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Using the FrontPage Autothumbnail feature

There will be many occasions on which you need to include large images on your web pages, but are worried about the increased download time this would result in. If you are in this situation, the AutoThumbnail facility of FrontPage 98 may be of use to you. Using this facility, you can insert a large image into your web page, then use the AutoThumbnail facility to automatically produce a scaled down representation of that image. Clicking on this small image in the web browser will display the full sized image in the browser. Thankfully, FrontPage takes care of producing the thumbnail image, as well as linking this image the the full-sized version. An example thumbnail is shown below...

To use the AutoThumbnail facility, insert an image into the FrontPage Editor in the usual way. After highlighting the image with the mouse, use the menu command Tools|AutoThumbnail. A copy of the original image will then be scaled down and placed on the web page instead of the large original image. This thumbnail image is then hyperlinked to the original image. Note that the thumbnail image is saved into your FrontPage web when you next save the web page - the filename will be the same as the original image, but with the _small suffix. The thumbnail image will have a much smaller filesize than the original - the image above is 101K, but its thumbnail is just 2K, Using this thumbnail image on the web page instead of the larger original image also saves approximately 54 seconds download speed with a 28.8 Kbps modem. Moving the mouse over the thumbnail will also show you how big the original file is (unless you prefer to specify your own "Alt" tags for images by using the menu command Edit|Image Properties and change the Alternative Representations - text field).

AutoThumbnail options

The menu command Tools|Options will display the Options window, which contains various settings for the AutoThumbnail feature. It is possible to set the default size of the thumbnails to a certain size. By default, the thumbnails all have a width of 100 pixels, but you may like to consider setting the longest size or shortest side to a certain length - useful if you have a mixture of portrait and landscape shots.

The Options window can also be used to change the thickness of the border round the thumbnail. By default, the border thickness is 2 pixels. Although you can alter the border to have a thickness of zero, don't forget that people may not know that it can be clicked on to show the full sized image. As a result, it is a good idea to indicate the fact (e.g. "Click on the thumbnails below to see a full sized representation of the image").

If the Bevelled Edge check box in the Options window is checked, it is possible to apply a bevelled effect to the thumbnails (as shown in the image below):

Finally, don't forget that the AutoThumbnail feature is an excellent feature if you are creating an image gallery...

Author: Brett Burridge
Date: 07/09/1998

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