Your ESS Website has multiple different layout choices, or widgets, where photos can be uploaded. Below, we will discuss some of the most common sections where photos can be added, and the best practices around adding photos.
Picture with Overlay Text (or Image Carousel with Overlay Text)
This is typically the main image that is displayed on the homepage of your website. The more rectangular the picture, the better. Try for a 1:5 ratio if you can, and make sure the image is high quality. A picture that is 400 pixels by 2000 pixels, for instance, should look fine. Try not to have anything smaller than 200 pixels, or the picture will look grainy.
To account for a tall picture, you can increase the image height in the Picture with Overlay Text widget. This will only increase the height so much on the home page, but it should help a little if your picture isn't a 1:5 ratio. Increasing the image height manually can have some impact on the mobile view of your website. Typically, the mobile view will size the image automatically. If you specify a height here, it will not shrink smaller than this height, and can possibly show up too large on mobile formats.
Image Carousel
The Image Carousel is formatted a bit differently than the Image Carousel with Overlay Text. The standard image carousel, it's always going to try resize images, and display them as close to the original size as possible, but it will shrink photos to display them properly as well. Since these images are dynamic, and change sizes based off of the image, we recommend re-sizing them in a photo editor before uploading and making all images in the carousel the same size. A size of 500 px by 700 px works well with our layout. Anything bigger will automatically size down to format correctly in the page, and anything smaller is going to appear too small or pixelated.
Available Units (Unit Type Photo)
The Unit Type Photos will display next to available units on the "Rent Now" page, or any page where the "Available Unit Types" widget is installed. These photos will pull from the Units > Unit Types section of the software, and are one of the few images that are not edited under the website tab. This image will be rendered and displayed at size of 150 px by 150 px. You are welcome to upload a larger image, just be aware that is will be formatted to fit inside this section on the customer facing view.
Uploads from the Image Library
The other widgets in the software can also support Image Uploads if there is a text section. Some of these sections include the One Column, Two Column, and Three Column Widgets, Contact Form, and others.
To use this Image Upload, images must first be added to your Library. Under Websites > Image Library > go to "Add an Image" at the bottom of the page. This will let you upload from your computer, and even include a title and description that can help with search engines or users with visual impairments. Once you have added the images to the Image Library, they can then be added to the content section of any compatible widget, by using the Image Library button in the content menu. From there, you can select and insert the image into the content box. This feature does not allow you to edit or resize you images, and they will be uploaded and displayed in their original size if possible, or formatted to fit within the ESS template. You may need to edit the size of the image prior to uploading to the Image Library.
413 error
When uploading pictures to an image carousel, you may run into a 413 Error. The software will only allow 20 MB to be uploaded at a time. If you see this error, you'll need to upload the pictures in smaller chunks (maybe a couple at a time) or make each of the images smaller.
The images should be under 1000 pixels each to make for an easier upload.