Today, while working in FrameMaker and WebWorks Publisher to generate online help, I needed to manipulate my graphics. After futzing around for a while in each of these programs, I learned from a virtual colleague that all the tweaking in the world was not going to change the look of my help output. I realized I needed to change my source graphic files.
Luckily, I had imported my graphics into Frame by reference, meaning I could change the source graphic file and it would update automatically in my Frame document without having to import again. I decided to resize the graphics using my favorite little graphics tool IrfanView. With this little free beauty of a program, you can convert files to different graphics formats (individually or in batches), view slide shows, play movies and most important of all, for my purposes, tweak your graphics.
I decided to resize the graphics, setting each one between 80 and 90 percent of the original and leaving on the Sharpen filter to make up for lost quality when I resized. The program makes this easy. In the Resize dialog box, you simply click the Sharpen check box and it applies the Sharpen filter while resizing. You save the graphic and it updates automatically in Frame. Resizing is obviously not the optimal way to go because you loose quality, but sometimes in a pinch, with the help of a tool like Ifranview, it can do the trick.
If you aren't familiar with IrfanView, I highly encourage you to check it out. It can help you with all of your graphics needs, whether you are a technical writer or someone trying to view or tweak your digital photos.
You might want to correct the spelling of the product's name: IrfanView. Irfan is the programmer's first name.
Posted by: Michael | February 14, 2008 at 02:06 AM