Dynamic image resize

General General Questions
1

Hi all,



Having the PHP GD library resize our thumbnails automatically is a real time saver.



However, some of the images look a little jagged when downsized.



Has anyone got any experiences to offer that would help find a way to get the best dynamic images?



Is it down to the final pixel size, reduction size or something else?



many thanks

2

Roban have me a very good tip to resize to 45% via the Gif file format, a load of saving and doesn’t show pixelilation as much as jpeg (most times)



My personal thumbs are 120x120 with the thickbox mod taking care of the larger ones.

3

Thanks.



I had tried adding the image for the larger image at a size of about 400 - 500px and letting it resize the normal product image down to about 120px. They don’t look too bad.



Its the smaller thumbnails which I think is 85px by default. They look pretty bad.



Is it because they are being resized down too much?



I will have a play around with some sizes and see whats best. Am I right in saying that if you keep altering the sizes in the admin area the images are resaved each time? Meaning that the jpegs quality in particular will suffer?



Many thanks

4

85px can be good depending on the surfer’s browser, typically most people have them set as 100x100px but again it depends on what you’re selling.



85px would be very small and would lose a lot of detail from a 400x500px image.

Consider cutting the originals down to 300x’x’ that way they all look alike and adds to the site’s image credability

5

Sorry, I didn’t make that very clear. I mean between 400px square and 500px square depending on the product.



Thanks for the suggestions.



I’m going to try this and see:



Larger image: 350 x 350px

Main product image: 180px

Thumbnail: 120px