Todays picture was once 12 megabytes large. I compressed it down to 135 kilobytes. Bet you can't tell the difference. Bad Bob was in to get some computer disks copied. As one of my former students, I questioned why he would need assistance for something so easy. It turns out the photos were not on a CD, but on a DVD. You can't disk copy one to the other. But why would somebody put 154 jpegs on a DVD?
The answer has to do with the way digital cameras are marketed. Most people who own one don't have a clue what a megapixel is, but they sure want more of them. Read my lips, more pixels will not improve the appearance of your photos on a computer. It makes a difference if you are printing the photos, but is that why you got a digital camera?Sure enough, whoever took the pictures set it at the highest pixel setting and each file was 11 megabytes. I had to step it down to ordinary screen size and resolution. Come to think of it, a lot of people ask me how to perform this operation because it is tedious to step through the pictures one by one and resample them. So here is a mini computer lesson.
Right-click on any picture in the folder you wish to downsize to expose the picture menu. Find "Open With" around half way down the list and see if you have MicroSoft Office Picture Manager. If so, continue and open the picture, which in turn opens the entire folder. Use your favorite method to select all the photos you want to resize. Go to the "Picture" drop menu and near the bottom you'll find the "Resize..." option, and click on it. A right-side panel opens with a variety of radio buttons. Choose "Predefined width x height" and drop that menu. The two selections you want are "Document - Large" or "Document - Small".
Sure, these don't cover all the possibilities, but if you need a large amount of pictures brought down to a manageable size in a moment, this method works just fine.
I was on the Internet for several hours late in the day, closely examining the posts on FireHow. It looks like this outfit will be in focus for the next short while even at the expense of being repetitious. I am seeking the most popular posts to find out how they are getting their ratings and hits. For now, the majority of the postings are kindergarten level, but FireHow still wins out over Suite 101, Remilon and a host of obscure locations that seem loathe to state how much they pay.
I intend to post a series of test articles tomorrow. My examination of the process shows that most of the writers post in batches and tend to dominate a single topic. I take that to mean I must find a similar corner where I can do the same. Also, I will look at the profiles of the more popular authors to get a feel for the competition. Several FireHow sources state you can make good money by posting "703 articles", but I personally know of very few people who could to that and still remain interesting.
Still, if anybody can do it, I can. The easy categories, like recipes, are gone. But then, are people who write cookbooks really authors?
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