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Cropping Images/How Much Is Too Much
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Cropping Images/How Much Is Too Much |
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Mistletoe Angel 
since 2000-12-17
Posts 32816Portland, Oregon |
Apparently there has been sudden critique over my use of images in my poetry as of late, and frankly I am quite confused.  I understand how I use images profusely, but I have been doing so for quite a while now (almost two years) and only now have poets here brought to my attention of the extended bandwidth and huge use of bytes in the system. Just last night, I posted one image to my poem "Revolution" and it got removed. It was fairly large, but I'm confused why other poets who usually post large images too around the same size with their posts aren't getting the same warning, especially those who post "poems within pictures" So this leaves me with two questions: 1) How can I make images appropriate size? 2) Exactly how much is "too much"? I am computer-illiterate in the ways of re-sizing images so if someone here can give me a quick tutorial, I'd really appreciate it! Thank you, y'all! Love, Noah Eaton "You'll find something that's enough to keep you But if the bright lights don't receive you You should turn yourself around and come back home" MB20 |
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Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612Hurricane Alley |
Hi Noah!!! Using graphics is tricky. First, they have to be YOUR graphics. Linking to someone else's site is using their bandwidth (it's like stealing someone's cable connection at home). So all your graphics should be housed on a site that YOU own. A lot of people still have a dial up connection (Like AOL). Their computers take a long time for graphics to load onto their screen. (I have cable so it's fast for me) If someone hasn't told you about the size of the graphics, maybe it's because they don't read your posts, knowing there will be several graphics included! I think it's a lesson we all need to learn. To be aware of those that don't have the ability to see the graphics as quickly as the rest of us. The best thing to do? Go to someone who has a dialup connection and watch their computer try to load the pictures people use on their poetry here. I think you'll see how frustrating it can be. To resize a graphic, you'd need a graphic software such as PaintShop Pro, Photo Impact or Microsoft Photo Editor (I think this comes on most computers). Just reduce it and save it. Again, you'd have to have a website to link to. Geocities, which is free, won't let anyone link to them as it takes up too much of their bandwidth. Does this help at all? Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to answer them!!  |
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Ron
Administrator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-05-19
Posts 8669Michigan, US |
We're not picking on you exclusively, Noah, though you have made yourself stand out a bit lately. Your on-line journal here generated the first complaints because you were including four or five HUGE graphics in every post, often resulting in 40 or 50 big images in every web page. That kind of excessive behavior attracts attention. Nonetheless, what we've been trying to tell you applies to everyone equally. For the forums to be a comfortable home, they have to actually be usable. How can I make images appropriate sizes? I'm not going to try to tackle that questions here, but will hope others might be able to give you some pointers. We have a whole forum, in Tech Talk, devoted to graphics and a lot of people here with solid experience. They'll need to ask you some questions, like what operating system you are running and what graphics software you have available. Exactly how much is "too much"? Graphics are measured two different ways, both of which are important. One way to measure an image is by width and height, measured in pixels. We don't really care too much about height, because people are going to be scrolling up and down the page (vertical) any way. We do care about width, though, because no one should ever have to scroll their page left and right (horizontal). The deciding factor, then, is the available width of a viewer's screen. The smallest screen you'll find for any of our Members is 560 pixels, of which 544 pixels are actually "usable" (scrollbars and stuff always detract from the full width of the screen). That's for WebTV, and the next size up is for older PC's and Macs, coming in at 640 pixels, about 600 of which are usable -- IF they maximize their browser and don't use any side panels (such as for Favorites). The "average" width of a screen on the Internet is 800 pixels, with 744 of those being usable. I have no hard and fast "rules," and would be more than willing to open the floor to discussion, but these are my first thoughts. An image that "supports" a poem should probably be no more than 350 pixels wide. An image that "includes" a poem as part of the graphic will probably need to be slightly wider, maybe as much as 500 pixels. Both of those widths should fit on the smallest screens we're likely to see without creating horizontal scrolling. The occasional use of a larger graphic shouldn't be a major issue, but frequent use of wide graphics will have to be justified. It's not fair to create an elitist atmosphere where only the people with the latest and greatest hardware get all the fun. The other way to measure a graphical image is by the bytes required both to store it on disk and to transmit it over the Internet wires. Again, I have no hard and fast rules and welcome discussion, but will offer my first thoughts. The size of a graphic determines how long the page takes to download, and in my opinion, that makes the page the determining factor. Rather than set a specific size for an image, we should set a size for the page. I think 100 KB per page is probably reasonable, though I sure wouldn't want to see every thread that big. That means you can post one image that is 100 KB, or you can post five images that average 20 KB each. However, that also means, if you use up your whole 100 KB in the originating thread, you shouldn't come back and add another image in your replies. Stick to 100 KB per page and our threads should load fairly quickly for everyone involved. Again, these are not hard and fast rules ('cause I don't like hard and fast rules). Everyone should have a say in it. So, let's talk.  |
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Ron
Administrator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-05-19
Posts 8669Michigan, US |
Good answer, Sharon! How much can you (or anyone else) tell Noah (and everyone else) about JPG compression? Bytes used is obviously going to be affected by width and height, but that's only the FIRST step in getting images down to a manageable size. |
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Essorant Member Elite
since 2002-08-10
Posts 4769Regina, Saskatchewan; Canada |
"Polyview" is good program for images. You may download it here Everything you get to begin with never expires, and that includes resizing, changing format and adding some special effects to images. To resize an image, all you do is click "file" and then "Open" . Then click on an image you've saved on your computer. After it shows up in the program's window go to "Operations" and then to "Change image size" All you need to do is put in any smaller or larger number in either the "width" or "height" field and a corresponding number will automatically show up in the other. Go to "Save" and now you choose a save type as: (options) BITMAP, GIF, JPEG, PNG. Hope that may help |
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Mistletoe Angel
since 2000-12-17
Posts 32816Portland, Oregon |
Yay! And then, how can I get my pictures on the Internet? Love, Noah Eaton "You'll find something that's enough to keep you |
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Alicat Member Elite
since 1999-05-23
Posts 4094Coastal Texas |
Upload them to your website. If you don't have one, get one. As mentioned earlier, might want to avoid Geocities, as they no longer allow image linking. |
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Essorant Member Elite
since 2002-08-10
Posts 4769Regina, Saskatchewan; Canada |
 Sometimes you may get images to work from certain on-line photoalbums. This one is from www.ofoto.com It disappears though whenever I push "refresh". That is strange  [This message has been edited by Essorant (01-13-2004 12:35 AM).] |
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Titia Geertman Member Ascendant
since 2001-05-07
Posts 5182Netherlands |
Hi Noa, if you don't have a place to store your photo's, you're more than welcome to use an album on my msn group. Go here http://groups.msn.com/Titiasplace and join in. Send me a mail when you're done and I'll give you access to add and remove pictures in your own album. Titia Like scattered leaves...my words will flow |
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