Help with scanner images

[Noel]

Help me pleeese. For sometime I've been able to scan docs etc and upload them onto a image host and them send the URL to the recipient.
When the happy recipient opened the URL they were able to enlarge the image when that wee four arrowed icon appeared on the bottom right of the image and hence be able to read it.
Now anything I send does not have the wee icon. Can't think where I've gone wrong or what I've adjusted.
Here's what I usually do: scan the doc and save it as a JPG or sometimes a GIF file (although sometimes it won't save as such, and I think this is where I'm falling down, I don't know the difference between TIF, GIF etc)
Anyway, cause I'm on dial-up I have to reduce the image and I send it to myself via OE using the "make it smaller" option. Then I resave the smaller file and then upload it to Uploadit. I know, well awkward way to reduce but...... Anyway all worked great until yesterday. So, any hints or tips please. Using XP Pro.

Rgds

TIA, Noel

 

[Neil]

Noely, we can go through this on Thursday if you like...

Neil

 

[Noel]

I think I may need my computer in front of me, I can follow instructions but it's waay too hard to remember things. Anyway, need to send stuff tonight/tomorrow, there's money at stake (!), so very important, thanks for the offer.

Rgds

Noel

 

[RogerS]

Noel

In the early days, each pixel (little screen dot) used 8 bits (IIRC) to define it's colour. that meant that each pixel could only have one of a limited range of 256 colours. GIF files came from that era IIRC. GIF were compressed files but, because, the images were relatively simple (simple graphics, limited range of colours) it was also easy to compress them without any ooss when you uncompressed them. Ergo GIF. It's a very simple compression algorithm (IIRC)...basicaly it says...how may pixels along this line have the same colour...all the same..brill...I can use 4 or 5 bytes to define the colour of all those pixels.

TIFF was also around at that time (and still is today) and is an uncompressed image (B&W or coloyur or greyscale..it doen;t care)

Then computers got clever and people wanted better colours etc etc...and so each pixel was given more bits to store its' colour in (like 8 bits for red, 8 for green and 8 for blue) = 24 bits...which gives zilions of colours and also humungously huge files. Particularly as the resolution of screen displays and cameras went up and up. So file sizes got bigger and bigger...

GIF couldn;t hack it...enter jpeg or jpg..same difference...only jpegs are a lossy compression algorithm..meaning that you don;t get back what you put in when you uncompress it. Also, jpegs do not have a defined compression factor. They have a 'quality' factor. You define the quality (or lack of!) that you are willing to accept against the smaller file size.

Dunno if that helps..

 

[Noel]

Errr, think it might help. I'll have to read it a few more times.
Thanks,

Noel

 

[CHJ]

Noel
If you can download a copy of IrfanView (it's free) from here.

http://www.irfanview.com/

You can convert and manipulate pictures to your hearts content.

Look at >File >Batch conversion and then >Advanced Options for a start.

 

[Noel]

Thanks Chas, will have a look at it but it was the disappearance of the zoom/enlarger icon thing that was bugging me.

Noel

 

[Charley]

Hi Noel,

Either the image is to small to be resized when you load it in IE or your image host has added some code to the page that stops the browser messing with the image. Try opening the image locally in IE...

 

[Anonymous]

GIF couldn;t hack it...enter jpeg or jpg..same difference...only jpegs are a lossy compression algorithm..meaning that you don;t get back what you put in when you uncompress it. Also, jpegs do not have a defined compression factor. They have a 'quality' factor. You define the quality (or lack of!) that you are willing to accept against the smaller file size.

Dunno if that helps..

GIF was (is) a graphics format created and owned (the format) by AOL before the internet became the popular place it is now and is generally more lossy than JPG which, as Roger said, allows control over the compression and quality.

You should avoid using GIF in preference to JPEG for anything other than simple animated images or icons etc.

TIFF is bitmap file format (like .bmp) where all information about every pixel is stored in the file and so it is VERY large - but best quality.

 

[Pete W]

As Charley suggests, this sounds like an IE thing - either the images are already small enough to fit in the browser window, or something has changed your IE settings.

Go to the Tools menu in IE, and choose Internet Options; in the options window select the 'Advanced' tab then scroll down to the 'Multimedia' section. Make sure the 'Enable Automatic Image Resizing' checkbox is selected (with an 'x' in it).

This ought to fix the problem.

 

[Noel]

Pete, alas, box was already ticked. Thanks anyway.

Noel

 

[Noel]

Thanks to everybody who chipped in with suggestions. Without your help I may never have realised that the problem lay with the user. All sorted now.

Cheers

Noel

 

[dedee]

Noel.
Please tell us what you were doing wrong as we, or more lkely I, might have the same problem one day.

Andy

 

[Noel]

Sadly I was reducing scanned images when there was no need to. Once reduced the software was unable to "un-reduce" with the wee 4 arrowed icon. Bit thick I am.

Noel