SlideRoomBlog

Applicants often don’t want to wait for technical support staff to respond (usually an hour). They want answers “now.” One of the big new features for applicant portals is access to our new Help Desk. This is accessible after they login under the “help” tab. It is a complete knowledge base for answers to frequently asked questions. And if they can’t find an answer to their question, they can still email us for assistance.

Institutions may wish to add this link on their website announcing programs: http://slideroom.zendesk.com. This way, applicants who have trouble starting the process can also find answers to their questions.

[youtube width="550" height="460"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6EDNM6JNmw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fuser%2FSlideRoom&feature=player_profilepage[/youtube]

Applicants love being able to preview the application process before they begin. This is commonly attempted with a PDF or extremely long instructions, but we believe in the power of video. Above is a brief video that will be displayed on all new SlideRoom login portals. This allows applicants to see the process and get oriented with the system before they ever begin.

If you are an administrator wanting to add settings for the next year, you can go ahead and start. When the new portals launch next week, there will be some new spaces for extra instruction.

One common question we get from applicants is how to resize images.  This usually comes from applicants who don’t have Photoshop.  So, this post is another resource for those looking for quick photo-editing tools.

On a Mac, Preview is a handy tool not only for quickly viewing all sorts of media, but you can manipulate media as well.  Most people that use Preview don’t realize that you can resize your images with this tool.  So, if you don’t have Photoshop, but you want to resize your images for the web (smaller), simply go to tools>adjust image>and type in the pixel size and resolution.

You should always use 72 ppi for web, because that is the resolution of monitors.  I have posted about that before here. PC users also have a cool tool for resizing, previously posted here.

Have you ever posted an image to the web and felt that it looked really different than how you saved it?  Not just different, but a real loss of vibrancy and color saturation?  This is due to the color profile in Photoshop not matching the color profile of your browser.

Below are instructions on how to fix this from Michael Fletcher in 2007, via the PhotoDoto blog.  Go to his original post for more technical info.

Converting the Color Space in Photoshop CS2:

In Photoshop, when you open your image, make sure to check the “mode.”  Go to Image>Mode and make sure 8-Bits/Channel is chosen. Then go to Edit>Convert to Profile.  Choose the settings that appear in the picture below (and uncheck all the boxes).  Now your image is ready to save.

Fletcher adds a very helpful note to those who may not have Photoshop CS2 or CS3:

If you don’t use Photoshop for post-processing, simply save the final image for the web in the sRGB IEC61966-2.1 color space. Although the exact method to select the proper color space varies from program to program, any serious photo imaging program or raw converter will allow you to specify the color space.

This is great information if you are someone uploading pictures anywhere on the web.  Whether you are using Flickr, SlideRoom, a blog or something else … all the same rules apply.  Good luck on maintaining beautiful color!

Many applicants have images saved on their computer as “print ready” files, which means they are huge … way too huge for any online submission process. Most people who have Photoshop know how to shrink their images, however many do not have Photoshop. So, this post is a resource to those who are on PC (not Mac), and their computer runs on Windows XP. There is a great little program you can download from Microsoft called “Image Resizer.” It will allow you to right click on any image and define a new image size, simple!

You can download it here.

And there is an instruction guide here.

The single most common question from artists trying to send a digital file online is: How big should my image/file be?

Lets start with the computer monitor. Most monitors have a size of 1024 pixels across and 768 pixels tall. (Some monitors are as large as 1280 px). The resolution of a monitor is 72 pixels per inch, period. So, if you want a photo to fill the entire screen, make the image size fit within 1024 px x 768 px @ 72ppi. (That is much smaller than most people realize). Increasing the ppi will have no discernible effect, because it is beyond the capacity of the monitor to display.

The file size is a different thing. This is like the “weight” of the file after everything is saved. This will vary depending on the amount of information within the photo and how it is saved. The part you have control over is how you save it. When saving files that will ultimately be displayed digitally, save as JPEG. This is a compression format, which means it will preserve good image quality while making the file size smaller. This is done by essentially averaging pixels of similar color.

When saving as JPEG, you are given the choice of “quality” on a scale from 1 – 10. I find that 8 usually works great. Of course, this will depend on the type of artwork you have. This is something to experiment with. The ultimate goal is to get the best image quality with the smallest file size.