After the good input I'm getting from my Fireworks?? thread, I thought I'd throw this one out for input and suggestion.
I make websites, and am now getting into sites with hundreds and hundreds of photos, with thousands more on the horizon.
I have used Xara and XX to optimise pics for some years, but am now looking for an easier way with
-> more color & filter options including descreening
-> side by side original/optimized image comparison
-> real time image download times
-> ideally a mode that shows the picture as it will be seen with the worst screens out there (boy did I get a shock recently when I visited someone with a really crappy graphics card/screen --- my pics were all pixellated!)
-> not too much of a memory hog
While XX does a good job, I find that there are some drawbacks:
- dropping a batch of photos to be done (say 10 -30) into a Xara page makes a huge file and slows things down muchly (although I do like presetting guidelines and using them for manual sizing)
- limitations of the photo adjustment controls and they're so damn small
- somthing where I can adjust the background to spot those annoying white sidebars that so often appear with images
- just too many steps and clicks for processing large batches. I don't want to start hating anything I do on XX.
Have tried 5 or so cheap or freebies and not found what I want.
Read a review on ImageReady2, and it sounds good if you use it on its own without the big Bloat.
FYI I get photos & slides to scan, photo CD's, and then clients send us TIFF's, JPEG's, Kodak's, and pretty much anything else you can think of.
So, XX'ers who optimize large batches of photos ---- what do you use, what do you recommend, and why??
While I know this is a selfish and off-XX thread, I'm hoping that the results will be interesting enough for many XX'ers (and maybe to xara?) that it is accepted. I mean this is the best graphics related forum I've found by far.
Many many thanks for your valued input.
Bill
Stuck in a tropical island paradise!
Stuck in a tropical island paradise!
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