A Short Discourse on the Web Graphics
Tools, Techniques, and
Intents, Pt 3 in a Series
I'm just a soul who's intentions are
good
Oh
Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood
— (Bennie Benjamin / Gloria
Caldwell / Sol Marcus (Composers) The Animals
The overarching graphical theme I strive for in the presentation of The Dispatches is that of a modern full color news magazine. This formatting concept demands a combination of full color images juxtaposed next to the body of the text, or interwoven with the body of the text. Technically, this requires careful resizing of images.
Clearly, the Internet is by far the most crowded broadcasting or publishing medium there is today. Another goal of the pages is simply to get noticed. Getting noticed calls being provocative, without actually provoking someone. Such are the times. And I am getting loyal readers from all over the globe.
Also, as "a creator," as they might call me today, I always want to bring them back for more. To that end, I have developed on going themes using the images to name these themes. There is the Yin and Yang theme of is it a Miracle or a Curse? A new theme that I am now just developing is a more positive take on the former just mentioned. Simply the Miracles All around of us, first being the Miracle of Human Intelligence, sort of playing off of the current trendy Artificial Intelligence.
One visual theme that continues to inspire me is the WWI Uncle Sam Induction Poster. The image has always been gripping to me. The pointing Uncle Sam image has also been used so many times is so many fields that it could considered a cliché. But now I only see it my websites. The image is preachy in theme. So it lends itself to my preachy webpages.
I wonder if sometimes an image may too direct, lending people to whom I send copies, to take it personal. First of all, clearly it's my not style. Second of all, this is art. Art attempts larger statements about the human condition than what a mere critique of any of one situation. I like to think that the images standalone as examples of compelling web art. Music must be heard to be appreciated. So must art be seen to be appreciated. And web art must be display by computer to be seen.
As a writer, I don't do formal outlines before I write. In many ways, the word processor has made outlining unnecessary. Moving chunks of text is no more difficult, really, than changing a single word of the text. At least for me. I already know what I want to say and write about. That is dictated in large part by the research. What I am often not real sure about is how I will begin an essay. The image helps me set the tone and ambiance of a piece, regardless of where the graphic may appear in the body of text.
What has been an amazing tool, indeed an asset, is the image generating AI applications. I have centered on using what is now called Microsoft Designer. It is not that the MS design tool is any better than the others; it's simply the case that MS already has all there is to know about me. And Microsoft is to me, at least, as trustworthy as any web outfit can be.
No longer must I make image degrading citations of where the background art came from. And the US Patent Office says if I make significant and unique changes to the AI generated image, then I can copyright that picture and call it my own. I always blend images from a variety of public sources to create the finished images, or I strive to cite the outside source. But now I only snippets of news photos already in public domain.
Although I do still make full screen captures that I paste into MS Paint, more and more I rely on the MS Snipping Tool to take only a partial screen dump. Those image snippets taken with the Snipping Tool are very high quality images to begin with, and once snipped, the user is prompted to save the snip as separate image file. This saves a few steps.
The secret sauce used in my image creation is what the kids call "a legacy application." Microsoft PhotoDraw 2000 was released with Windows 98SE and Office 2000. This has been the easiest full featured image editing application ever. If a users could navigate an Office application like MS Word, then that user already knew half of what is needed to use the app. The application was memory hog that required its turn of the century users to be patient while it rendered the image. When users did not have the needed patience, the app crashed and the image was lost. On modern systems, this app rocks. I do not know why MS simply does not simply release an updated version.
Windows 11 2022h1 update disabled the ability of this app to save in any of the usual web graphic formats. For a while I thought my relationship with PhotoDraw 2000 had to end. We had stayed together through endless and sometimes very painful transitions. My relationship with application that I had used I had come to love ever more through all the other Windows separations of Vista; Windows XP; Windows 7; Windows 8.x; Windows 10; and now Windows undone by an update. Oh, parting is such sweet sorrow.
I was not going to give up that easily. Felix reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out the Snipping Tool. So here's a trick for anyone who does a lot in digital imaging. It is my considered opinion that no matter the application, the pics always look best when displayed in Print Preview. So I sent the finished picture to Print Preview From Print Preview, I pulled up the Snippet Tool and snipped the entire image from the Print Preview screen. This has resulted in a much better quality of image than I have ever been able to display.
One more technical point here. Once an image is made, I may have more than editorial use for any one image. That requires resizing the image. Now, I don't care if you are enlarging or shrinking an image. Resizing an image either squeezes information out of image (shrinking) or lessens the sharpness of an image by increasing the pixel size (enlarging). The new Windows 11 Photo App does the best job of resizing because the ap allows for increasing the quality of the resized image. A reduction of say 25% the photo app really does not seem to noticeably degrade the appearance of the image.
The new Photo App is different than that which was preinstalled on Windows 11. The app can be found at The Microsoft Store for free download. The new Photos also has an import function that users remember well from Windows XP, as well as Photo Library feature. I don't use either of those features, but I do know users have requested them, at least to me.
To take advantage of the image improvement feature, simply move the
slider all the way to 100% to the right (100%)
to return
lost digital information to your resized pic. The image had the width was reduced
about 20%. As you can see there was some degrading of the image
quality of the text, but the overall is still pretty good, and certainly
useful for web use.
I rest my case.
or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above,
or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth.
— Exodus 20:4
Gerald Reiff