Dreamweaver Mx Question

[El_D]

I'm taking the painful but inevitable leap from FrontPage to Dreamweaver.

I picked up "Macromedia Studio MX for Dummies" (that's me!!) yesterday, but I'm primarily interested in Dreamweaver MX to start with.

My "For Dummies" book has gotten me off to a good start with Dreamweaver, but fails to mention anything about how to thumbnail images.

Any pointers?

Also, I'd appreciate any recommended reading on the subject.

I usually shop at Kinokunoya bookstore at the Emporium off the Prom Pong BTS in BKK for my reference material, as it's the best & biggest bookstore I've found since they closed the Kinokunoya at the World Trade Center.

Anybody know of any better bookstores in BKK?

Bookazine & Asia Books have their uses, but don't offer the selections I sometimes need.

Thanks,

El D

[pal78]

Perhaps the easiest way to do the thumbnails thing is to use Adobe Photoshop. It generates them automatically. I use PHP to generate the thumbnails on the fly, but that requires PHP running on your web server.

Kinokunoya is the best I have found for computer books in Bangkok. There is one in the World Trade Center too.

[El_D]

Thanks Pal,

Did they reopen the Kinokunoya shop in the WTC?

I haven't checked in quite a while.

I see how I can make Photoshop my default picture editor in Dreamweaver from my "Dummy" book.

I know how to do lots of cool stuff in PS7 also, but alas, making my web photos into thumbnails isn't one of them.

Could you be so kind as to give me the steps?

Thanks!!!

El D

[pal78]

Thanks Pal,

Did they reopen the Kinokunoya shop in the WTC?

I haven't checked in quite a while.

I see how I can make Photoshop my default picture editor in Dreamweaver from my "Dummy" book.

I know how to do lots of cool stuff in PS7 also, but alas, making my web photos into thumbnails isn't one of them.

Could you be so kind as to give me the steps?

Thanks!!!

El D

Kinokuoya in WTC.... not sure now.. it was about 2 years ago that I was there last... didn't know it had closed.

I don't have Photoshop on this computer so I'll have to get back to you with the steps for generating the thumnails. From memory you could try under file and export. I'll get back to you tomorrow (Thursday).

[El_D]

Thanks Amigo!

I'd sure appreciate that!

El D

[Guest IT Manager]

Thought WTC had been airplaned out of existence a couple years ago

[holm188]

Hi,

I'm not sure that is what you are looking for: for WIndows XP there is a powertoy utility (on Msoft web site) to resize pictures (JPG) to any size. I use it to get large pics from a digital camera into a more email-like size.

Cheers, Holm

[pal78]

Thought WTC had been airplaned out of existence a couple years ago

That's also true.

[El_D]

OK, Allow me to elaborate.

I was referring to the "World Trade Center" in Bangkok, not New York.

I'm pretty sure we're all aware that the WTC in New York no longer exists. (######--that was a reply I'd have expected from ajarn.com, but not here).

Thanks though to all who have taken time to answer me.

I know how to resize images in Photoshop and in ACDSee.

My question is not about how to resize images. My question is Dreamweaver MX specific.

In Dreamweaver MX, I insert an image that's, say 100 kb in size at 450 X 600 pixels. How do I make that image a 45 X 60 pixel thumbnail using Dreamweaver MX?

Thanks again,

El D

[cyber_cynic]

Pal wrote:

I use PHP to generate the thumbnails on the fly, but that requires PHP running on your web server.

Are you are using the same image files and just changing the displayed size?

If so, this could mean longer load times for a web page or are you using some other trick?

[steffi]

You would be better off making an action in Photoshop and running this using the "automate/batch" feature that will generate new images based on originals or convert the images.

Often software that displays thumbnails simply generates them on the fly from the originals. No it doesn't just use the same image file it generates a smaller one using Imaging libraries to decrease the image.

[cyber_cynic]

Often software that displays thumbnails simply generates them on the fly from the originals. No it doesn't just use the same image file it generates a smaller one using Imaging libraries to decrease the image.

Yes, but in this case we are talking specifically PHP on the fly...

[phuket Mike]

In Dreamweaver MX 2004 there is a create photo album option in the commands menu. This automatically creates a photo album complete with thumbnails.

This automated approach may not be what you are looking for, but the way it creates the thumbnails is through a macro in Fireworks MX which may be worth taking a look at.

Also if you go to Dreamweaver Exchange at Macromedia.com you may find someone has already created an extension that does it for you.

Other than that as already mentioned PHP has a built in class that will resize JPEG images on the fly. For this if you go to PHP Class Library and I am sure you will find the necessary code to do the job.

phuket Mike

[randyksf]

Phuket Mike is right, Although you really should get a copy of Photoshop it will create the entire page and do all the HTML.

Dream is nice but Photoshop is a lot better. Also if you have ACD they can generate an HTML Photo album.

[thaichang]

This software

jpegwizard

is very good to create thumbs and more

[pal78]

My question is not about how to resize images. My question is Dreamweaver MX specific.

In Dreamweaver MX, I insert an image that's, say 100 kb in size at 450 X 600 pixels. How do I make that image a 45 X 60 pixel thumbnail using Dreamweaver MX?

Thanks again,

El D

Ah, well then there is not much point in using Photoshop. Phuket Mike is right for using Dreamweaver.

Using Photoshop to generate the thumbnails will just give you a bunch of little images to use on your site. It's still going to take you time to arrange them in Dreamweaver after that. If you are interested there is some information on this page on how to create a macro in photoshop that will resize your images. One of the posts there gives you the steps needed.

There is also a feature in photoshop 7 to create HTML along with the thumbnails. I still haven't managed to sit down to photoshop to remind myself of where this feature is but I used it to generate This page, although you can change things yourself, once generated, I haven't gotten around to it yet, and my exams start next week!

Are you are using the same image files and just changing the displayed size?

If so, this could mean longer load times for a web page or are you using some other trick?

PHP image processing allows you to create images. When an image is uploaded PHP can kick in and create a thumbnail for me at that stage, or it's also possible to only store the large images on the server and use PHP to create thumbnail images only when they are needed, and delete them after that. Doing things that way puts a bit more load on the CPU of the server, but it saves disk space.

[El_D]

I really appreciate all the input folks!

I guess you've pretty well answered my question, in that there is no easy way to thumbnail images in Dreamweaver like there is in Frontpage.

In Frontpage I simply highlight an image and then click the "Auto Thumbnail" button, and voila! I have a thumbnail that points to the larger image when somebody clicks on it!

Dreamweaver obviously doesn't have a feature like this.