Squirl Quick Start Guide
Getting started with Squirl is fast, easy and fun. Follow these steps:
- Sign up, click on the link in our confirmation email, and you're done. Takes about 10 seconds.
- Create a collection. As easy as filling in a form. Name the collection and decide how you want it to look. Takes about 15 seconds.
- Start uploading to your collection. This is easy, and we offer a number of ways to do it:
- Direct import from Amazon is available for books, music, movies and video games. Using Amazon import, you can create a collection of dozens of things, including photos and other info on you items, in just a few minutes.
- Batch upload lets you upload up to five items at once. You can go back and edit things you've batch uploaded later. If you already have photos of your stuff, you can populate a collection in minutes.
- Individual upload offers fine-tuned control.
Images
Here are some quick tips to easily take good photos for Squirl.
- Use a digital camera, and set your camera resolution appropriately. I have a 5 megapixel camera, but for Squirl shots I set it at 1 megapixel. This lets you take more pictures quickly, and it makes it much faster to upload them. Plus, if the picture are the right size out of the camera, you don't have to bother resizing them. Remember to set the resolution back when you're done.
- Use natural light, it almost always makes for better pictures. Try setting up a photo station during the day near a window. This can be very simple. To take pictures of my records, I put blank newsprint on the ground near a sliding glass door in the morning, and they come out great. With the resolution set to 1 megapixel, I can take a bunch of photos quickly upload them at my leisure. These are the results:
http://squirl.info/collection/show/2 - Scanning is another option for old photos or images of flat items, like documents or autographs. As with photos, set your scanning software so that the images that come out are 1MB or less in size.
Once you get going with your Squirl collection, you'll find that uploading stuff is a lot of fun. It gives you a chance to reacquaint yourself with your collection, and reminds you why you started collecting all that stuff in the first place.
Text
Here are some quick tips for writing effective copy on Squirl.
- Stay away from all-caps. Many people on the web interpret captialized text as shouting. Use lowercase text or only capitalizing the first word.
- Give your items descriptions. It makes other people more likely to check them out, it can remind you of fun facts or anecdotes about your collection, and it lets your collection tell a story.
