How to Improve Screenshot Quality in FrontPage2003 websites?

[Guest]

Hi Folks,

This is probably a multi-part solution, but thought I'd ask it here.

We're taking a lot of screenshots for an online manual. Our users are
claiming the images are "fuzzy" when viewed online (and when printed).
However, when I'm working in them they appear fine.

I'm using SnagIT 6 to capture to BMP. Then taking that image, doctoring it
in PowerPoint, and snagging a new shot of the doctored image, saving as the
highest resolution PNG file I can get (JPG is too lossy). I then import the
picture to my FP pages as needed. FP2003 is the site tool I'm using.

Any idea why the screens are so fuzzy? I'm limited to working in 1024x768
max resolution (some of our users are still on old 15" monitors and 8MB video
cards). When viewing them at 1280x960 they look great in PowerPoint and FP,
but when viewed via the browser...fuzzy again.

I know XP and 2000 are limited to 96dpi screen resolution...is there
anything I can do?

Thanks in advance,
Mike

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

As long as you are importing the image into FP and FP is not prompting you to save the image, then
FP is not having any impact on the quality of your images. You might want use a image editing
application to modify your image and not PowerPoint since that is not what it was design to for.

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==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
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[Rob Giordano \(Crash\)]

Dunno why you have PP involved in this process. Work with an image editing
program.
When you're finished doctoring, resizing, etc, then the last thing you do
before Importing it into FP is to convert it to jpg.



| Hi Folks,
|
| This is probably a multi-part solution, but thought I'd ask it here.
|
| We're taking a lot of screenshots for an online manual. Our users are
| claiming the images are "fuzzy" when viewed online (and when printed).
| However, when I'm working in them they appear fine.
|
| I'm using SnagIT 6 to capture to BMP. Then taking that image, doctoring it
| in PowerPoint, and snagging a new shot of the doctored image, saving as
the
| highest resolution PNG file I can get (JPG is too lossy). I then import
the
| picture to my FP pages as needed. FP2003 is the site tool I'm using.
|
| Any idea why the screens are so fuzzy? I'm limited to working in 1024x768
| max resolution (some of our users are still on old 15" monitors and 8MB
video
| cards). When viewing them at 1280x960 they look great in PowerPoint and
FP,
| but when viewed via the browser...fuzzy again.
|
| I know XP and 2000 are limited to 96dpi screen resolution...is there
| anything I can do?
|
| Thanks in advance,
| Mike

 

[Steve Easton]

Use the free IrfanView to convert the image from a bmp straight to a jpg
with the quality set at 75%
Then import the jpg into your site.

www.irfanview.com


--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
95isalive
This site is best viewed..................
...............................with a computer

 

[Guest]

The option to go outside an use another program (not PP) isn't an option for
us. Customer isn't interested in us using something like Photoshop. I've used
The GIMP before, but my coworkers haven't, and honestly...I don't think
they'd "get it" in time to make it useful.

We've been using PP to doctor the images with block arrows and other
callouts. We then snag a capture of the doctored image...we're not doing a
"Save As..." from within PP.

Some of it has to do with the resolution at which we're doing screen grabs
(1024x768)...when we go larger the images are much clearer. I wonder if it's
the old "picture of a picture" issue?

Thanks for all the input. I will investigate Irfanview to see if I might be
able to use it.

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash\)]

It'd probably be best to eliminate the PP step. Are any of these images
online so we can take a look?


| The option to go outside an use another program (not PP) isn't an option
for
| us. Customer isn't interested in us using something like Photoshop. I've
used
| The GIMP before, but my coworkers haven't, and honestly...I don't think
| they'd "get it" in time to make it useful.
|
| We've been using PP to doctor the images with block arrows and other
| callouts. We then snag a capture of the doctored image...we're not doing a
| "Save As..." from within PP.
|
| Some of it has to do with the resolution at which we're doing screen grabs
| (1024x768)...when we go larger the images are much clearer. I wonder if
it's
| the old "picture of a picture" issue?
|
| Thanks for all the input. I will investigate Irfanview to see if I might
be
| able to use it.
|
|
|
| "Mike" wrote:
|
| > Hi Folks,
| >
| > This is probably a multi-part solution, but thought I'd ask it here.
| >
| > We're taking a lot of screenshots for an online manual. Our users are
| > claiming the images are "fuzzy" when viewed online (and when printed).
| > However, when I'm working in them they appear fine.
| >
| > I'm using SnagIT 6 to capture to BMP. Then taking that image, doctoring
it
| > in PowerPoint, and snagging a new shot of the doctored image, saving as
the
| > highest resolution PNG file I can get (JPG is too lossy). I then import
the
| > picture to my FP pages as needed. FP2003 is the site tool I'm using.
| >
| > Any idea why the screens are so fuzzy? I'm limited to working in
1024x768
| > max resolution (some of our users are still on old 15" monitors and 8MB
video
| > cards). When viewing them at 1280x960 they look great in PowerPoint and
FP,
| > but when viewed via the browser...fuzzy again.
| >
| > I know XP and 2000 are limited to 96dpi screen resolution...is there
| > anything I can do?
| >
| > Thanks in advance,
| > Mike