How do you adjust the size of an image?

makingamark wrote

on 8 Oct 2008 12:56 AM

I uploaded an image (to try it out) and then posted it as an announcement on my profile.  (It's about a work that's in a national exhibition at the moment).

However the image is much larger than I would like and, because of its size it has been cropped into a square shape when actually it's rectangular

I've tried to deal with this - and I can see the dimensions boxes BUT:

• which dimensions are we talking about here - centimetres, inches, pixels???
• also does this mean I have to remember both dimensions of every image before posting?

I guess what I'm looking for is a percentage adjustment of some sort which would allow me to take the image down to a comfortable size.  At the moment my peonies are jumping off the page!

EricS wrote

on 8 Oct 2008 7:26 AM

Hi there! You should be able to set the size of your image when you put it into your announcement block ... see the screenshot below. The width and height are in pixels. However, this will only squish the image down or stretch it out which may make it a bit fuzzy ... it does not "resample" the image. I highly recommend that you size the image with your favorite photo editing tool first, then upload it. Here are my recommendations for various areas of our site.

Recommended Max Image Widths

• Forum posts: 750 pixels (any wider will just be cut off)
• Announcement: 425 pixels (any wider will just be cut off)
• Galleries: 750 pixels (you can upload larger, but dang, that's a big file ... try to keep it reasonable)

makingamark wrote

on 12 Oct 2008 1:34 AM

Well - that's very interesting - but I very rarely make any image for the internet larger than 500 pixels or 100kb (to prevent issues with people who download when they shouldn't).  On the basis of what you're saying I'm not quite sure why there's a problem with mine - since the image I uploaded was only 500 pixels max.

Also, people are very used to software that does automatic resizing for them.  Wet Canvas has it - with an automatic top limit.  Flickr allows you to specify the maximum size.

What the site needs to state is the maximum length of one side and/or the maximum file size.

It would also be really, really helpful if there was a tool which locks the ratio so that when you resize one side the other side automatically resizes in proportion to the original image. 

(Note - the image I uploaded has now been deleted until I have a response to the copyright question in the Community Feedback Forum and an understanding of why images have an invitation to download with no statement as to copyright.)

EricS wrote

on 12 Oct 2008 9:16 AM

I completely agree that it is wise not to an image greater than 500 pixels wide or tall to any site on the web. A couple add'l thoughts...

makingamark: I'm not quite sure why there's a problem with mine - since the image I uploaded was only 500 pixels max

The announcement block on a personal profile page is only 425 pixels wide. That's why your image there was being cropped on the right side.

makingamark: Also, people are very used to software that does automatic resizing for them.  Wet Canvas has it - with an automatic top limit.  Flickr allows you to specify the maximum size.

Yes, we realize this. Unforunately the system we are using for our community does not have an image resizing tool built into it. I have noted this to our development team and they are looking into possible solutions. However, we can -- and do -- set maximum file size for uploads.

makingamark: What the site needs to state is the maximum length of one side and/or the maximum file size.

Totally agreed. I can put this into a sidebar block in the gallery. Great point.

makingamark: It would also be really, really helpful if there was a tool which locks the ratio so that when you resize one side the other side automatically resizes in proportion to the original image.

Also agreed, but again, the system we are using does not support this out-of-the-box and would require significant programming to change. I have brought it to the attention of our development team.

makingamark: why images have an invitation to download with no statement as to copyright.

I'll respond directly to your question in that thread as well, but ... again, this is an out-of-the-box function that our community software has. The gallery section was designed to support multiple file types -- Word docs, PDFs, Excel spreadsheets as well as images and video. Thus the word "Download" was there to allow people to "download" the file. In the case of the AA image galleries, "download" just allows people to see the image full-size and is not an endoresement for people to steal images. I will bring this up with the team and we will decide how to address this.

Thanks for bringing up some good points! We will definitely address the issues that we can within the limitations and capabilities of the software package we are using. For those issues that we cannot address due to the limiations of the software package, we will talk them with our development team, but they'll require significant programming, money, and time to address.