WordPress Practice 15 - Image processing on Mac

Posted by Thomas on April 19, 2009 in Guides | 6 comments

This tutorial is a joint production of Farré.cat and mossegalapoma.cat .

To follow the rest of the entries Walkthrough click the icon above.

Introduction:

Recover, after a break of several months, a new entry guide blogging with WordPress and we do talk about that aspect, now almost 2 years of the block, I see as basic and key: the image processing.

Not only to enrich the contents of a text entry but also to attract attention to the contents and, to all the information, a format suitable aesthetic, the management of images occurs a factor key consumer of time, and that requires a reconsidered approach in the treatment process, generation and storage.

In addition, many are more "themes" of WordPress that contain images such as "thumbnail", as in the case of mossegalapoma, which require the image to work beyond their own within the article.

In the case of our block, for example, each to be simple, usually a minimum of 2 images: the "thumbnail" (either prominent or large format "featured", as when an article appeared in cover, or in small format, like when you see the small picture to the left accompanying summary of each article).

The initial advice is that you give yourself process that set the pattern you better go and use the right tools in relation to the process chosen.

Or externally linked images uploaded to the server

My advice is clear: always rises to our server!

The reasons why I'm so strong in this statement are:

• Always ensure the availability of image
• Improving load time
• Possible to rename the image and a logical name that allows us to look after it and re-use it if necessary
• To permit accurate adjustment of the image, adding it highlighted, shades, sizes, etc.
• Allow the operation of the "thumbnail", which in most cases only works when the image is on the server itself and the block does not work when linking externally

ImageWell: the basic treatment

Call me traditional, but I do not use anything for functionality "medicateca" incorporating WordPress as an aid to editing.

Initially, this functionality is not working too well. Suffice to say that the advent of version 2.7 improved strength, but, as I mounted the process of image processing, using the media library makes me waste time and control.

To resize, crop, add shadows, frames, etc.. and, what is more interesting to upload image to FTP server and also save a copy of it to a local backup folder I use ImageWell .

ImageWell is a simple and free editor that is used for a basic treatment of the images and if you go to locations-preferences, you can configure access to your server via FTP and additionally in your local directory backup, so that, once doctored the image with just one click, it goes exactly where you want.

Pixelmator: for advanced treatment

Not only for images of the entries, but for those who belong to the general design of the block will reach a point that we need an advanced editor and layers (like Photoshop), which allows editing of color, textures, etc..

For that I need, I work well enough Pixelmator .

Pixelmator, of course, not far from the possibilities of professional editors, but does its job for a very reasonable price: € 48, and with an effort of learning suitable to my needs.

To know it thoroughly to me helped me a lot of help from a teacher's free Screencast Don McAllister (the link above points to iTunes).

Use rights and copyright

A brief post on a topic, sure, you have all this: the use and other rights of the images you use.

We must be careful to use images with usage rights, Creative Commons type, where the owner or other authorized.

I try to cite the source of the images in most cases. I think that, just as in the case of article content, graphic work should be recognized and make mention of authorship (or at least where it was).

This rule me jump when I'm talking about a product, blog, or web application and now I make reference in the text of the article. If the images are original content that I'm commenting on, and usually it is linked, I mention repeatedly returned to the source image (in the case of this post on the thumbnail images come from Pixelmator, and the rest comes from the website of the application when this is mentioned.