Photo Resizing Revisited

RIVER BENDER - March,  2010

For several years I have suggested list members use free Photo Resizer I posted on the NBCUG webpage to reduce photos before sending them by e-mail (see 2003 River Bender article at http://pages.suddenlink.net/davew/nov03.htm). The webpage is now under construction by a new webmaster and Photo Resizer is gone. In the meantime, NBCUG member and guru Wayne Maruna came up with a simpler resizer that everybody with Windows XP or later can use. That's what this article is about.

Let's review: Why resize a photo? Digital cameras usually take pictures that are 1024 x 768 pixels or larger which makes the jpg file become over a megabyte in size unless the camera has specific settings for taking smaller sizes. Photos this large (1) take a very long time to download for folks with dial-up (56kbps) and (2) end up in e-mail so large that the recipient has to scroll horizontally and vertically to see it. I'm sure you've received photos this way and find them annoying

My recommendation now is to download the Photo Resizer at http://www.codeplex.com/ImageResizer. It's a clone of Image Resizer Powertoy for Windows XP - a PowerToy that allows you to right-click on one or more image files in Windows Explorer to resize them. It was created to extend support to non-XP and 64-bit versions of Windows (including 2000, Vista & 7).

What I love about the CodePlex Resizer is that after you install it you never see it. No more clicking on an icon to open like most programs. Instead, all you do is go to the photo you want to send with e-mail and right-click on the filename. A menu pops up and you click "Resize Pictures" and a choice of small, medium or large appears. Small is usually best for e-mail because the photo will be reduced to a size that won't need scrolling to see it. For example, a jpg photo around 1000KBytes will reduce to about 40KBytes. It will have the same filename as the original but with "(small)" added in the name and will be saved in the same folder. An added feature is that you can highlight a whole list of photo files, right-click on them and resize all in one operation. This is a great program that everyone should have in their computer.

All past computer articles since 1998 are at http://pages.suddenlink.net/davew/dwindex.htm