Let's talk about cardboard Christmas houses and accessories

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Warning: I am contracting a technician to migrate this site to new, upgraded software that will not keep getting hacked. My apologies for the inconvenience, especially this close to Christmas, but the site may get shut down for a few day. Our other sites will be affected too. This won't be cheap, but the LAST thing I want is for all of the great user content to become unavailable.

I've also stopped the autopayments. They don't actually support the site - they're a way to keep trolls and spammers from signing up. If you have a login, you'll still be logged in in the new system.

Our sites actually cost us about $2k a year to run, in case you wondered, and this one draws most of the resources.

I expect the fix to run in the $2500 range. Several folks have offered to chip in but I'll wait until I have firm numbers before I say anything.

Just sayin', we do what we can.

Sorry. I'll update when I know more.
- Paul


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 11:57 pm 
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10. After you have changed the name, save the file.


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 12:02 am 
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11. Verify the quality and click "OK." You can slide the little pointer back and forth to see where the picture quality starts to deteriorate. The poorer the quality setting, the smaller the file, but the highest setting is often overkill. Usually you can go down to 75% or something without even seeing a difference. In some cases, you can go much lower. If you can't tell the difference, say, between 75% and 100%, go with 75%. Or 80% if it makes you feel better. That might be all the detail the photo has anyway. If you go higher than that, you're increasing the file size, but you're not really increasing the quality.


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 12:05 am 
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12. Check the file size. When I saved the photo in this example at 100%, it came out to be over 400K. Now you KNOW that I hadn't really IMPROVED the quality of the original photo - that's not possible. I had just set the quality too high. I set it back down a little (I don't remember how much, sorry) and saved it again, with the result that the image size went down, as it should for a smaller image


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 8:23 am 
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I got a question about Windows 7's Paint program. If you have Windows 7 you don't need to download anything. Just:
1. Open the file in Paint.
2. Select Resize.
3. Make sure that Pixels is Checked.
4. Make sure that Maintain Aspect Ratio is checked. (If you have an older version of Windows and the Paint program doesn't have a Maintain Aspect Ratio button, you will need a different program, such as the Paint.net program shown above.)
5. Enter the new width (for this forum 800 or less). The height will change automatically.
6. Use the Save As function to give the file a new name so you don't over-write the high resolution original.

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The only reason this might not work is if you've cropped your photo so that it's nearly as wide (or wider) as it is tall. In that case, I usually change the height so it's lower than 600 and most people can see it on their screen. 720 height is about the maximum, even for folks who have 1600x900pixel screens, because the headers and footers on the browser take up so much vertical space.


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 4:51 pm 
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One addition - some graphic programs allow to save jpg files in 32-bit color, which is used by printers. For the web, you want to go with 24 bit color, also called RGB. This will look JUST as good online, and will be a much smaller file so it will download MUCH faster.


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Click to see sturdy Lionel(r) trains that are perfect for your Christmas tree.



Note: To ask a question, sign up for our "Christmas Times" newsletter, or learn how
to apply for membership to this forum, please visit our Contact page.


Note: All content on this forum is Copyright (c) 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 by Paul D. Race
and by the posters who have contributed specific content. All material is for your personal use only. No content
or plans may be republished or sold, nor may any plans be used to make products to sell without prior written
permission from Paul D. Race and the individual who contributed the content or plan in question.
For permissions or for questions about this policy, please contact us using our Contact page.



Visit our affiliated sites:
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Visit the FamilyChristmasOnline site. Visit Howard Lamey's glitterhouse gallery, with free project plans, graphics, and instructions. Visit Papa Ted Althof's extensive history and collection of putz houses, the largest and most complete such resource on the Internet.. Click to return to the Old Christmas Tree Lights Table of Contents Page Click to sign up for Maria Cudequest's craft and collectibles blog.
Click to visit Fred's Noel-Kat store.
- Family Activities and Crafts -
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