Handling images in Tarantula 1.98

Tarantula is one of the very few web-authoring tools which go beyond basic text capabilities. It provides very strong image handling features which make the use of a separate image handling software completely redundant. Tarantula allows for two images to be specified for every image that is to be displayed. One of the image, the main image is the actual image that is to be finally displayed on the page. However, if this image happens to be very large, it will take a long time to load. In this case, a second low resolution (lo-res) low quality, and less bulkier image can be specified, which will be loaded by the browser before the main image. This will make sure that the person browsing the web-page gets to see something before the actual image is loaded.

When images are included in a web-page, quite a few people like to keep them in a directory such as 'Images', separate from the actual pages. Tarantula has full support for such a practice. In fact, while adding an image to a web page, Tarantula can automatically copy the image to the 'Images' directory, and modify the link appropriately.

A small descriptive text can also be included with each image. This is called the alternate (ALT) text. This text should adequately describe the image, or at least it's purpose, so that people browing the site using text-only browsers, or browsers with images turned 'off', will know what to expect. Another good practice, in case of large images, is to include the byte-size of the image here, so that a person who is browsing can have a general idea as to how long the image will take to load. This is also automatically handled by Tarantula, which can calculate the current size of the image and include it in the ALT text for the image.

	The standard 'web format' images are usually GIFs and JPGs. However, Windows usually has BMP files as standard. Some older programs still use PCX files as a standard. Generally speaking, one would have to convert any image to either a GIF or a JPG, for it to be usable on the web. This conversion, till now, would be done by some paint package. However, with Tarantula, you can not only do the conversion internally, but also decide whether a GIF or a JPG is more suited to your needs. For this, Tarantula also displays the approximate time needed to download the image on various modem speeds. While converting, one can optimize the quality/size ratio of an image, and also resize it to any desired size. In fact, by using the 'resample' option, clarity of the image is till maintained ( 'jaggies' do not appear), even after resizing it.

While changing the displayed size of the image on the page, Tarantula can optionally help in resize also using a feature called assisted scaling. This feature is automatically enabled if the image is marked to be scaled proportionally. In fact, if an image is resized to smaller than a certain adjustable percentage, Tarantula automatically open the 'Image Optimizer', where a real resize of the image can be performed ( a real resize is where the physical size of the image changes, rather than just the displayed size). For more details on how this feature can be utilized best, see the section on creating Image Galleries.

A number of people (in fact, most people) start off web pages as their personal home-page. This generally grows on to become bigger, and if the person enjoys doing pages, he ultimately may start doing it professionally. However, most such people start off with personal pages. And, what's a personal page without some personal photos - family and friends! So, one uses a scanner, or a digital camera, and some scannig software, scans the image, crops out the unwanted parts, add borders etc. and finally resample it to a smaller 'web-publishable' size. No, we are not talking of a number of softwares. Tarantula does all of that, and more. With it's built-in TWAIN support, it can capture images from TWAIN compatible devices such as scanners and digital cameras etc., automatically linking with the software that came with the device. You never have to leave Tarantula, as everything can be done here itself.

[ Main ] [ Text ] [ Images ] [ Project and site management ] [ Thumbnails & galleries ] [ Forms ] [ Multimedia ] [ Multiple display resolutions ] [ Scripts and Applets ] [ Foreign language support ] [ Navigation & indexing ]