In photoshop you can resize an image using the pixel dimensions or a combination of height, width and ppi settings. I find setting the document size and resolution settings is easier to visualise for many people. If you are familiar and comfortable with how pixel dimensions are interpreted and sized by web browsers then you probably don't need any help! You will notice if you change pixel dimensions the document size changes automatically and vice versa.


The first consideration is the pixels per inch (ppi) setting for the image. Set this to 72ppi. This means the dimensions of the image or image size will be "what you see is what you get". At 72dpi an image size of 10x15cm will appear on the screen as approx. 10x15cm. Think of a computer monitor as a sheet of A4 paper in landscape format. What will fit on an A4 sheet will fit on to the screen at 72ppi. Most monitors can be set to display 1024x768 pixels or 800x600 pixels at 72ppi to 96ppi. If you divide the display resolution by 72 or 96 you get a maximum screen space of 10x8 to 11x14 inches or roughly 24x36cm.


Allowing for frames and tool bars, set your image height to a maximum of 18cm (7ins) so that a portrait image will display in full on the screen so viewers will not have to scroll down to see it all. At 15cm height the image should fit on most monitors regardless of screen resolution. At 15cm you can also be sure your image title will also be visible. Maximum width should be 30cm. This will only be a concern with panoramic landscape images. In most cases set the maximum height first and let the width take care of itself. If you want to put a frame around your image set the height to 15-18cm including the frame.


Reducing an image to 72ppi can reduce the apparent sharpness. At 72ppi the effect of sharpening tools is quite dramatic. Image quality on the web can be improved with some careful sharpening. Something in the range of 30-60% sharpening in photoshop is generally helpful but not excessive.


Once you have resized and sharpened your image, save it as a JPEG file with the exact image title you want as the filename. The file size should not exceed 100kb at medium to high compression settings. If it exceeds 100kb consider a slightly higher compression/lower quality or reduce the image size a little. Images of around 60-100kb should open almost instantaneously on the web with a broadband connection.


When sending images to the club web master it is preferable to save all your images in one ZIP file. There are a number of free ZIP tools which can be dowloaded if you don't already know how to create zip files. Most zip tools allow you to select all the files you want in a directory and right clicking the mouse provides an option to create a new zip file in the same directory with a new file name you type in.