easiest way to resize pics for illiterate computer users

Tim, you have photoshop?

 

Irfanview is the best little picture view program I have found. It's small too.
http://www.irfanview.com/

To resize an image with irfanview:
1. Open the file.
2. Go to "Image" on the top toolbar
3. Select "Resize/Resample" from the list
4. From there, you can either type in the size you want the image to become (ie 60width 60height), you can enlarge/reduce it by a percentage, or you can do some standard resizing (half, double, etc...).
5. When you're done, go to "File", click "Save as", then give the file a new name (to avoid saving over the original). I like to give resized pics names that end in "mod". If the original pic was, say, "Ferrari01.jpg", I would change that to "Ferrari01mod.jpg".

Hope that helps.

 

1. Varying image sizes. This has to do with two similar and therefore confusing concepts with digital cameras...image quality and image size.

Image quality = usually expressed as word, e.g. Basic, Fine, High.
Image size = expressed as words with an associated pixel setting that links back to typical monitor settings, e.g. VGA = 640 x 460, XGA = 1024 x 768, Full = 2560 x 1920

Some cameras will automatically (i.e. without telling you) adjust the image SIZE depending upon the level of light and other factors. Most people would assume that if the image QUALITY setting remains unchanged, then the final file is unchanged; but this is not always true. When you view the images in IE, IE will show the image at a fixed screen resolution (e.g. xxx pixels per screen inch), depending upon your monitor settings. So, if the image was, say, 150 pixels by 150 pixels, then it will show up in IE as one size; whereas if the image was 300 pixels x 300 pixels, then it will show up twice the size. Of course, when printing, you could print both these files at the same PRINTER resolution (e.g. 300 DPI) and the higher res image would appear sharper.


2. Adjusting images. Your camera should have come with some software that let's you adjust the size of the JPG files. What camera do you have? Alternatively, you might be able to use MS Photo Editor, as it installed with Office 97 or Word 97. The executable is photoed.exe. It's not the greatest editor, but you can re-size images to some extent.

 

There's a ton of software out there, and unfortunately each program does it differently. Some people use the stuff bundled with their cameras, some use basic stuff as MS Paint, while others use utilities or high-end stuff like Photoshop, etc. You will have to look it up in the help documentation of your software, and practice it a few times before it becomes easy.

If you try several times and it's still not intuitive, and if you still keep having problems, then I recommend installing a new package.

I use ACDSee for managing my pictures. To resize in ACDSee, you would select the pictures you want to resize and press CTL-R.

 

Another little trick I discovered -- also very simple.

If you set Windows Picture & Fax viewer as your default image viewing application (it should be in XP, unless some other program has control of JPG images), do this:

1. Open a (too big) picture by double-clicking on it.

2. Right-click on the image and select "Send To -> Mail Recipient"

3. A little window will pop up saying "Windows can resize the pictures you send..." Click on "Make all my pictures smaller". This will automatically change the image to 640x480 (= Ferrarichat safe)

4. When the email message comes up, just drag the (now smaller) attachment to your desktop, where you can upload it to fchat.

Easy as pie...

 

As as amendment to the above, you can make it even easier:

Just open the folder with the images in it, highlight the image(s) you want to post, and on the left side of the screen (under "File and Folder Tasks") click "E-mail the selected items".

Then follow from Step 3 above.

 

Awesome tip! Will the new files have different filenames or will the originals get overwritten?

 

yeah, thanks a lot noah

 

No, the originals will not get overwritten unless you tell it to do so. Just save the new files to a different folder to be safe.

Enjoy!