[opensuse] is there a tool to reduce image dimension by removing empty spaces?
Hello. Is there a tool existing that can reduce image dimension by removing empty spaces? Attached to this email post are two images, one original, the other I want it reduce to. the "Zealous Crop" feature in gimp would not work up to the expectation because it reduces either the space in the whole column or not. Consider the case in my original picture, to reduce the width, in the first row of buttons, the space before/after "Help" and before/after "Quit" should be removed, in the second row, the space before/after "Manual Page" should be removed, but these spaces to be removed do not overlap in some places, thus a Zealous Crop would be successful in removing all the space before "Help", after "Quit", and some space before/after "Manual Page", but won't be able to effectively remove the space after "Help" and before "Quit". Is there already such an software tool that can do what I want? Thanks in advance! Zhang Weiwu P.S. I know posting with image attachment is not welcome on mailing list but in this case both images together are less than 1kilobyte, thus keeping it somewhere on the web look more troublesome than just to attach them.
Zhang Weiwu wrote:
Hello. Is there a tool existing that can reduce image dimension by removing empty spaces? [snip] Is there already such an software tool that can do what I want?
I doubt it. The functionality that you're looking for is what is contained in widget sets' geometry managers. I suspect it's too specific to be found as a filter or whatever in an image manipulation program. Creating such images from scratch would be much easier, using an object-based drawing tool. Cheers, Dave -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 2010年09月07日 18:18, Dave Howorth wrote:
Creating such images from scratch would be much easier, using an object-based drawing tool.
In that case, manually reduce the spaces in GIMP is not too difficult neither, it just takes time. The reason I need this feature is, when I make manual for software users, my colleague suggested me something. He is a senior person, more than 50 years old. He said, that most software manuals in this world contain screenshots that senior people not able to read, because text in these screenshots are usually 50% or smaller of size of the main text font of the manual. He would appreciate if I make manual in the way that the text in the screenshots of the manual is of same size as main text of the manual. I consider what he said very true, but following his suggestion I would only be able to put one screenshot per A4 page, and too little space for the text. It's easy to test this, put a A4 paper on a screen of resolution close to paper, 150dpi (somewhat 9inch) and see how much space left there on the A4 paper. The only solution I can think of is to reduce the size the way I described in the original post. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Zhang Weiwu wrote:
The reason I need this feature is, when I make manual for software users, my colleague suggested me something. He is a senior person, more than 50 years old. He said, that most software manuals in this world contain screenshots that senior people not able to read, because text in these screenshots are usually 50% or smaller of size of the main text font of the manual.
I can appreciate his comment. I'm over fifty too :(
The only solution I can think of is to reduce the size the way I described in the original post.
Your description reminded me of another possibility. If you can change the font size in the application (accessibility?) then enlarge it so the text fills the space, then you'll be able to shrink the image but still read the text. Cheers, Dave -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Dave Howorth said the following on 09/07/2010 08:10 AM:
Zhang Weiwu wrote:
The reason I need this feature is, when I make manual for software users, my colleague suggested me something. He is a senior person, more than 50 years old. He said, that most software manuals in this world contain screenshots that senior people not able to read, because text in these screenshots are usually 50% or smaller of size of the main text font of the manual.
I can appreciate his comment. I'm over fifty too :(
The only solution I can think of is to reduce the size the way I described in the original post.
Your description reminded me of another possibility. If you can change the font size in the application (accessibility?) then enlarge it so the text fills the space, then you'll be able to shrink the image but still read the text.
There's probably an easier way. Use one of the high-contrast (e.g whiteeyes) colour schemes or one of those designed for the visually impaired. Many of the 'trendy' colour schemes you can download don't have enough contrast or are dependent on particular colour gradients or screen illuminations and hence do not map well to print. It is even worse when you do black-and-white 'proofs'. Have a look at http://opendesktop.org to find some high contrast and easy to read colour schemes. -- If you can't describe what you are doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing. -- W. Edwards Deming -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Tue, 2010-09-07 at 19:01 +0800, Zhang Weiwu wrote:
On 2010年09月07日 18:18, Dave Howorth wrote:
Creating such images from scratch would be much easier, using an object-based drawing tool. In that case, manually reduce the spaces in GIMP is not too difficult neither, it just takes time.
I suppose that depends upon the complexity of the screenshot. I'm puzzled why your application has so much white-space in the first place.
The reason I need this feature is, when I make manual for software users, my colleague suggested me something. He is a senior person, more than 50 years old. He said, that most software manuals in this world contain screenshots that senior people not able to read, because text in these screenshots are usually 50% or smaller of size of the main text font of the manual. He would appreciate if I make manual in the way that the text in the screenshots of the manual is of same size as main text of the manual. I consider what he said very true, but following his suggestion I would only be able to put one screenshot per A4 page, and too little space for the text. It's easy to test this, put a A4 paper on a screen of resolution close to paper, 150dpi (somewhat 9inch) and see how much space left there on the A4 paper.
I'd say that is what you need to do then. Print one screenshot per page and create an appendix of screen shots you can reference in the body text. OpenOffice will manage the references for you [you can insert a reference to a frame or image and OOo will render the page number / caption].
The only solution I can think of is to reduce the size the way I described in the original post.
-- Adam Tauno Williams <awilliam@whitemice.org> LPIC-1, Novell CLA <http://www.whitemiceconsulting.com> OpenGroupware, Cyrus IMAPd, Postfix, OpenLDAP, Samba -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 2010-09-07 14:15, Adam Tauno Williams wrote:
On Tue, 2010-09-07 at 19:01 +0800, Zhang Weiwu wrote:
I'd say that is what you need to do then. Print one screenshot per page and create an appendix of screen shots you can reference in the body text. OpenOffice will manage the references for you [you can insert a reference to a frame or image and OOo will render the page number / caption].
But that needs a lot of paper. What I find bad in the screen shots of many printed or PDF manuals is not that images are small, but that they are small with very low resolution, grainy. Like that they reduced the size by reducing the pixels per inch. The text is high quality, but not the images. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 11.2 x86_64 "Emerald" GM (Elessar))
On 2010年09月07日 20:55, Carlos E. R. wrote:
What I find bad in the screen shots of many printed or PDF manuals is not that images are small, but that they are small with very low resolution, grainy. Like that they reduced the size by reducing the pixels per inch. The text is high quality, but not the images.
When you create PDF in openoffice, there is an option for "resampling image" which does the reduction of size by reducing pixels. I guess such option exists in other software too, including the software that produced the PDF you complain about. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
[Sent later] On 2010-09-07 15:27, Zhang Weiwu wrote:
On 2010年09月07日 20:55, Carlos E. R. wrote:
What I find bad in the screen shots of many printed or PDF manuals is not that images are small, but that they are small with very low resolution, grainy. Like that they reduced the size by reducing the pixels per inch. The text is high quality, but not the images.
When you create PDF in openoffice, there is an option for "resampling image" which does the reduction of size by reducing pixels. I guess such option exists in other software too, including the software that produced the PDF you complain about.
In which case it means that the writer does not proof-read the end result - I mean in end result form, in the same form as the final readers are going to get it. Not in Word / OOo / latex / whatever format. And of course, poor contrast (B/W images) is also a problem, as Doug says. Manuals are often printed in B/W, and then some colour images look terrible. But I doubt that many technical writers read this here :} -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 11.2 x86_64 "Emerald" GM (Minas Tirith))
On 9/7/2010 8:55 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote: /snip/
What I find bad in the screen shots of many printed or PDF manuals is not that images are small, but that they are small with very low resolution, grainy. Like that they reduced the size by reducing the pixels per inch. The text is high quality, but not the images.
Not only that, but the illustrations tend to be a dark gray overall, with very little contrast. I hope some manual publishers are reading this list. --doug -- Blessed are the peacemakers...for they shall be shot at from both sides. --A.M. Greeley -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 2010年09月07日 20:15, Adam Tauno Williams wrote:
I'm puzzled why your application has so much white-space in the first place.
Most others do. It's not my application I write manual for anyway, I just write the manual. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Zhang Weiwu wrote:
Hello. Is there a tool existing that can reduce image dimension by removing empty spaces?
Might be difficult. There is a liquid rescale plugin for the GIMP - maybe that works better than the one you tried? http://liquidrescale.wikidot.com/ Pit -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Zhang Weiwu wrote:
Hello. Is there a tool existing that can reduce image dimension by removing empty spaces?
I can read that question in 2 ways. The first is to remove the 'frame' that is not actually part of the picture. The second is to reduce the file size. If the latter, then change the coding. Loose resolution. Look at 'run-length encoding'. Remove stenographic content. Posterise or reduce the numbers of colours. Is the key issue here 'reduce' as in shrink' or 'empty spaces'? If the latter, how do *you* define an 'empty space'? Side question: Is English your native language? If not, perhaps you might care to rephrase the question or expand on what you mean and are trying to achieve. -- The biggest problem a security consultant has is getting managers to perform regular risk assessments. They don't want to hear that it's an on going process. The attitude was "why bother if I can't just check it once and be done with it". -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
participants (7)
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Adam Tauno Williams -
Anton Aylward -
Carlos E. R. -
Dave Howorth -
Doug -
Peter Suetterlin -
Zhang Weiwu