Image Editing Software
As I mentioned in one of the user group meetings, (and thanks to all of you who came to one of
the sessions) there are lots of options available to you when it comes to image editing software.
Many times, images that you would like to use on your web pages are just too large - 400 pixels
wide seems like a good maximum size - and need to be re-sized on your computer before you
upload it to the website.
I have had very good luck with an online image editing software called Pixlr (www.pixlr.com). It
is totally free and quite easy to use. Let me show you just how easy it is.
As an example, I am going to use a photo that was taken of me at a seafood restaurant in
Boston a few years ago. The image is 2304 pixels wide by 3072 pixels high and is approximately
1.5 MB in size – much too large to use anywhere on our website. So it needs to be resized.
In a web browser, I go to www.pixlr.com.
Click on the link in the header for Pixlr Editor.
You have a lot of options to choose from, but I am interested in working with an image that I
have stored on my computer, so I will click on Open image from computer. You can then locate
the file wherever it is (whether your hard drive or a network drive; it makes no difference).
And here I am. (By the way, the lobster, clams, and mussels were delicious!)
Click on the Image menu at the top. You’ll see the following and will want to select Image size…
You will see the current dimension of the image. Note that the option for Constrain
proportions is checked; don’t uncheck this.
I would recommend that the maximum width be no more than 400 pixels. So let’s make that
change. Notice that the height value automatically changes as you change the width value.
When you have set the value you want, click on the OK button.
The image has now been resized, but it has NOT been saved to your computer. Let’s take care
of that.
Click on the File menu, then select Save…
You will then see a screen similar to this. (Notice that our 1.5 MB file has been reduced to 41
KB.)
Simply click on the OK button.
You then will have the option to save the new image anywhere you would like. You can save it
in the same location as the original file, but you might want to consider giving it a slightly
different name. In the example, I am saving it as lobster-small. Also, for some reason, you will
need to add a file extension of .jpg before you save the file. You will get visual confirmation that
the new image has been saved. Now it is ready for you to upload to the web server.