Suggestion and help with images

[skookumnarrows]

I am sure I am not alone is saying I have had to search high and low throughout the support forum for any and all postings on how to handle images in the Zen Cart. It is both frustrating and time consuming. It goes without saying that if you don't have images, you aren't going to sell anything and if your images aren't set up properly and they are distorted no one will click on them. Therefore, I believe the cart administration would do us a great service if they established a separate forum on "Images."

Now, I would like to ask some questions. As I said, I have read everything I could find but there are still things I don't know what or how to do. I have prepared a test image in three sizes. small (100x100), med (200x200), and large (400x400). I gave them to my webmaster and he has uploaded them. The large image is fine, perfect. However, both the small and med were distorted and the med did not display at 200x200. I went into the cart admin>configuration>images and checked the settings. The 'product info' setting for height is 120 and width is 150. I changed them to 200 & 200 and that medium size is still slightly distorted although it is displaying at 200x200. The thumbnail is displaying 100x100 but it is distorted. (By the way, 'Calculate Image Size' is set at true and 'Use Proportional Images on Products and Categories is set at 1). I have to assume my webmaster has loaded them into the correct files; although, I have not asked him.

Right now, I would like to know how to set things up in the Admin Image section. I put all the image settings from "Image-Product Listing Wide" down to "Image-Product All Listing Height" at 100. Is this what I should do?

I would be grateful to any help or suggestions anyone can offer. I am getting quite discouraged with these image issues. Thanks.

Anita

[schoolboy]

Hi Anita

You might like to try installing IMAGE HANDLER 2. This is a really good module, but there is a slight drawback in that the original author is unlikely to continue supporting it, due to other commitments .

However, we use it as a standard on all our sites.

All images are loaded into your IMAGES folder (we don't worry about MED and LRG)

As you know, with images, you need a GOOD QUALITY jpeg to start with - but not too big in terms of file size)

We create our images so that all have identical width, and try to save them at a file size of 60kb or less. (Not easy, but we manage to keep quality. Use Photoshop to do a professional job in this area)

Image Handler 2 has the capability of rendering your images at just about any size, with excellent visual results. It uses special software installed on your server, so check with your host if they have the stuff to augment Image Handler, such as IMAGEMAGICK, for example.

Take a look at www.des-uk-shop.com to see IH in action. All the images are loaded into the IMAGES folder and are sized at 560 X 380 pixels. They are all jpeg and are between 40kb and 70kb. Look particularly in the WOODEN PRODUCTS category where the images are very colourful.

Image handler "clones" the original image and "rebuilds" it - depending on where it is being displayed, so an image of 100 X 100 is just a copy of your main image, massaged by image handler to look as good as it can.

We use that fancy "hover enlarge" feature, but this can easily be disabled.

I would suggest you look at IH2.

[skookumnarrows]

Hi Schoolboy,

I greatly appreciate your response to my posting. To be perfectly honest, my webmaster was leaning towards IH2; but, after visiting the developer's site, I began to hyperventilate . I saw far too many unanswered postings by users with problems. I nixed the idea and decided to stay with what Zen has built in. We seem to have got a handle on things over the last couple of days and the images are now going up and looking good. However, I will be putting up another site in the not too distant future and we will look take a closer look at IH2 for that site.

I like the site you suggested I visit. Wish we had those learning toys when I was somewhat younger.

take care,
Anita

[schoolboy]

Don't be too hyperventillated by some of the posts on these forums (fora ?) - I wasn't much good at Latin.

One of the reasons why many people experience problems is that they OVER-MODULARISE (modulate ?) Latin again...

By this I mean that they download and install every module they can get their hands on... then they mess about with the core code and do all sorts of things that they think will make their webshop attract customers... and then are surprised when things start to fall over.

You have to appreciate that a lot of the modules are written by enthusiasts - some are extremely skilled people - but that they bring their own "recipe" to the party.

In a lot of cases, modules CONFLICT with each other, and, coupled with the personal tinkering that goes on, errors start to occur that are often complicated to resolve.

A good indicator of the ROBUSTNESS (robustitude ?) damn Latin ! of a module is to see how many times it's been downloaded, and to try to establish what the dev team thinks of it by reviewing their posts on the forum, relating to any given 3rd-party feature.

As a general rule, our organisation keeps bolt-on modules to an absolute minimum, trusting the core code rather, and using the stylesheets to manipulate aesthetics and market appeal of the webshops we build.

The mods we do tend to use are those that augment our analysis and tracking of customer behaviour and webshop performance, and these are generally in the admin side of the shop. Afterall, this is what really matters - a developing understanding of how people are using your shop...

We have installed image handler on every site we've built (about 50 so far) and have NEVER had a problem - but this is also due to our team rigorously researching the mod (usually on these forums/fora) for possible conflicts.

Opensource is wonderful stuff, and is a highly creative arena - and with due care, prudence and attention to detail - one can minimise the potential for problems.

[jund]

Schoolboy,

Thank you for the Latin... took 3 years myself, and I am not even Catholic! Oh well...
Anyway, I installed IH2 and was really happy with the way it rendered my images until I got to the home page - and every image I click on or move the mouse over (on the home page) literally 'pops up" at the top of my window and moves my banner down the height of the image that popped-up.

I searched the forums for IH2 popup issues, but found none.

Can you help me... (oh forgot to mention - took pig-latin in the second grade, if that counts).

jund

ooops... forgot to add version info - 1.3.7, windows server - IIS 6.0, php 5.x