Any Dreamweaver users here?

[EleKtriKaz]

I've always found this board to be very helpful, so I thought I would post this here before I went out looking for a web publishing bbs.

I created a large site in Photoshop and Illustrator, so the whole site is basically layered images that have been cut into pieces. I then import the pieces of the pictures into tables in Dreamweaver to compile everything into a working site. The problem I'm having is that the resolution of the pages is too big. They need to be scaled down. I made the images big enough that they would work on any size monitor with the idea that I would be able to scale them down later. Now that everything is compiled, and this is a big site, I don't know how to scale down the pages in Dreamweaver. Anyone know how to do this?

[AlChuck]

You don't want to scale the pages down in Dreamweaver. All this does is set width and height attributes for the HTML IMG tag. Then the user's web browser scales the picture after it loads. No browser does as good a job at scaling images as image processing software does. The result -- the picture looks like shit. Plus, it's actual size is larger than necessary, which can be a big issue for users with dial-up connections.

Scale the pictures in Photoshop to the size you want them to be.

[gordone]

I use Fireworks and it creates image slices that are all reasonable small for web use. AFAIK Dreamweaver doesn't do anything with graphics, it's more for HTML/Layout.
I'm suprised that Photoshop/Illustrator would generate graphics that big.
Oh wait - are you talking about the physical size of the entire page after all the little image slices are patched together in the table? If your "page" in Photoshop/Illustrator is (for example) 600x400, then that's what size it is. If you want the site to be able to look good (and fill the entire screen) on different sized monitors, you'll have to know a bit about HTML. How much HTML do you know?

[David Hooper]

From a marketing/business standpoint, using graphics like this is not a good idea. It will limit who will be able to acccess your site including blind people. Google, mobile phone users, etc.

If you go with this, I'd also have a 2nd version that is HTML only.

[EleKtriKaz]

Thanks for the responses. Once I get the site up I'll probably create an html only version as well.

Gordone: I was hoping I wouldn't have to resize the pictures in photoshop. It took me so long to compile this site, that I'm looking for any way to not do this. Is there any way I can do some sort of massive, percentage-based resize, so that I don't have to open each picture individually and resize it? There are literally about 5000 images.

Thanks.

[leavings]

Do the parts of images that overlap actually need to be present? It sounds to me like you're creating a collage in dreamweaver (if not, ignore the rest). If that's the case, you'd be better off saving all of the overlapped images as one in photoshop or illustrator, and then importing that file to dreamweaver. You can create link fields in arbitrary shapes over the images or parts of images as you see fit.

Peter

[thehouseofshawn]

If it is a giant collage, as what I get from the other responses, then you should be best with saving it as a giant one, and exporting it to something more web-friendly such as .gif. If you wanted to get technical, you could hunt down some javascript that will automatically detect and run the person's computer profile down to send them to a page that is specified for their monitor, so smaller computer monitors will see a smaller version which will also allow you to sent dial-up and other slow users to that page where they can see everything and not get fed up with the wait time to download.

Most hosts allow you to see the specifics of the users that have viewed your site and how often they have been there. You'll get specifics like internet connection, speed, operating system, browser being used, etc. So if most of the people have the avereage sized screen (17in) and are all running on cable transfer speeds, they aren't going to care, for they won't see much of a problem with it.

[AlChuck]

Is there any way I can do some sort of massive, percentage-based resize, so that I don't have to open each picture individually and resize it? There are literally about 5000 images.

5000? Are you nuts? What kind of reasonable web page would have 5000 img tags in it? The page will take a week to load off a web server...

Anyway, I'd be surpirised if PhotoShop doesn't have a batch utility that you can set to some percentage, say 25%, and some other parameters like whether it resizes by bilinear resampling or another method, that you can point to a directory and just have it crunch away. But 5000 images? That will take a week...

[EleKtriKaz]

Originally Posted by AlChuck

5000? Are you nuts? What kind of reasonable web page would have 5000 img tags in it? The page will take a week to load off a web server...

Anyway, I'd be surpirised if PhotoShop doesn't have a batch utility that you can set to some percentage, say 25%, and some other parameters like whether it resizes by bilinear resampling or another method, that you can point to a directory and just have it crunch away. But 5000 images? That will take a week...

I know. Believe me it wasn't my idea to create the site this way. Most of the images are very small though. Anyway that's the way it was done, and now I have to work with what I have. I'll check Photoshop for a batch utility like you said...that's exactly what I'm looking for.

As far as the other posts, it basically is a collage, compiled in Dreamweaver, but none of the images overlap. If the resize thing doesn't work, or I find out once it's up that people are having a hard time with loading, then I'll definitely try some of the other suggestions.

Thanks very much for your responses. This is very helpful.

[leavings]

The images don't have to overlap for my earlier comment to be useful. You can still save it as one file and use link fields in dreamweaver. Check out my site, I did something similar: www.poemadept.com

Peter

[AlChuck]

I concur, it makes much more sense for all the images to be combined into a single image file than to try to arrange them on an HTML page in table cells.

5000 images, really? Criminy, the HTML table code and image tags to arrange them on the page for that many images alone is gonna be a meg or so. Then 5,000 times the average size of each image... then you want the browser to rezie the images too... you are really doing something very ill-advised here, like trying to pound in a capet tack with a sledgehammer.

[stonepiano]

Originally Posted by EleKtriKaz

Is there any way I can do some sort of massive, percentage-based resize, so that I don't have to open each picture individually and resize it? There are literally about 5000 images.

Look into writing an action in Photoshop. You basically hit record, perform the function on one image and save the behavior to be replicated automatically over a series of images. Resizing is one of the most basic ones.

[EleKtriKaz]

Originally Posted by stonepiano

Look into writing an action in Photoshop. You basically hit record, perform the function on one image and save the behavior to be replicated automatically over a series of images. Resizing is one of the most basic ones.

Awesome. Thank you.

If the site takes too long to load I'll try keeping them as one image and creating link fields like Leavings suggested. Do I create the link fields with that "hot spot" feature, where it allows you to draw a rectangle, circle, or create your own shape? That's the only thing I've seen in Dreamweaver that sounds like what you mentioned.

[leavings]

Yes, the hot spot tool is what I'm talking about. It's very easy to use to create just about any shape you want.

[traidma]

They say about 40-50KB per page is a decent amount for a webpage to be able to open in any computer... That means each of your image needs to be not more than 0.01 Kb... good luck!

[gordone]

FYI - Dreamweaver refers to this as a hot spot, but underneath in HTML land, you're creating an image map

Originally Posted by leavings

Yes, the hot spot tool is what I'm talking about. It's very easy to use to create just about any shape you want.

[stonepiano]

Originally Posted by gordone

FYI - Dreamweaver refers to this as a hot spot, but underneath in HTML land, you're creating an image map

heh! good point, gordone. image map = hot spot (in dreamweaver). another good idea...