Images - how to resize image files

Before you add images to your activity,  you may need to resize the image to make it smaller. There are many ways to do this. In this article, we'll cover the basic options, but before you get started, here are some useful sizes to bear in mind:

Location in Citizen Space Suggested image dimensions
Homepage

Full width of the page:  875px wide

In the Featured Activity:  460px wide (approx) 

 
Overview page

Full width of the overview: 518px wide
Page within an online survey

Full width of the page: 875px wide

 
Within a question

Full width of the question: 800px wide 

 

If you’d like your image to appear to the left or right of some text, you probably want to start off with something no wider than 300px.

In this article we’ll be looking at:

Editing images using a PC

The Photos app is probably the easiest way you can resize any image you want to. It's very quick and simple, assuming you just want to resize a couple of images. Here's what you need to do:

  1. Open the image you want to resize using the Photos app (it usually is the default option when opening an image in Windows).
  2. Select the ellipsis button on the menu bar at the top, then select Resize.

  3. Enter the dimensions you want the image to have.

    A general rule for Citizen Space is that images should not be larger than 500 pixels wide. In addition to this, bear in mind that the taller the image, the farther down the page the text that appears underneath the image will be.

  4. You can also change the format of the resized image. Note: If you choose .jpg you can also change the quality of the final image (the lower the quality, the smaller the file size).

  5. Save the image in a location of your choosing.

    Note: you may want to change the file name to avoid overwriting your original file.

Editing images using a Mac

If you have a Mac, the default picture management software is called Preview. To edit an image using Preview:

  1. Double click on the image to open it. Then, from the Tools menu, select Adjust size...

    A general rule for Citizen Space is that images should not be larger than 500 pixels wide. In addition to this, bear in mind that the taller the image, the farther down the page the text that appears underneath the image will be.

    The resolution of your image should be 72 pixels/inch; this is the standard resolution for web usage.

  2. Once you have got your image to the size you want it to be, select File and Save A Version to save your image.

Don't have Picture Manager or Preview? No problem

As there are so many different picture editing software packages out there, we've chosen only to cover the two main options. However, if you don't have either of these, there is another way you can edit your image.

Pic Resize is an online service  you can use to resize your images.