Please improve the quality of JPEG images - particularly when inserting text

[mwenz]

I recall reading somewhere that PS uses 4:2:2 for the lower scales of quality and 4:4:4 at the higher end of the scales.

But which method of saving the JPG (Save for Web versus Save As) uses different scales. So with Save for Web, one needs to be above 51% for no sub-sampling. With Save As, one needs to have the quality settings at 7 or above.

I suspect one could Google the info to make sure.

Take care, Mike

[ad1066]

I personally am of the opinion that the gif and jpg formats probably *should* die, they've long outlived their usefulness. Back in the day of dialup connections, perhaps the difference between 200kb and 600kb was significant, but I'd posit that it's far less relevant these days. As I've said before, the only feature of gifs, for example, that has not been eclipsed by other formats is the animation, but down that road lies madness and despair.

However, all that said, I'm not one to step on someone's feature request, and if enough people pipe up about it, maybe Xara should update their jpg export thingy.

-- Ben

[Big Frank]

Back in the day of dialup connections, perhaps the difference between 200kb and 600kb was significant

it's not, not on its own, it's when you have ten of them or more on a page it starts to make a difference, not only to you the site visitor, but to the site owner who may end up with a large excess bandwidth bill

in many Western countries people in towns and cities have good to great bandwidth, people in the countryside typically do not, and people with satellite broadband may have a fast(ish) mbit but pay for their limited mbytes

just about all digital camera use JPG as their default format

i personally believe JPG still has a future, albeit a limited one

[shiphen]

Regardless, it is also a fact that PhotoShop SE, PhotoLine and other applications can export JPGs containing text at a quality level surpassing Xara's.

This is a Dear Xara... thread. Why the heck is this being argued about? Y'all can see the result from Xara and other applications. The developers can see the difference. It's up to them to either improve this area or not.

Mike

Mike is absolutely spot on.

Frankly there is no room for discussion.

It's no use debating whether the public should be using or should not be using JPEGs... JPEG remains the dominant format on the internet for images. And users are going to keep trying to put text into their images whether you like it or not. [GET REAL]

BUT we already proved beyond doubt that the likes of Photoshop and Photoline are VERY MUCH better than Xara at putting text into images. Adapt or die.

So XARA please raise your game. That is my request. NO DISCUSSION.

[handrawn]

you should not say 'no discussion' - where there is no discussion there is no learning

[shiphen]

We are needing better text in JPEGs again.
I am wondering do any of these "Dear Xara" requests ever receive any formal response from Xara? (so that we know that we're not just wasting our breath!)

J

P.S. Handrawn - fair enough. All I was saying was that is an issue I feel extremely strongly about and nobody so far had said anything to come close to changing my mind.

[pauland]

I don't think Xara ever says anything about the new feature set that will come in the next release and pretty much the same for updates. Sometimes a xara developer will engage in discussion, but rarely, if ever, make promises.

While this particular request is useful to you, and possibly others, I doubt that such a niche request will be a priority, simply because few people would misuse jpegs in this way, even if other software does a better job of embedding text.

I use a lot of differrent software and often it's a case of creating a work-around rather than expecting any vendor to ride to the rescue. For this particular issue, many workarounds have been suggested and I would think it more profitable to go with one, rather than hope that Xara will provide a solution.

All this is said without any Xara insider knowledge at all.

[gwpriester]

Flogging an expired equine.

Xara does look at feature requests, documented bug reports, and member suggestions. But, only in rare instances, do they respond.

My best guess is there will be no improvement in the JPEG export filter. And this topic has been discussed to the point of overkill. At this point you are arguing to hear yourself argue.

[shiphen]

...because few people would misuse jpegs in this way, even if other software...

I take issue with your "holier than thou" stance on what is "correct" use.
To be honest it smacks of smuggness, and ivory towers of technological theory and not of the real, commercial world.

If the Internet has taught us anything it is that there is no such thing as "correct" use of anything.
Very many things that were originally designed for one purpose have been adopted for a slightly different purpose to the one tha the designers originally had in mind - often by very many millions of people.

Take SMS messaging. They are now concatenated seemlessly. They are used for all manner of different tasks.

Take the mobile phone itself. Vast numbers of millions of people will never see a web page through a normal computer screen simply because they can not afford to buy an actual desktop computer.

Take the core infrastructure of the Internet - it was orginally developed by/for the US goverment as a (literally) bomb-proof network and now it is used by 2.1 billion people across the world for... just about everything you can think of.

Alternatively take the good old fashioned (mechanical) screw driver. Yes, it was originally invented to drive (i.e. screw in) screws. But as any mechanic will tell you, in practice a screwdriver can have several hundreds of uses ranging from opening tins of paint to wedging a door open. And I dont think it is reasonable to call anything that does not actually damage the screwdriver e.g. opening a can of paint "mis-use".

Conclusion: What something was originally conceived for does NOT define what is its 'correct' use for the rest of time. Yes, there may be better theoretical alternatives but they may not (for whatever reason) be available to the user.

[pauland]

That horse is in a terrible state.

Lets hope you get your wish.

If you don't, you'll need to do what the rest of us do, work around it - you've had a ton of suggestions.

Your "holier than thou" is definitely holier than mine. Good job.

Unfortunately, you still have the dodgy jpeg text that could be crystal clear as a PNG.

It's a total waste of your energy, and mine, going on about this.