the lower right corner of the thumbnail.

3. Click on Share and then Email This to send a link to the picture or video in an email.

4. Click on Share and then Blog This to copy the link into a blog posting. (To set up your blog to work with Flock, see Activate and Manage Blogs.)
5. Click on Copy, and then you can choose to copy either the web address or the full HTML code that will allow you to link to the picture or video in an email, web page, or in a blog or forum post. After copying, just go to your email program, a forum or blog and select Edit > Paste.
   Note: You can also access some of these same tools by resting your cursor near the top of the full source picture or video until the Flock Magic Bar appears.
6. Click Mini View to instantly view a video in a pop-up window.
7. Click the link at the top right of the frame to view the media stream of the person or company that uploaded the media.

 

Now you're ready to learn how to Bring Your Social Network Together...

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