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Email Me at nettek12@hotmail.com

Putting a Webcam Online

So you want to put your webcam online? Great! Obviously, you know that doing this brings you advantages like letting distant relatives see how your doing or even taking a peek at your children from work. Now, I know there are other ways to do this, but this is a quick, fairly easy way to do this without taking up your computer's resources. (That is geek-talk for " It won't make you computer slow as molasses!")

This process may seem hard at first glance, but is fairly simple if you know the logic behind it (Basic web-design knowledge doesn't hurt either). 

The Logic

Here's how it works. Your camera will capture a picture how-ever many seconds you decide using a specific program called Webcam32. The picture is automatically uploaded to your server (where-ever you put your website). In my case, this is Tripod.com. The software asks that you give your image a name (eg. webcam32.jpg). In essence, you are uploading a different picture under the same name every how-ever many seconds you choose - not streaming a video feed.

Requirements

  1. Windows 98 and up (I believe you can also do this with Apple)
  2. Internet Explorer or Netscape
  3. Internet Connection
  4. Webcam
  5. Website

Step 1 Embed the Image

Take a picture with you webcam using the software it cam with. Save it with a .jpg extension (eg. webcam32.jpg). My webcam saves these images in .bmp format. I simply use a photo editing software to convert it to .jpg. Upload this image to your site. One of the prerequisites to doing this is that you have a website. So, I assume you know how to upload images through software or hard-coding it. Embed the image where-ever you desire. Save and upload. Remember which page in which embedded the image. This is the only page you will be working with for this project. This step will also allow you to see if your camera is functioning properly.

Step 2 Refreshing the Page

For this step, you must hard-code a specific HTML code into the site with the image. For those who are just beginning, please do not be afraid. Follow the instructions and you will be fine. In offline website programs, there is usually tabs at the bottom of their browser. In Frontpage, there is Normal, HTML, Preview. If you are doing this in Frontpage, click on HTML. If you don't have Frontpage, your program should have an option to let you look and type in HTML code. 

Choose to edit the site with the embedded image.  It is VERY important that you put this code in the SAME page as the embedded image. Here is the code:

<META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="30; http://your website address">

Translation: Please refresh this site (make sure you enter the address with the embedded pictures) every 30 seconds. Refresh means it will load a page automatically. Replace the http://your website address with your website with the embedded picture. This code is generally used for redirection viewers to a website's new address. However, you will be using it to refresh your page every 30 seconds over and over again. 

Place this tag in between these tags: <HEAD>  </HEAD>   

<HEAD><META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="30; http://your website address"></HEAD>

There might be some other coding in between the HEAD tags. If this is the case put you cursor in the end of the first HEAD tag and paste the code there. This way the code is not interfering with the other coding. 

Before you save and upload please make sure the quotation marks are there and in the right place. Sometimes when you cut and paste, one can accidentally erase a quotation mark. Now save and upload! Check it. Does you page refresh itself every 30 seconds? If not read the instructions and make sure everything is done properly.

Step 3 Install Software

Download the Trial Version software at Webcam32.com. Save it to disk and follow the directions. Note: This may be downloaded and zipped. To unzip the program you must have Winzip. Don't worry - it's free! In fact, I should mention the Webcam32 Trial Version software is free also! Once the program is saves - install it! Directions are easy to follow.

Step 4 Setup

The first time you enter the program it will take you through a setup wizard that is somewhat easy to follow. But, if you find yourself lost here's what to do:

Exit out of the wizard. On the Webcam32 browser, go to File then Preferences. Another window should pop-up. Double-click on FTP.  By the way, FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. Four items will appear under the FTP file (Basic, Advanced, Thumbnail, IP Upload). Click once on Basic. Under FTP server put your FTP site (eg. ftp.tripod.com). Under Userid enter domain name. Then, enter you password under FTP password. Now, enter the image name under File name. Note: The File Name you just entered and the image you uploaded and embedded on your site MUST be the same.  If you work with any offline web design software such as Frontpage or Dreamweaver, this should look familiar because this is how you upload your images, video, and site to the server. This is basically what you are doing here - uploading a picture over and over again! All the software is doing is capturing the image and uploading it to you server. 

Still under the FTP > Basic, put you upload interval to 30 seconds at first. You can play with the intervals once you know how much time the site takes to upload. I will explain this later. Click the Open box by the text - Enable FTP upload. Test the FTP transfer by clicking FTP Test. This process should only take a couple of seconds. A message will pop-up saying the upload was successful. I this does not happen, please read and go through this again and make sure all the information is right. Those who are using an online page-maker and are not using the FTP, might have to type in the the whole address of the image under File Name. 

Now check out your page. Make sure the program is running. You should see an image. The page will refresh itself every 30 seconds and show a different image.  There are other features you can play with on the program, like putting a title on the picture. There you go! Enjoy!

Any questions? Email me at nettek12@hotmail.com

 

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