Better print quality on graphics 1

[Glasgow]

I have an image that prints with reasonable sharpness (and no obvious 'smoothing') from Word. When I copy and paste into Paint or Microsoft Image Composer, on close inspection it appears to have lost resolution/quality (even if I use different 'paste as' options).

The quality is fine when viewed in the browser but, when it is printed (from the browser), it is noticably poorer quality than it's Word counterpart. I am aware that a resolution of 72dpi is generally fine for monitor but that printer could have 600 dpi available.

These printed documents will be sent to customers so the quality is important.

If necessary, I can get hold of the .eps (photoshop) file from which, I assume, the original Word version was created.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Foamcow]

Why are you viewing and printing it from a browser if you are going to be sending it to customers?
Is this for an email?

Do not copy/paste from Word as this will just use the screen preview that Word generates and not the 'proper' image data. Word sucks for anything image related really.

If this is for something to be viewed online or sent as part of an HTML email then...
Get the original file and open it in a proper image editor like Photoshop or Gimp. Save it as a file format suitable for web use, i.e. JPEG, GIF or PNG. Choose the file type based on the sort of image it is.
Save the file with as much compression as possible without destroying the image quality. (Photoshop has a great Save for Web feature that lets you see what you are doing).

When you've done that you will have an image file that will work online and look good. It will only be 'low resolution' but should be fine for general printing purposes.

If you are seeking high quality then supply the file at either a higher resolution or in a resolution independent format such as an Illustrator eps.


This isn't an XHTML/CSS issue really. If you can explain more clearly what you are planning to do with the image then I am sure there is a suitable forum elsewhere on TekTips where you can get more accurate and useful assistance.

<honk>*:O)</honk>

Earl & Thompson Marketing - Marketing Agency Services in Gloucestershire

 

[Glasgow]

Thanks for the reply Foamcow. Agreed, it is not directly related to CSS/HTML, sorry!

Why print via explorer? Well I guess 'why not?' is my question. We used to print versions of the same documents via Word and it took ages. The process is now about 10 times faster, the documents look better, they occupy much less disk space and they are better equipped for on-line use in future should we choose to go that way.

In the gap since posting my question and the arrival of your reply I have more or less been following the route you recommend. I got hold of the original file, a copy of photoshop and saved the file as a jpeg. The file is 600k and is much higher/wider than I want but, by reducing the width and height of the image within the HTML, I get a much sharper image.

My next step will be to reduce the dimensions of the actual jpeg though that's not essential. Do you happen to know if browsers cache the images? The HTML file may contain multiple references to the same image and I'd hate to think it would pull 600k off the disk for each reference.

Thanks again.

 

[Foamcow]

Yes the browser will cache the image, although you cannot rely on this happening.

Have you considered creating the documents as PDFs?

Although not entirely suited for online use, a PDF is much better than a Word Document but will allow you to produce much higher quality documents than HTML will.


The reason your image appears sharper is because even though you change it's physical dimension in HTML, it still retains the same resolution (i.e. same number of pixels per inch/cm)
I'm not actually certain if you are getting any benefit from resizing in HTML. You might want to try resampling the image in Photoshop so it is the right physical size.

For screen use, do this by specifying a number of pixels for width and height rather than a physical unit such as centimetres.

<honk>*:O)</honk>

Earl & Thompson Marketing - Marketing Agency Services in Gloucestershire

 

[Glasgow]

Thanks again.

PDF's had crossed my mind but, to be honest, the customer is perfectly happy with the quality of the HTML versions (apart from this particular graphic) and I thought PDF's would just be more effort - presumably I'd need an Adobe or third party component to create them?

Yes the higher resolution retention with the re-sized image makes sense and I have already specified dimensions in pixels. I will try resizing the image in photoshop if the larger image is clearly affecting performance but I'm hoping the cache factor might get around the worst of that.

 

[traingamer]

See also: High-Resolution Image Printing on A List Apart, which is an overview of using print-media CSS for this purpose.


Greg
"Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught." - Winston Churchill

 

[bam720]

You force a new page load rather than from cache by pressing Ctrl + F5 in FF/IE