Ideal image size for flashcards - If your image has
a portrait orientation or is square, it should be 300 pixels high. If your
image has a landscape orientation, it should be 375 pixels wide. This will
vary if you have a lot of text. Make the final judgment call by clicking
on the eye icon, which we call preview mode.
Saving and Using SmartDraw Images - After you have
drawn an image in SmartDraw and would like to upload it to your flashcards, the
first thing you need to do is go to Export. The Export tab can be found on the
upper right hand side of the SmartDraw page between Insert and Table. After the
Export tab is opened, click on JPEG. After clicking JPEG, a window will come up.
The document needs to be saved as a GIF file. Give the document a name, select
GIF from the "Save as type" box. Then click Save. Make sure that you save it in
a place you will remember, such as the desktop or My Documents. After Save has
been clicked, another window will pop up that lists the specifications of the
image. Do not change anything here. Changing things in this window could effect
the size of the image and how it appears on the website. Simply click OK. Once
you have done this, go to the flashcard you wish for the image to appear in.
Click on the camera icon. Then select Browse in the window that pops up. Locate
your document and click OK, then click Save. The image will then upload into the
flashcard.
PC Users - You can download an image from the internet to your hard drive, and
view it on your computer using the Irfanview freeware image program or other
viewer.
Be careful about saving JPEG/JPG images. Move your mouse pointer on top of
the image that you want to save.
- Click with your right mouse button; a menu will appear.
- Select Save Picture As.
- Look at the folder in which the image will be saved. If you use Win XP
it will be the My Pictures folder. For Win 95/98 it will probably be the My
Documents folder.
- Click the Save button and the image will be copied to your computer.
When PC users download a JPEG file and then open an image program they won't
always see the file they downloaded in the folder. It is the file extension
.jpeg. Open Windows Explorer, select the file, and change the file extension to
.jpg, and that should solve the problem.
Viewing Images On Your Computer - PC Users
You
don't need special software to view images on your computer. If you are a
Windows XP user you can use Windows Image and Fax Viewer or Microsoft Paint for
Windows XP.
If you use Windows 95/98 you can use Microsoft Paint for Windows or the Kodak
Imaging program. But if you don't have a good imaging program like Paint Shop
Pro or Photoshop, you can download and install:
IrfanView - A freeware image "can" opener.
This program, created by Irfan Skiljan, is the Swiss Army knife for images. It
can view approximately 80+ image file formats, some for image formats like PCX,
DCM and ACR for medical images, Macintosh PICT and new formats like JPEG 2000.
IrfanView can also can convert one image type to another or convert a huge
number of images. It can do resizing and limited image effects and, if you have
a scanner, you can use it as a copy machine. For the price and quality it is an
excellent value.
http://www.irfanview.com
Saving JPEG/JPG
Each time you save a .jpg (JPEG-Macintosh and .jpg-PC) file with the exact
same name in the JPEG/.jpg format, you remove a small bit of the image
information. Pretty soon you have one poor looking image. Here is the trick to
having a quality JPEG/.jpg picture:
- Save one copy of the image as the master copy in case you make a
mistake.
- Make a working copy and make editing changes to the image.
- When you are ready, save a final copy that you will not change to be
used on a web site.
Reducing File Size
When using images on the internet, it is important to keep the file size below
15 k so that they will load more quickly on the user's computer. Go to Start >
Programs > Accessories > Paint. Click File then click Open. Browse to the
folder containing the file you wish to reduce in size and double click the file
to open it. Click Image, then Stretch/Skew to open the resize dialog. Enter the
same amount in both the Horizontal and Vertical boxes in the Stretch section of
the window. For example, 50% in each box would reduce the image to half of its
original size on the screen. If the resultant size is too large or too small, do
not immediately try to resize it again. Click Edit, then Undo and it will return
to it's original size, then repeat the resize process again by clicking Image,
then Stretch/Skew. When the image is at the desired size, click file, then Save
As. This will open the Save As dialog box. Enter a name for your file in the
File Name box. In the box labeled Save as Type, choose .JPG or .JPEG. This will
result in the smallest file size. Your file is now ready to upload.
For detailed instructions on how to use PhotoShop for this, please
click here.