Resizing images for your website
So you’ve done it, you’ve taken the plunge and decided to maintain your own website. You’ve figured out how to insert images into your documents and make them pretty but every time you insert the picture it’s MASSIVE and takes up the entire screen. So, you manually scale the image down so it looks like the right size and then you publish the page. What’s the problem with this you ask? Simple, you’re still loading that MASSIVE image even though you’ve squeezed it into a smaller area. So your page will take much longer to load than it needs to and your image will not look nearly as clear as it should. You need to physically resize that image!
Today we’ll focus on some free methods for resizing your images for web viewing. Image resizing applications are a dime-a-dozen bunch and in many cases one is just as good as the other. But we’re trying to help you sort through all of those options by suggesting a couple of the better options to you. Hopefully this will give you a better idea of what options are available to you and get you on your way to fat free web pages.
Simple: Size and Save
If you don’t need anything fancy and you’re just looking for a solution for your bi-monthly image resizing needs we’ve got a couple of suggestions:
ResizR
The great thing about ResizR is its simplicity. There are only a few options (width and rotation) but it also allows you to not only resize images that are on your computer but also allows you to enter the URL (web address) of an image and resize/download that for use on your website. The only downside is that they only support .jpg files so you’ll have to use another solution if you’re wanting to use .gif or .png images. However, .jpg is by far the most popular format on the web (and from most digital cameras) so it should work just fine for most users. And since ResizR is web-based and accessed with your browser you can use it no matter what operating system you use.
PIXresizer
If you don’t have a fast internet connection or you’d rather have a desktop application for resizing your images PIXresizer is a good option. The interface looks a little intimidating at first but it’s a very simple application. You can choose to resize the photo to a percentage of the current size or you can enter custom dimensions. It also features several different output formats. PIXresizer is made for Windows only.
Fancy: Size, Crop and More
If the above options are a little too simple or don’t offer enough in the way of customization there are a couple of other options which offer a few more features.
pic resize
An impressive web-based application, pic resize is a simple resizing application that offers a few extra features you don’t usually find in basic image tools. In addition to the basic resizing tools pic resize also offers cropping and some basic special effects to improve your images. Want to turn your photo into an oil painting or add a frame? No problem! Pic resize also offers “save as” options for the three main formats used for online images, JPG, GIF and PNG. And should you have any trouble figuring out how to use the tool they have a video tutorial you can watch!
Picasa
Google’s Picasa software is a powerhouse when it comes to image resizing, color correction and pretty much any other tool you need for producing images for the web. In addition to offering photo modification tools Picasa is also a full-featured photo orgnization tool so you can not only modify your photos but Picasa also gives you a great way to catalog all of your images. I’ve written an in-depth review of Picasa on my personal weblog.
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The opinions expressed by individuals posting in the Summersault Weblog are not necessarily those of Summersault, LLC. While we try to insure the quality and accuracy of the information presented here, we make no guarantees about its suitability for any particular purpose.
