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Joined: 9/16/2009
Posts: 179
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Hi, I usually don't have problems with uploading banners for my stores but lately they have been coming out very pixelated. I just did the one for my Vintage Flair shop so you can see what I am talking about. Does anyone know why this could be happening? Thanks!
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Groups: Member
Joined: 2/8/2012
Posts: 37
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Your header image is a JPEG. JPEG has problems with red and very similar colors, especially when they're line art or text, and ESPECIALLY when they're against an almost-opposite-color background. So red text on a cyan background is VERY tough for JPEG to handle. I notice the image is only 31kb in size. Recompress it as a new JPEG and give it a higher quality setting (and resultant file size), or use PNG which is lossless, and it'll look much better.
Actually I recommend PNG since it's not a huge image, and looks like it has lots of redundancy that PNG can losslessly compress quite efficiently.
That is, assuming you have a lossless original. You should always keep lossless (and preferably high-res) originals in a lossless format like PNG. Rule of thumb is that JPEG is a final-step output format ONLY, should never be edited and re-saved as another JPEG (incurs ever-increasing generational quality loss rather like analog audio or video tape) and should never be the only copy you have of an image... your high-res lossless originals should be used as the starting point for further modifications, never a JPEG.
That should fix your problem. Hope this helps!
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Groups: ProSeller
Joined: 9/16/2009
Posts: 179
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Thank you Colonel for your response.
I have tried it as a PNG, I have the original Photoshop file so I saved it as a PNG and it looks a little better but still along the same lines. When I saved it as a JPEG it was the highest quality at 900x200, the background and border pictures are much bigger then that and have been shrunk down. The blue is painted in. None of it has been saved and re-sized bigger.
* Oh and the PNG is posted now so you can see it.
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Groups: Member
Joined: 2/8/2012
Posts: 37
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Still a JPEG, even after I clear my browser's cache, and I'll bet I know why. The image is hosted by Zazzle. Zazzle probably ONLY serves up JPEG images, so it doesn't matter what format you upload to Zazzle, it gets converted to JPEG. And it looks like the quality level they use, which you have no say in, is not high enough to render those reds on cyan very clearly.
Host this image offsite if you can. I notice your site is a basic shop. If basic shops won't let you point your header to an offsite image (I forget if they do or not), then consider turning on Advanced Customization, which most certainly DOES let you host banners offsite, and use PNG or anything you want, with no forced modifiction to the JPEG format.
Or, change the background and/or text colors to something less difficult for JPEG than red on cyan.
Hope that helps!
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Groups: ProSeller
Joined: 9/16/2009
Posts: 179
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Thanks so much Colonel, I will try those things out. Have a good night 
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Groups: ProSeller
Joined: 11/7/2009
Posts: 524
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colonel_magnum wrote:
Your header image is a JPEG.
Obviously, you're very tech-savvy. I read in another thread that you've worked in IT. My question is: how can you tell that SundMorning's banner is a jpeg?
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Groups: Member
Joined: 2/8/2012
Posts: 37
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Marian Cates wrote:colonel_magnum wrote:
Your header image is a JPEG.
Obviously, you're very tech-savvy. I read in another thread that you've worked in IT. My question is: how can you tell that SundMorning's banner is a jpeg? Yeah, I was a software architect / engineer working on huge, hideously-complex systems for many years, so I've been around. However in this case, it's my 25 years of computer graphics experience that's more relevant! Anyway, it depends on the browser. What you do in my browser (Firefox 12) is this: 1. In the "Tools" drop down menu, select "Page Info". 2. Click the "Media" icon at the top. 3. You now have a detailed list of all images on the page. Scroll through the list of them at the top, and below you'll see details on each one, including file format and URL, which is how I knew her header was still a JPEG and was being served by Zazzle's machines. Hope that helps.
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Groups: Member
Joined: 2/8/2012
Posts: 37
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Hey SundMorning!
Looks like you fixed your problem by adding a "fmt=png" URL parameter to the image URL, to make Zazzle serve a PNG! I didn't know Zazzle supported such a parameter, but I'm quite glad they do! I learned something, thanks!
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