PhotoShop: Lesson 1 - Changing image sizes

When optimising graphics, the first step is to reduce image size: in our sample image, the original size is approximately 1000 pixels by 800, which is far too large for most web pages.

While it is possible to scale down images in a web editor, in the vast majority of cases this will result in larger file sizes and slower down-load times than you need. As such, it is best to reduce images in Photo-shop before importing them into your web editor.

To reduce the size of your images, go to Image on the menu bar and select Image Size. The Image Size dialog box includes tools to change both the screen size (Pixel Dimensions) and print size of an image. For optimisation for the web, the first set of dimensions is the most important.

The width and height of an image can be adjusted by changing the actual number of pixels in the image or, as here, changing the relative size of the image as a percentage, reducing each dimension to about a third of its original size.

You can order copies of the following books:
Web Production for Writers and Journalists in paperback.
The Internet: The Basics in paperback.
The Cyberspace Handbook in paperback.