Jpeg Photos and
Two Great Websites Back
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August 25th, 2001
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Hello Everybody!
I've been thinking that I need to adhere to a more formal format, but I'm
resistant. I do like the short previews that many newsletters provide at
the beginning of their newsletters, but I like the letter format that I've been
using, as well. I just like to sit here and write to you all as if we are
friends, and this is my monthly correspondence with each of you. I can
picture some of you getting that cup of coffee or tea, and settling back with,
what I hope, is an educational and entertaining bit of news. I think I'll
try easing into the preview titles, so here we go:
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1. A few words on Jpeg photos, and why they are so important.
2. Two Smashing websites that I must share with you!
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So far so good!
JPEG Photos
Now for the common sense approach to sharing pictures on websites and email.
There are many people trying to spread their family pictures around, and are
having some frustrating results. I just wanted to give you some pointers
on the picture formatting that is "NOT" working.
First, a few definitions:
1. Format- the shape and size of an image.
2. JPEG- picture format that will retain the rich colors in the
photograph, but will compress the file to make the file size smaller. Jpeg
format great for sending photographs. You'll know if your picture is in
the jpeg format by the ".jpg" when you
attach it to an email.
3. Dots per inch (dpi)- the number of dots that fit horizontally and
vertically into a one inch measure. The more dots per inch, the more
detail captured and the sharper the resulting image. High dpi is
great for printing photographs.
4. Resolution- A measurement of the detail shown in a picture. At
high resolutions, pictures are clearer and you can see more detail. But
remember, higher resolution means a larger file size, takes longer to send or
load up in a web page. Resolution on a computer monitor is measured in pixels.
5. Pixels- Any of the small elements that together make up an image (as on a
television or monitor). Lower pixels mean smaller file size, lower
quality, but you can send it better.
6. Crop (or cut)- To remove parts of a picture that you don't want to
appear in your final artwork. You can cut one person out of a group photo,
and create a single photo.
Now, with these definitions to refer to, maybe they will help this all make
sense. Some of you get "lucky" and you send out a Jpeg formatted
picture, not even realizing that you've done a great thing. Some of you
send out a picture that is formatted to your photo-editing software or worse,
your scanner software, and a high dpi. What many people don't seem to
understand is that when you send these weird formats, your friends or relatives
must have exactly the same program on their computers to even get a look at this
picture. Sometimes, even if you have several programs, you cannot figure
out which one of the programs or formats to use, and you get ZILCH because of
it. This is when you get the "Open With" box that pops up asking what
program you want to open this picture with, gives you a long list, and most of
you just click "Cancel". It's kind of a trap that many photo
editors set for the unsuspecting user, at the "save your picture"
prompt at the end of your editing session of your photos. Although,
their formats are great for editing and printing pictures, just not great for
sending pictures.
When you start to close the program, it will prompt you to "save your
work", and it will save your photo in program's format as the default
format, unless you take matters a bit further. If you are lucky enough to
have a simple photo-editor like PhotoFX2 that always saves your photos in a jpeg
format, it's much simpler. This is a great little photo program that I
recommend for newbies, and it's made by Greenstreet; you can buy this at most
stores that carry software, very inexpensive ($10), and here's there website:
http://www.gstsoft.com/greenst .
And here's a hyperlink to a special offer I just received to order PhotoFX2 for
$7.95:
http://www.arcamax.com/cgi-bin/shop?so=oi010716tpfx2
This photo editor will allow you to edit, size, and lower the pixels to send
your photos in a very acceptable appearance, easy for anyone to view. Just
save your picture to a folder like My Pictures, and then, when you're ready to
send it to someone, just go to the folder, find your picture, and right-click on
it, in the menu, click on "send to", mail recipient, and this will
take you to your email program and attach your picture to the email
automatically. AOL users will have to use a different method to attach
pictures.
Back to the business of the other photo editors; when you use a photo editor
like Adobe Photo Deluxe, Microsoft PhotoDraw, or Picture It, you have to do one
of two things: click on file and "export" photo or "file,
save as", and this will take you to a "save as box" and in
the "save as type" bar, click in here and choose jpeg, if it is
available. You're basically looking for a way to save your pictures in a
jpeg format, and also you need to figure out in the photo-editing program how to
crop, cut or resize your pics to a 2" X 3" size as well, if you're
sending these email; this option is located under Edit, cut/crop, or size in
some programs. Also if you get to the point of finding the option to save in the
jpeg format, try to find another option to lower the resolutions to somewhere
around 60 or 70 pixels or less if it looks okay, and that will immensely in the
time it takes to transport these pictures; they won't take 5 minutes (or more)
to send via email. Sometimes your program may have one of these options:
1. save for email
2. save for use in a webpage
3. save and/or send (email)
Something like these options will do the work for you in a series of questions
and choices (a wizard).
The single, best reason to save your pictures as jpeg pictures, is because not
everyone has the same photo editing software, some have none at all, and the
jpeg format is universal. That means that even without a photo editor, you
can open the picture in Internet Explorer, and more people can enjoy your
pictures. And that's what you were going for all along, To share those
pictures, and actually have them viewed, right?! Hope this information
does clear up some of the mysteries of emailing your pictures. Now, share
your photos with the confidence that you are not frustrating your relatives and
friends, you are delighting them!
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Here's the websites I promised:
http://www.thewritersacademy.com/
This is a brand new website created by a friend of mine, and I really think he's
got a GREAT IDEA! Channing Proctor is writing his own book, among
other ventures, and is very creative guy! His mission statement says
it all so perfectly, that I will let you judge for yourself. So, all you
frustrated, closet writers out there, this is your big chance to get published!
You're going to
like the feeling so much that you're going to want your own website, which will
be the perfect lead-in to the other website that I will share with you. So
please visit this website and give it a try; I'm going to write a little
something, myself, soon; hope to see your names there, as well.
Heeeere's Channing...
"The mission of The Writers' Academy is to encourage and to promote
amateur creative writing at all skill levels. After I left the
corporate world to follow my passion of writing, I cannot count the number of
times people have said to me, "Oh, that sounds great! I've had a
story in my mind I've always wanted to write." You can do it! Take the
chance! You don't have to quit your job. Spend just one Saturday and see how
much you can get on paper. You'd be amazed. We at The Writers' Academy hope
you'll take the time to write, and we encourage you to send us your work. We'd
love to read it!"
Click on this link (or copy/paste in the address bar of your browser Aol users),
and check it out...
http://www.thewritersacademy.com
**********************************************
And then for all of you that want to understand more about websites, and the
process behind building one, there's: www.boogiejack.com
This guy doesn't even need my praise, but I am so impressed that I had to pass
this on to all of you. I just happened upon this website in a search for
some kind of website inspiration. I was having a block of sorts on a
website that I was creating, and I needed a spark...and I found Boogie Jack.
I downloaded a terrific free program, Background Magic, that you can use on your
own computer background wallpaper, and skins for your Internet Explorer, as well
as website background. I liked it so well, that I also ordered the pay
version, and it's seems to be limitless with the backgrounds that you can
create. I've never seen any program like this, and so easy to use.
Click on this link to download the free version of Background Magic and have
some fun!
http://www.boogiejack.com/backgroundmagic.html
And click here for a wonderful metatag maker (keywords that
search engines pick up on) for your own websites:
http://www.boogiejack.com/metamake.html
I just can't say enough good things about this site; he has so many free
tutorials to help you to understand about website creation, and all written with
a common sense approach, as well as humor and sincerity. I always like the
simple, straight-forward way of explaining things, and this fits the bill for
me. Hope you like it as much as I do, and while you're there, sign up for
his "almost a newsletter". It's great, as well! I also
bought his book, "Website Design Made Easy". He's got it goin'
on!!
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That's all folks!
By the way, my websites were on the blinky-blink-blink last week when my Web host
made some changes :(, so I hope that you were not inconvenienced, and please
return for more information.
I appreciate all of you. Remember that I will have all these monthly
issues of my newsletter available at my websites, along with other information:
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And
http://www.internetguideandmore.com
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