What strategies do you recommend for callouts on images?

[tomjohnson1492]

What strategies do you recommend for adding callouts to large images that you resize within Flare (and which you intend to output to Word)? For example, suppose you have a screenshot of the home page. It's larger than the page dimensions for your Word target, so you use the image resizer in Flare to drag the image smaller (so that it will appear crisp in the Word output). The only problem is, if you had callouts, the text of the callouts is also made smaller.

If you resize the image prior to inserting it into the topic, the resolution of the image is poor.

If you have to add callouts after outputting to a Word target, that's not true single sourcing. Do you see the dilemma I'm describing?

[doc_guy]

In theory you're supposed to do this in Capture. The problem is that Capture doesn't let you provide different sized images for different output types.

You might try taking your screen shots and changing the resolution in Capture. If you take your 72dpi screen shot and change the resolution to 200dpi, Capture will make it much smaller (since the only way Capture can make the screen shot more dense is to make it smaller). That will resize your image, and should provide a more crisp version for Word. The trick will be figuring out what resolution you want to scale to in order to get the size you want.

[kivinen]

Hi, I capture and resize the image, then save and then add the text at normal resolution against the smaller already resized image. This way the text is readable on resized image.

[SteveS]

In theory you're supposed to do this in Capture. The problem is that Capture doesn't let you provide different sized images for different output types.

Capture III does!

Just don't save it as a gif, its still creating that rptten stipled effect

[KevinDAmery]

I don't see why you'd want to use GIF when there's PNG available (unless you really really need transparency to work in IE6 or earlier).

[kivinen]

Hi, actually there are valid reasons why to use GIF instead of PNG...i agree to use PNG wherever possible, but in one case, I have a Lotus Groupware application which I use capture to create screenshots and then post online in an intranet site managed by Groupware, and the Groupware application does not support loading of PNG from internal data store, only GIF... so it is not only for display reasons why someone would want to use GIF...

[LTinker68]

And GIF still has smaller file sizes. I prefer to use GIFs for small things like icons where there aren't transparencies and just a few colors with no gradients. A PNG of the same image could add several times more KB to the file size. So I use another application to save items as GIFs, but it's annoying to have to do that.

[KevinDAmery]

And GIF still has smaller file sizes. I prefer to use GIFs for small things like icons where there aren't transparencies and just a few colors with no gradients. A PNG of the same image could add several times more KB to the file size. So I use another application to save items as GIFs, but it's annoying to have to do that.

Only if you leave it at 24 bit. If you reduce the bit depth or go to indexed colour the PNG will be smaller.

[SteveS]

Doesn't change the fact there is an option to use gifs but the gifs are poor quality.

Its like my car - the AM radio is appalling. I don't listen to AM as a rule, but the only radio station that broadcasts the cricket is an AM station. When I need it, I want it to work. Properly.