Monday, December 28, 2009

3 Lightweight Image Tools

I was looking for ways to explain to a novice how to resize images and capture screenshots. These are two relatively simplistic activities that still don't have a particularly easy solutions in Windows XP.

Here's some interesting items I'm found while digging:

  • shrinkpictures.com - This is a drop dead, easy way, to shrink an image. These days, photo snapped on a typical digital camera may be 2000+ pixels wide, and this site will scale it down to a more manageable size. No login needed, it just works.
  • PicPick - is a free collection of tools for designers. What attracted me to it was its super easy screenshot ability. It also has other designer tool, like a pixel measuring tool and color grabber. I like that it's free and appears to have no strings attached.
  • Aviary.com - Aviary.com is a free suite of image tools. I didn't get beyond looking at the marketing material for the software, so I can't say much about it. But it does look impressive. If I needed a free image suite, and didn't want to go with the complexity of the The Gimp, this may be an excellent place to start.

Even with all my research, I still couldn't find a foolproof way for a complete novice to take screenshots on Windows XP. Sure, they can install some software - but even doing that is kind of beyond what a complete novice can be expected to do. Where's the web or AIR app that does this?

No comments:

Post a Comment