Technical specifications
This guide is intended for anyone who needs to prepare images to be included on this website. This information is to assist you in processing and arranging your image files, so that they can easily be uploaded directly to the webserver.
Image specifications
- JPEG file format
- lower-case extension '.jpg'
- fit image size to 400 pixels high
- constrain to original aspect ratio
- DO NOT save as "progressive"
- Cropped and aligned exactly as it should appear
Please note: If images are supplied 400pixels high, but require additional cropping or processing, the image quality will be adversely affected.
File size
Images on the site range anywhere from 40KB - 250KB. The actual file size depends on how physically large an image is and the amount of detail in the image.
For example: a jpeg colour image, 400px high by 590px wide; could have a file size of anywhere between 80 and 200KB, depending on the amount of JPEG compression used, the amount of fine detail in the image, colour content and other settings.
The file size is therefore left up to the content provider, however some consideration should be given to the end-user on slower connections. Its a good idea to try and keep to around 1.5-2MB total, for each portfolio.
Ordering files
Each portfolio sits in a folder, usually named: 1", "2", "3", "4" ... etc. This is how the portfolio names appear on the menu at the bottom of the page.
Within each portfolio, the images are named in consecutive numeric order, like this:
- 001.jpg
- 002.jpg
- 003.jpg
- ...
- 018.jpg
- 019.jpg
- 020.jpg
Please note: Image filenames should have a leading zero '0'. This is required to ensure proper sort order on different operating systems, and makes things easier to manage. The website is setup to ignore any image file that does not start with a '0'.
Once you compile all the images for a portfolio into their own folder, you can use Adobe Bridge (included with PhotoShop) to arrange the images into the desired order:
Adobe Bridge lets you visually drag-and-drop your images around, into the order you want.
Renaming files
Once you've arranged the files, you can use Adobe Bridge's "Batch Rename" function to rename the files using the current order.
You can use Adobe Bridge to batch rename files. See example below.
Sending images
A ".zip" format archive is the preferred format for sending photos by email. Both Windows XP and Max OSX have built-in abilty to create .zip archives.
To email a collection of folders and files, first create a .zip archive (a .zip file), and then email the archive file.
Hiding portfolios
It is possible to include "hidden" portfolios on the website. Any hidden portfolios do not appear in the menu at the bottom of the page. Hiding a portfolio is done by placing an underscore at the beginning of the folder name, e.g. "_1" or "_hideMe".
This can be useful for previewing and approving a portfolio before exposing it on the site menu.
To view a "hidden" portfolio you must type the address into your browser directly, or you can email the link to someone, i.e. "www.company1.com.au/bob_smith/_hidden"