Hello all,
This is just a question about a batch-resizing and -uploading workflow for those of you with (non-technical) clients on the Windows side using the EE photo galleries. By non-technical I mean the kind of folks who don’t own a copy of Photoshop and probably never knew what a FTP program is before you told them. Just wondering what programs you recommend and/or use yourselves?
I’m trying to set up a fairly easy workflow for a client that needs to modify images that are submitted to them, which are often given to them ‘too big.’ Often, these will be emailed to them. They will download these contributions to the desktop or into a folder on the desktop. From here, they need to
1) locate the images which are too big,
2) batch re-size the too-big horizontal images to 750 wide and too-big vertical ones to 500 wide, and
3) upload them to the batch folder (clearing the batch folder out first if necessary).
4) start the batch-process process in ExpressionEngine galleries.
For Step 1:
This is my biggest problem. I could be totally wrong about this.. but it seems that outside of Windows XP, Filmstrip mode in Windows appears to be unavailable? I was counting on just instructing clients to use Filmstrip, as it was handy for quickly revealing the pixel dimensions of an image and identifying oversized images.
On the Mac, View > Show View Options > Show item info does this nicely (showing the image dimensions underneath each image icon). Do any of you know of a utility / plugin / downloadable thing that does the equivalent on the Windows side, for all versions of Windows?
For Step 2:
I’m using Batch Picture Resize to create a drag-and-drop means for batch-resizing. You simply put the application on your desktop, and rename it to “PictureResize400” to make it into a drag-and-drop icon that resizes the width of images to 400 across. You can make multiple instances of the application, so you can make one that resizes vertical images, and another that resizes horizontal images.
If anyone knows of a slightly better or preferred way of doing this, please do tell!
For Step 3:
For an inexpensive FTP program, I’m looking at some version of FTP Commander, as it offers drag-and-drop. This seems OK, but I’m just wondering if there’s a preferred FTP program for non-techie clients.
Step 4 is handled by EE of course!
I’m trying out Solspace’s “Gallery Extended” module to streamline some of the image entry thru a front-end form, as an alternative to this process, but I’m as yet unsure of what I can automate. Some batch processing will likely continue to be necessary, and I’m just trying to work out the smoothest possible route for a client who doesn’t own Photoshop, etc. using dead simple utilities. Any suggested tweaks to the workflow I’m trying to set up?
“Simple to use” would be a preferred feature instead of “free,” but reasonably priced is still something I have to keep in mind for these guys.
Cheers all
R o B