I once saw a post in a thread quite awhile back that said: It was annoying when the picture is too big too fully veiw on their computer without scrolling up and down.
I am trying to decide which is the better option:
1. leave photo as is and make people scroll up and down to view the whole image or f11 it to get rid of tool bars.
2. re-size photo so that it is smaller, I know smaller photo's tend to get lower scores.
When I joined the site, member challenge had a 720 pixel limit, as that was the maximum that could be displayed on a screen of 1024x768. It was decided a while back that most people now had monitors of higher resolution and the benefit of 800 pixel limits outweighed the handful of folks still using smaller monitors. If you use smaller than the 800 pixel limit, I wouldn't suggest taking it smaller than 720.
I can't recall seeing any recent posts lamenting the need to scroll. Even laptop screens seem finally to have abandoned the 15-year-old 1024x768 baseline LCD resolution... although the vertical resolution of some "wide screen" laptops is not much larger.
I honestly think it depends on the picture.
About half of the time I keep it at 800, and the other half I make it slightly smaller so everyone can see the whole thing.
I think depending on the composition. sometimes you need to see all of it, particularly when the weakest part of the composition is on the bottom. I personally don't want the viewers to stare at the lower weaker spot while they are voting or commenting.
On other pictures where the composition is strong overall, or the strongest composition is on the bottom, I don't mind.
I think the image size is fine, I wish the the file size could be bigger. even 400 pix would be better. I always have to make my shots smaller or lower the quality.
I don't like having to scroll to see an entire image. But that's just me I guess. It doesn't devalue the image in any way. It just makes it more difficult for me to see it. My screen resolution is 1440x900 and I have to scroll to see all of any image that uses the maximum vertical allowance.
Personally, I can't think of a scenario where entering an image smaller than the allowable size would be to anyone's advantage.
I often resize my images to 704 pixels for a few reasons:
-it is exactly 25% of the full resolution, and I believe there is a better chance of retaining detail and smoother gradients if the resampling algorithm doesn't have to deal with "fractional pixels"
-it prevents (most) scrolling, at least on portrait-oriented photos, without having to change my display
-I can usually save at a higher-quality JPEG setting, retaining quality and reducing artifacts
-I have space to add a border if desired
-it's close enough to the maximum entry size that no one has mentioned the issue in a comment in months/years
Personally, I can't think of a scenario where entering an image smaller than the allowable size would be to anyone's advantage.
I often resize my images to 704 pixels for a few reasons:
-it is exactly 25% of the full resolution, and I believe there is a better chance of retaining detail and smoother gradients if the resampling algorithm doesn't have to deal with "fractional pixels"
-it prevents (most) scrolling, at least on portrait-oriented photos, without having to change my display
-I can usually save at a higher-quality JPEG setting, retaining quality and reducing artifacts
-I have space to add a border if desired
-it's close enough to the maximum entry size that no one has mentioned the issue in a comment in months/years
This is what I was thinking, 704 would just be slightly smaller, but I ran out of time. I will save this for my next entry.
720 pixels on the vertical dimension, proportions constrained, will score better than 800 pixels on the vertical. I think it's because of legacy monitor/displays still in operation, including laptops. The thing which is forgotten beyond the screen size, is the browser consumption of pixels.
Horizontally oriented images are less of a problem. 800 pixels on the horizontal always, proportions constrained.
I don't like having to scroll to see an entire image. But that's just me I guess. It doesn't devalue the image in any way. It just makes it more difficult for me to see it. My screen resolution is 1440x900 and I have to scroll to see all of any image that uses the maximum vertical allowance.
I don't know why you should have to; my screen is 1440x900 as well, and F11 allows me easily to see the entire 800-pixel vertical image, the title, and the voting line...
Rather than scrolling up/down to see the image, hold down ctrl and roll your mouse wheel. That will zoom in and out. You'll probably only need to zoom out 1 notch to see even the biggest photo's so it shouldn't affect the quality much if at all. Not sure if this works with scrollpads if you don't use a mouse with your laptop...
I don't like having to scroll to see an entire image. But that's just me I guess. It doesn't devalue the image in any way. It just makes it more difficult for me to see it. My screen resolution is 1440x900 and I have to scroll to see all of any image that uses the maximum vertical allowance.
I don't know why you should have to; my screen is 1440x900 as well, and F11 allows me easily to see the entire 800-pixel vertical image, the title, and the voting line...
R.
Using smurfguy's DPCmods and Firefox / Internet Explorer, the image is automatically placed on the topmost part of your browser, allowing you to check the entire picture without scrolling (of course it depends on the amount of browser bars you have that take up space on top).
I don't like having to scroll to see an entire image. But that's just me I guess. It doesn't devalue the image in any way. It just makes it more difficult for me to see it. My screen resolution is 1440x900 and I have to scroll to see all of any image that uses the maximum vertical allowance.
Originally posted by sarampo:
Using smurfguy's DPCmods and Firefox / Internet Explorer, the image is automatically placed on the topmost part of your browser, allowing you to check the entire picture without scrolling (of course it depends on the amount of browser bars you have that take up space on top).
Try Google Chrome, I find it the least intrusive; it has very little crap around the webpage.
I don't understand the apparent resistance to F11 in here. It gives you the best of both worlds. A simple keystroke eliminates all the browser garbage (and even Chrome, which I use, has a little) and lets you see the image in its entirety. DPC voting automatically moves you to the next image, so you don't need anything else. And if you DO need to go back to an address bar or another tabbed page, whatever, a simple keystroke on F11 again accomplishes the shift. Easy as could possibly be.
I'd avoid using the wheel to resize the image if at all possible; noticeable degradation sets in immediately you go to a non-native resolution.
I don't understand the apparent resistance to F11 in here. It gives you the best of both worlds. A simple keystroke eliminates all the browser garbage (and even Chrome, which I use, has a little) and lets you see the image in its entirety. DPC voting automatically moves you to the next image, so you don't need anything else. And if you DO need to go back to an address bar or another tabbed page, whatever, a simple keystroke on F11 again accomplishes the shift. Easy as could possibly be.
I'd avoid using the wheel to resize the image if at all possible; noticeable degradation sets in immediately you go to a non-native resolution.
R.
Agree 100% on both the usefulness of F11 and the thoughts on scroll-wheel zooming.
I prefer Firefox. I'm not against F11 but I still have to scroll to read the title on a maxed out vertical image. I'm not complaining though. It's just a pet peeve for me. I don't even vote in challenges that often.
