Resize Graphics Files Easily
This is by far, the fastest and easiest way to quickly resize graphics when working on your website. This program is also free and highly recommended Resize Graphic Files Easily
I had recently talked about the importance of optimizing your graphics. The handy EzThumbs program was even suggested as a simple way to do thumbnails and optimize graphics. Since then I have come across an even easier way to do things for Windows XP users. This way does not even require you to start up a program. It is simply a matter of right clicking on any graphics file and choosing "resize" from the right click menu. Here's how to do it.
Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP
Whenever Microsoft releases a new version of Windows, the Microsoft programmers tend to make small programs to customize things even further. They produce smaller programs to "tweak" different features of Windows as they would like to see it. These small add on programs are collectively known as Microsoft Powertoys and they exist for each version of Windows. The particular powertoy we are talking about is designed for Windows XP. It is called Image Resizer.
Getting Started
The Image Resizer Powertoy is extremely simple to use and you will always have it handy. You can download and install the free Image Resizer program from Microsoft here. Once you have installed it, browse to the folder of the picture you wish to resize. Right click on the picture to bring up a menu which will look similar to this:
Resize Graphic Files Easily
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As you can see there is a new option on your right click menu. This option is labelled "Resize Picture". This is how you activate the Image Resizer program. Simply choose that option off the menu and it will bring up the following option box:
This box lets you resize your images to common sizes. If you want to resize it to a custom size, simply click on the "Advanced >>" button at the bottom to give you more options:
You can choose the specific size you want to resize it to and even tell it to overwrite the original picture if you wish. You probably don't want to overwrite the files unless you are 100% sure you know what you are doing! It will automatically make a copy of the file in the desired size with the a slight variation the original name of the file. For example if your photo is photo1.jpg and you save it in the "Small 640 x 480" format, you file name is photo1 (Small).jpg
Don't Have Windows XP?
For those of you who have Windows but not XP, you can search for other powertoys that may work on your system. Simply go to google.com and type in your version of windows and the word powertoys. For example: windows 98 powertoys
Useful And Convenient
The Image Resizer powertoy is well worth downloading and installing. It can save a minutes each time you wish to resize a program. Because it becomes part of your right click menu, it can not get any more convenient than that. It is right there every time you need it. Instantly. Convenient, free and highly recommended!
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