Are you having difficulty uploading photos to your site? Are they too small to suit your taste? MyWebPal and PhotoShop can help!
Below is a brief primer that will help you prep photos, keep them under 30K so that they load quickly for you and your readers, and make them look fantastic. PhotoShop v.5.5 and later has an option under the File menu called “Save for the Web.” First, get a photo open in Photoshop, and then follow along.
Select “Save for the Web” from the File menu. Your photo should appear in another window with several new selection boxes on the right-hand side.
At the right of your photo, find the small tab called “Image Size.” Constrain your changes to be proportional in both height and width by checking the ‘constrain’ box. Highlight the height (or width) number, and change to 400 pixels, then click below on “Apply.” (This number is strictly for an example. You’ll want to experiment and see what number works for your particular photo and the size of image you want on your site.) When you click on apply, it’ll give you a look at your photo as well as the new file size just below the photo. What we’re ultimately striving for is a file size of 30K or less.
Next step, look in the top box on the right hand side. You’ll find a drop down menu with an arrow inside a small circle to the right. Click on this and it will give you three choices. Select Optimize to file size and input 30K. Click OK and name and save your file somewhere easy to find when you’re ready to upload it.
We’re done with file prep, and ready to upload to your news site. Open the Administrative site. Select a news story to which you want to add a photo, by selecting “Edit a News Story.” When that page opens, it should indicate the headline of the story you selected in the top box. Scroll down to the very next section and click in the radio button for “Upload Photo.” Then click “Browse” until you locate your photo on your floppy or hard disk. Click “Continue” at the bottom of the page.
This should upload a good looking photo at a reasonable size that will not keep your readers waiting and waiting for their page to load.
