Information About Prepping Images

Images have to be prepped in the right format to display well. Images should be prepared as .jpgs. Images with many edges in them or complex images will not compress as well. Try to place these deeper in an album when load time is not as critical. Be mindful when using tools like Photoshop that you do not remove metadata you want to keep, such as the image copyright information.

Choose one of two ways to approach optimizing your images before uploading them to SlideShowPro Director: 1) upload a fully optimized image, designed to work well across all screens, and do not use SSP Director's image processing functionality; or 2) upload an oversized part optimized image and use SSP Director's image processing functionality. If you have a fast host that can produce images on demand quickly, use the 2nd option, if your host is not so fast, use the first option.

Option 1

1) Make a copy of the images you want to upload

2) CONVERT (and not assign) the copies to the sRGB color space

3) Size the copies to 980 pixels high and compress them as much as you can without seeing pixelation (50-70%)

4) Upload to SSP Director

5) Set your portfolio options as follows:

'hasImageSizing' => false,

Option 2

1) Make a copy of the images you want to upload

2) CONVERT (and not assign) the copies to the sRGB color space

3) Size the copies to 2000 pixels high or as high as they can be without upsizing the original, compress at 80% to reduce file size

4) Upload to SSP Director

5) Set your portfolio options as follows:

'hasImageSizing' => true,
'imageHeight' => 'stepped',
'imageCompression' => '0.8',
'imageSharpen' => '0',

Note

This information was updated January 7th, 2013. Previous advice suggested uploading images at 3000 pixels high. Experience has shown this file size is too large for most hosts to work with quickly. 2000 pixels high, with some compression makes more sense, reduces load times and reduces both transfer times to the host and the storage that is needed.