Creating a card

**a-w** · 02 January 2007, 03:26 PM

I have been going thru some of the online tutorials and this is my first attempt to create something. Ok, I have this image and the objective is to make a greeting card (possibly 5X7 inches dimension) that can be opened on a web browser with the actual display size of 5X7 inches. I created a trace using the Shape Editor Tool on two different layers. As the image is fairly large when opened with 100% zoom level, I reduced the traced image to a small size so that it can be made to fit on a 5x7 inch page/template...

- I created a new page (custom with 5x7 inch dimesion)...or should I create this in pixel units (as suggested in few tutorials)? Now how do I exactly center this traced image on this page...do I first need to group both the traced layers and then find a center (how) and move it to the center of the custom page.

- How do I create different color pattern on the background custom page?

- I believe this can be saved in PNG or GIF or should I use any other format?

Once I save this and open it on a web browser, I want this to be a 5x7 inches card.

**Egg Bramhill** · 02 January 2007, 03:46 PM

Hi a-w,

Firstly can I ask why you want the graphic to be 5" x 7"? The reason I ask is that if it's for display in a browser inches mean very little. On the other hand if you wish to have the image downloadable so it can be printed this is another kettle of fish altogether.

**Intbel** · 02 January 2007, 04:04 PM

Created a page to size specified.
Adjusted image to fit inside that page.

To centre - created rectangle as per page size.
Grouped the clouds and birds.
Selected group plus rectangle then align/centre.

**a-w** · 02 January 2007, 05:42 PM

Thanks for your responses!

Intbel your attachement and the center align step are of great help!

Yes Egg, the image is for display in a browser. I am trying to create a website where visitors can send an online e-card and would like it in certain fixed dimension for all my cards...even the animations to be displayed in this dimension. This will also include personal messages as typed in by the sender. I would like to keep the image size small...I haven't experimented with PNG, GIF or other formates to compare different sizes and what would be considered as the best fit.

So you mean the pixels would make more sense here... the default page options says 800pix x 600pix. I am not sure what would this mean relative to a browser display and thats why I mentioned inches.

**Soquili** · 02 January 2007, 07:00 PM

Hi a-w,

Inches don't apply well to displayed images.

When Windows 2000, XP or Vista is installed it defaults to 800 pixels by 600 pixels for the display. Many people never change from those settings.

A lot of people use 1024 pixels by 768 pixels, others uses 1280 pixels by 1024 pixels and there are those that use even higher resolutions.

Going the other way, there are some people that still use the old Windows 3.1 default of 640 pixels by 480 pixels.

That doesn't begin to consider the resolutions that Mac users have set on their monitors.

It also does not take into consideration if the browser resizes the image. The old AOL browsers on their CDs resampled and resized images.

All that means is what looks like 7 inches by 5 inches on one person's monitor and web browser will look larger or smaller on another person's depending on screen resolution, web browser, and operating system.

**Hwy101** · 03 January 2007, 12:12 AM

Originally Posted by Soquili

Hi a-w,

Inches don't apply well to displayed images.

When Windows 2000, XP or Vista is installed it defaults to 800 pixels by 600 pixels for the display. Many people never change from those settings.

A lot of people use 1024 pixels by 768 pixels, others uses 1280 pixels by 1024 pixels and there are those that use even higher resolutions.

Going the other way, there are some people that still use the old Windows 3.1 default of 640 pixels by 480 pixels.

That doesn't begin to consider the resolutions that Mac users have set on their monitors.

It also does not take into consideration if the browser resizes the image. The old AOL browsers on their CDs resampled and resized images.

All that means is what looks like 7 inches by 5 inches on one person's monitor and web browser will look larger or smaller on another person's depending on screen resolution, web browser, and operating system.

Bill, speaking of: "... A lot of people use 1024 pixels by 768 pixels..." I have a pix that I would like to be 4x6 printed and this is the 'Resolution' that the place online where I would upload to says to use... but, how do I 'insure' that the Picture will be the Proper 'Physical' size of 4 x 6?

Or do I set Rules to 'Inches' and Crop/Scale until I get them that Size, Maybe using a Rectangle with no fill Color to Help Gage?

Thanks - Tom
(seems to me one of my other programs -can't remember which, offers to do the typical photo prints sizes for me, just trying to do in XPro, if possible)

**Soquili** · 03 January 2007, 12:59 AM

Hi Tom,

Set your page units to inches. Set the Grid and Ruler to Major Unit 1in (exactly like that, don't spell inches). Set the subdivision to 4 or 8 (or your choice really).

Now when you size your image to 4 inches according to the ruler it will print as 4 inches on your printer.

**Hwy101** · 03 January 2007, 02:17 AM

Originally Posted by Soquili

Hi Tom,

Set your page units to inches. Set the Grid and Ruler to Major Unit 1in (exactly like that, don't spell inches). Set the subdivision to 4 or 8 (or your choice really).

Now when you size your image to 4 inches according to the ruler it will print as 4 inches on your printer.

Thanks for the ReAssurance Bill - Appreciated! Tom

**a-w** · 03 January 2007, 03:38 AM

Thanks Bill for taking time to explain this! I do understand that different people have different resolution set on their monitors...and based on their settings the image "foot-print" will be different or relative to the browser setting.

Is there a way to preview/confirm that whatever the dimension of the image is on the Xara page, how will it appear on a webpage (ie. how much area/foot-print the image will take) when displayed on a 800x600pix or 1024x768pix or any other resolution?

In the above example that you gave, if I set the Page units to inches and Grid & Ruler Major Unit to 1in, and then the image size is (say 5x7 inches) on this Page. Does it mean that on a 800x600pix resolution monitor, the image will appear to be 5x7inches...?

**Egg Bramhill** · 03 January 2007, 05:10 AM

a-w. Inches only have a meaning in the "Printing" world. They have no meaning on a computer monitor. Monitors only deal in pixels and these have no physical size.

The best way to demonstrate this is to create a 5" x 7" photograph in whatever program you wish. View it on screen. Place a ruler on the screen and measure it. Is it 5" x 7"? You'll be very lucky if it is.

Is there a way to preview/confirm that whatever the dimension of the image is on the Xara page, how will it appear on a webpage (ie. how much area/foot-print the image will take) when displayed on a 800x600pix or 1024x768pix or any other resolution?

If you're working via monitor/web browser displays, use pixels. This won't create a fixed image size (but a proprtional one) but it's dependant on the viewers screen resolution. For example, if I create an image that's 800x600 pixels, a visitor with an 800x600 pixel resolution will see the image fill their screen. A visitor with a 1600 x 1200 pixel resolution will see the image fill one quarter of their screen.

All of the above is further complicated by monitor size. .... but let's not go there now.

That's why I asked at the outset, what do you need to do with these images?