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Instructions for Viewing, Saving, & Printing

• Click on Blue Text to expand or collapse this list
  • These instructions are written for Microsoft Internet Explorer Browsers (IE)
  • IE is currently the industry standard browser.  It's free and runs on numerous platforms including Windows and Mac (but not Linux)
  • The functionality may be different in other browsers.  This collapsible list doesn't work in Netscape.
• Navigation
  • The index page contains links to picture sets.  The picture sets have a link in the upper left corner that will take you back to the main index, plus other useful locations.  To get your bearings, I recommend trying the links in the upper left corner of the picture sets to see where they take you.
• Web Pages
  • Overview
    • Web pages displayed in your browser are often composed from numerous files that reside on one or more server computers.  Your browser (client) will request a resource from a server (host) using a URL (uniform resource locator is the address in your browsers address bar).  The file that the server returns to your browser will contain instructions that your browser will use to construct the page.  The instructions may direct your browser to use resources external to the file.  Your browser will then transparently make the required request for resources (using the URLs supplied in the initial file) to gather the items it needs to build the display on your screen.
  • File types:  There are a few basic web page and file types
    • html & htm:
      • Currently, the most common format for web pages is html (htm & html are the same), which stands for hyper text markup language.  Markup tags contained in the code instruct your browser how to display information.  Since an html page may instruct your browser to gather information from various sources, saving an html page from your browser to your hard disk may result in the creation of a directory structure containing numerous files needed to display the page.
    • Frame Pages
      • The picture sets are displayed in a frame page so you can view the thumbnails and pictures at the same time.
      • A frame page is an assembly of multiple pages that display in "frames" on your screen.    The file containing the instructions for your browser to compose the page is called the Frameset.  Since your browser is displaying numerous pages at the same time, only the URL address for the frameset is displayed in your browser address bar.
      •  If you want the URL for a link in a frame page, it will display in the lower left corner of your browser when you move your mouse over the link.  If you want to copy a link, you can right click on blank space in a frame and select properties.  You can then copy the URL for pasting into your stuff.
      • If you link directly to a page in a frame, it will open by itself, outside it's frame.
      • You can't link to a specific frameset configuration.  You can link to a frameset, but it will always initially display it's default configuration.
      • You can force a link to open in a new window (broken out of it's frame) by holding down the shift key while double clicking on the link (the thumbnails are links).
    • jpg
      • The optimal file format for photographs is jpg
      • It should be noted that the jpg format uses a compression scheme based on approximations, so it needs to re-approximate each time you edit and re-save the file from an image editor.  The image quality can degrade if the file is repetitively edited and re-saved.
      •  There are 3 prominent file formats for displaying images.  jpg, gif, and png.  gif and png are used for graphics.  They use a compression scheme that doesn't loose information, but they aren't optimal for photographs due to a picture's busy detail and wide range of color variations.
• Viewing Pictures
  • Click on a [Picture Set] link to view a thumbnail set in left frame
    When you click on a thumbnail, an html file containing the full picture (jpg) & text will be displayed in the main frame
  • You may need to scroll down to see the caption text if your running your computer display at 800 x 600.  The full page will be visible without scrolling for higher resolutions like 1024 x 768 and higher.
  • Page View:  You can view all the thumbnails in the main frame by clicking on the [Page View] link
  • If you plan to view more than several pictures, I suggest you download all of them first.  Downloading all the jpg files in a picture set will let you click around without needing to wait for the jpg file to download
  • To download all the jpg files, click on the link titled [Download All]
    • You can leave your computer, or work on other applications while the pictures download in the background
    • The [Download All] link will open a new browser window, download all the jpg files for the picture set, and store them in your RAM (Random Access Memory)
    • Once the pictures are in your RAM, the pictures will display immediately when you click on a thumbnail.  You won't have to wait for each one to download off the server.
    • You can also scroll down through the page in the new window to view the jpg images
    • You can close the new window, and the files will remain in your RAM for some time that depends on the size and configuration of your computers memory.
• File Sizes
  • Most of the pictures from Pam's 1.3 mega pixel camera were taken at 0.3 mega pixels (640 x 480) and slightly compressed down to jpg file sizes varying from about 150K bytes to 250K bytes.  It takes about 40 seconds to download a 200K byte file with a 56K modem.  The same picture will take about 2 to 5 seconds to download if you have DSL or a cable connection.  Pictures submitted from other sources may be larger or smaller.  Many authors compress file sizes down to about 50K to realize faster downloads, but there is some loss of quality.
  • Math:  for those of you fluent in basic multiplication and division:
    • There are two things that affect the size and quality of the picture; resolution and compression.
      • Resolution refers to size, and is measured in pixels.  It indicates the number points that are defined by a color.  Pixels map directly to your computer screen (pixels across and down ~ width x height).
      • Compression is a process of reducing the file size.  jpg file compression is an approximation and will loose data, but the file sizes and resultant down load times are greatly reduced.
      • When you create pictures with a digital camera or your scanner, you specify both the resolution (pixels) and the degree of compression.  I generally opt for 640 x 480 pixel pictures (so they will fit on an 800 x 600 computer display), and minimal compression to maintain quality.
    • Your computer screen is measured in pixels.  You can vary your resolution and put more or less pixels on your screen.  If you increase the number of pixels per given area, the objects will appear smaller, but you can get more of them on the screen.  If your running a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels on your computer screen, then you have 800 pixels across and 600 down.  I run 1024 x 768, so I can get more stuff on my screen, but the objects appear smaller.
    • Photographs displayed on your computer screen generally map 1 to 1 as pixels, so a picture that is 640 x 480 pixels will take up about 80% of your horizontal real-estate if your running a resolution 800 x 600.  The underlying data for a digital image is pixels, so if you work with inches then you also need to specify pixels per inch.  If you print a 600 pixel picture at 100 pixels per inch, then the print will be 6" wide.
    • When we refer to 24 bit color, we mean that we define each pixel with a 24 bit number.  2 raised to the 24 power is more that 16 million colors (16,777,216), so 24 bit color will define each dot (pixel) as a color code with 16 million possibilities (shades of color).  Since one byte is 8 bits, it takes 3 bytes to specify 24 bits (3 bytes times 8 bits per byte = 24 bits).
    • If we take a picture at a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels, then we have a total (length x width) of  307,400 pixels x 3 bytes to define each pixel in 24 bit color ~ 921,600 bytes ~ a mega byte.  We then compress the picture using a compression tool.  Photographs are usually compressed into a jpg file format.  The jpg file format lets you choose how aggressively you want to compress the file.  There is some loss of data.  You can get reasonably quality with compression ratio's of about 10 to 1 , but I generally opt for less aggressive compression (about 4 or 5 to 1) resulting in better quality at the expense of larger file sizes and longer download time.  At 4 or 5 to 1, a 640 x 480 pixel picture will be around 200+K bytes.  Many photographers opt for even higher compression ratios resulting in smaller file sizes and faster down load times, but lower quality.
• Saving
  • htm page
    • You can save an htm page from your browser, however, since an htm page may need numerous files to display the page, your browser may create a directory structure containing more than one file
  • Location
    • When you save a file, you want to put it somewhere in your directory/file structure where you can find it.  During the save process, you should Browse to a location in your directory/file structure where you want to keep the file.  Give the file a new name, or keep the existing default name.
    • If you haven't structured your files in directories, life will be clutter and disorganized.  You can throw everything in the same closet and search when you want to find something, but it's better to set up a folder/directory structure and keep things in logical places.
  • One Picture
    • To save just one picture; right click the picture and select "Save Picture As"
    • Browse to a location in your directory/file structure where you want to keep the picture
    • Give the file a new name, or keep the existing default name
    • Click on save.  This will save the jpg file, but not the caption text.
  • Caption Text
    • A jpg file contains the photograph, but not the caption.
    • To save the caption along with the picture, you need to save the htm file which contains both the text and a link to the jpg file.
  • To save an html file
    • It's best to open the htm file you want to save in it's own window, out of a frame set
      • You can do this by double clicking on the link (thumbnail) while holding down the shift key.
      • When you save the htm file, your browser will save the file plus create a subdirectory containing all the files needed reconstruct the page. (if all the resources can't be saved, the page won't display as intended)
      • If you save a frameset page, it will save all the thumbnails, but will only save the full picture that is currently displayed in the main frame.
      • If you save the htm page broken out of it's frame, it will save your chosen jpg image along with the htm file containing the caption text
    • click on File > Save As
    • Browse to a location within your directory/file structure that you want to save the file to
    • Click > Save
    • Windows will save the file, plus create a subdirectory that contains all the jpg files
  • All pictures
    • You can save all the pictures (jpg files) in a set to your hard disk after you download them
    • To save all the pictures in a set;
      Download all the pictures in a set by clicking on the [Download All] link in the picture set main page.  This will open a new browser window and download an htm file that displays all pictures (without captions).  The pictures are displayed in your browser, but the file contains the links to the pictures.
    • Once the "Download All" file is finished downloading, click on File > Save As
    • Browse to a location within your directory/file structure that you want to save the files to
    • Windows will save the file, plus create a subdirectory that contains all the jpg files
      You then have all the pictures on your hard drive to view or print off line
• Printing Options
  • Print the picture only
    • Right click the picture and select Print Picture from the context menu
    • or Save the picture and print the file from your image viewer of choice
  • Print the picture with a caption
    • Open the htm file in a new window by double clicking on the thumbnail link while you hold the shift key down
    • From the new window, select File > Print
  • Professional Quality Printing
    • The paper stock and printer have a significant effect on the quality of a print
    • For quality printing, Pam & I email our jpg files to a photo printing shop that will work with digital pictures.  There are likely to be several in your home town.  Our shop charges $0.68 per print for a 4x6.  I recommend glossy paper.  The quality is usually pretty good up to about 8x10, and sometimes 10x12.