Monday, November 14, 2011

Blogging Tip: How To Change Photo Sizes


This tip is for Blogger users

Ever notice bloggers who display their beautiful photos in big, bold, eye-catching sizes? Yet when you load a photo and you want to make it x-large, it's too big and it spills over into the sidebar... which certainly isn't attractive. But when you click on medium, it's too small?

How can you change the size to fit your blog column?

With a little poking, prodding, and praying for wisdom, I figured out that I could 'safely' change the size of the photo in the HTML code. Believe me, when I figured this out, I knew next to nothing about html code. So we tread carefully here.

If you're asking the same question, here's how to do it:

1.  Load your photo into your post.
 
2.  Click on the photo and select X-Large.

3.  Look for the tabs COMPOSE and HTML at the top of your post toolbar.

4. Click on HTML tab. Don't be afraid at what you see... I know it can look a little scary with all those symbols, but if you scroll through that mess until you see a code that has the words 'height' and 'width' in it... that's the code for your photo. It will look something like this:
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirUnUQN5e_M5mxn5Noz4bvvJ2LsrT_YTbKH3zzQB5vwxAMtPUTKIeGg320kqkoWlh9n7hN6CYbD80uy7XVoKqDbyA3H57ekCk6ZR1kkR9fbdsVJTv8OUAZh-DearFEzKpdykiVcdQ9Z7Fm/s1600/342945mr2z51864q.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirUnUQN5e_M5mxn5Noz4bvvJ2LsrT_YTbKH3zzQB5vwxAMtPUTKIeGg320kqkoWlh9n7hN6CYbD80uy7XVoKqDbyA3H57ekCk6ZR1kkR9fbdsVJTv8OUAZh-DearFEzKpdykiVcdQ9Z7Fm/s320/342945mr2z51864q.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>

Notice the numbers in red -- 398 and 640. These indicate the height and width of your photo. The numbers are what you can safely change to make it fit the space in your posting column, and still look stunning and luxurious.

For my blog post column size, I usually need to change the width from 640 to 590. You might need to experiment a little. I don't usually change the height, but you can experiment if you want to make it longer as well. Just be careful not to change the proportions so much that it changes the perception.

Remember, you only change those numbers, nothing else, unless you know your way around HTML.  If something does go weird, click on the 'undo' button (backwards arrow) to bring it back to the original.

5.  Once you've discovered the magic size that works for you, that's all you need to do. Now click back on COMPOSE tab and make sure it's the size you want. Carry on with your posting, preview, and hit Publish.

NB.  You can also do this with video or YouTube uploads. Just always watch for the words 'height' and 'width' and change the size to fit your column.

Another Option. One blogger said she actually changed the size of her column so the photos would fit properly. Either way would work. You would change in your template settings. 

Hope this simple tip helps!
Brenda






7 comments:

  1. Brenda, you can bet that I'm going to try this trick, having been frustrated by the that overlap into the sidebar! Thanks for the tip...I need all the help I can get. Techie things are still a challenge to me, although I am determined to keep trying to learn. (It helps that I have kids in the house. They seem to "get" this stuff.)

    I also enjoyed your previous post. What a treat to witness a heart-warming moment like that.

    (Still deciding about the painting the cabinets...but my resolve is waning...hmmmm...)

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  2. Cheryl....I hope the tip works for you! I nod my head on that techie stuff being a challenge... me too!

    Chuckling about the painting resolve waning... I can nod there too... aw, why not wait till spring now and just enjoy getting ready for the approaching holy season.

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  3. Brenda, I was always stumped on how to make the pictures larger, too. Thanks to you, now I know how. I have already spent most of the morning going through old posts and changing the sizes. It really does make a difference. Thanks again.

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  4. I didn't know that. Great tip. I changed my layout and column width so as I could fit X-Large as it was.

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  5. Thanks for writing out those clear instructions, Brenda. I discovered that trick for posting videos as well - making them whatever size you want.

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  6. Sandy - thanks for sharing that about being able to change the video size as well... I found that out too... and meant to include the info in the posting.

    So thanks for the reminder!

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To My Beautiful Readers,

Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same. ~ Franz Peter Schubert

Thank you so much for leaving your 'footprint' here in my comment box. I do appreciate you taking a moment to share your thoughts today.

Brenda xo