I really like the new site, lots of great information and posts coming in regularly
However I have one question/coment...
Why are some of the photos so large they will not fit on a monitor? (17")
I understand a large image is sometimes needed for clarity, but there are times when the photo is too large and you loose the idea of what is being presented... ie can't see the forest for the trees...
As a suggestion maybe a standard needs to set or store those large photos in the gallery or download section to be viewed independently for those that need that information...
I only post the larger photo when the detail is asked for. In each case the questiuon asked required the detail. Anyone interested in the question should have had no problem identifying what they were looking at and those not interested in the question would most likely not be viewing the photos. Since the original poster needed the data and as can be seen others interested in the data appreciated the detail there is no reason to restrict the size when this detail level is requested just so someone who likes to cruise through all the postings doesn't get overwhelmed by the photo sizes.
I run a 19 inch monitor with 1600x1200 resolution, so I can hardly tell when a photo is "too big."
640x480 is itsy-bitsy on my monitor, 800x600 okay, 1024x768 okay, 1280x1024 (or 960) -- and things start to get big.
Obviously this is all going to depend on your computers resolution setting. Someone running 800x600 no matter how big the monitor is is going to think anything more than a 640x480 picture is ginormous.
I personally recommend 1024x768 for 15inch, 1280x1024 for 17, 1600x1200 for 19, etc etc. I know many people have bad eyes and can't see text that small, so the instictive approach is to lower the resolution. Yes, that makes the text bigger, but it makes everything bigger -- and a lot less will fit on your screen. There are specific font size settings in Windows and Mac so you can have a bigger font with an appropriate resolution (if anyone is interested in knowing how to set this up, let me know, i can post directions).
Anywho -- as for "how big is too big" -- I'd say 640x480 / 800x600 should be the norm. However, Wes does bring up a good point about detail. I sure find it pretty hard to spot details in a lower res picture rather than a high res picture. When the situation calls for it, use it.
REMEMBER....huge photos take up huge amoutns of space on our server if they are saved to your photo gallery. If you're pulling phots from an external server, say, photobucket.com, it wont take up any of our space -- but people that have dialup connections will really feel the pain when it takes 5 minutes for the photo to halfway complete.
OK for the folks with small eyes I've deleted all the large DETAILED photos.
Let me say something one time here. Ryan and I do a ton of work on these sites. I get asked for about 30 photos a week. When a guy asks for detail in a post here he should be able to get it without a lot of static. In the past and on the G when I email a large file photo directly to a guy asking for a detailed photo and he announces on the original thread "Thanks Wes the photo was perfect" guess what happens next???? I get 10 requests for the photo. Anybody out there know how long it takes to pump out 10 requests on my dial up????
I say let's get real here. By posting the detailed photo here the original poster gets what he needs. Other interested posters get a free copy. I have already discussed this with Ryan and there's no reason not to post these larger files when needed. We simply switch them to smaller thumbnails when the thread dies. In the meantime they are NOT a storage issue for the new web site or it's server.
When this plan gets the blessing of the masses I'll start posting photos again.
This way if you wanted to reference images from sites photo gallery here in the forum, you have the option to either show the orginal image for detail, or the one that gets sized for easier viewing.
I did not mean to open a can of worms with this posting...
I did not understand how the photos were being posted, different resolutions... all the photos I have ever posted here or on the "G" always come out the same size... I have learned something about that topic...
I was just asking so now my question is answered and I will go back to sleep now...
No, that is a feature of the gallery that is not documented. This weekend, I will post some better examples of how to get the most out of your photo-gallery under the website forum.
