SyntaxBomb - Indie Coders

This is for when you just want to shrink an image quickly..
Drag one image or more to the drag area and it will shrink it and save it on desktop
https://hardcoal.itch.io/quick-image-resizer

Cool, I did something similar a while back. Handy for making sure sprites are one size and / or centred within a power of 2 size.

thank you. i always release basic version of my stuff..
and than if i see reason to develope it i do..

Nice. Will take a look.

Any suggestions or requests will motivate me to develop it..
Thats why I release basic projects, so i can get the right feedback

Well, it currently does what I needed it to do so in my opinion it's a finished and working product. Thank you.

I just realized i no longer get messages when a new reply has come.. 
so sadly i ignored all answers  for a week

Quote from: Hardcoal on March 12, 2023, 04:51:39I just realized i no longer get messages when a new reply has come..
so sadly i ignored all answers  for a week

When you make a new thread mate look at the left bottom of the text box and there are checkboxes that allow you to receive notifications of replies and also to subscribe you to the thread. Click 'Receive notifications' and you will get notification when someone posts in your thread.

If you're looking for suggestions for this tool then an obvious first one would be to have an auto-scale option. So you set the x size you want to use and the Y one auto adjusts its figure to match. I forget the technical name for this but it's a tickbox in GameMaker sprite editing, and is good to balance out the resizing both horizontal and vertical.

Quote from: Xerra on March 12, 2023, 10:53:57If you're looking for suggestions for this tool then an obvious first one would be to have an auto-scale option. So you set the x size you want to use and the Y one auto adjusts its figure to match. I forget the technical name for this but it's a tickbox in GameMaker sprite editing, and is good to balance out the resizing both horizontal and vertical.

Ahh, a 'Keep aspect ratio' check box. If it is checked then if you enter 480 in width then height is set to the same figure. If that's what you mean that is?

Think @Xerra talks about proportional scaling - and keeping aspect ratio.
There are plenty of things an image scaler can do for you: creating not just one, but eg different output sizes.
It can use a variation of scaling algorithms (bicubic, next neighbour, ...)

Such a tool should look sleek and clean.
Your's for now looks a bit .. "clay'd together" - round elements, sharp corner elements, elements with a padding which seem to ressemble an "LED" or "power indicator".

People using tools want consistent styles and it should look "clean" as this makes it look:
- more professional
- made for "this purpose" (lightweight etc) - this is also based on the "professional look"

Programming tools is not just about programming functionality - it is also about learning how to present your tools. Exception is if you do not give the tools to others and keep it for yourself.

Also remember - as I wrote that more than a single time: improve a portion of your app once - and benefit from it in other tools too (framework, reusing).

PS: Colors in applications should be used for a specific purpose - especially when it comes to "tools". Colors help regarding productivity (shorter search time to find the button you are looking for). Same to say for sizes of widgets - and here: areas to drop your image to. If this is the main aspect of your tool (dropping an image into it and resizing with the predefined/stored values) then this should also become the "biggest widget" then (or you should allow dropping to every point in your application - and then decide what you drop: image? scale it. Number? Assign the underlayings widget value to the dropped number, ... etc).


bye
Ron

Thanks guys you motivated me to advance it..
I was just waiting for people to mention certain things i knew i could add but found no reason to, if theirs no purpose..
About the looks..
I'm a good graphic designer but i always keep the looks for the last..
Functionality comes first..

I'll add the keep ratio thing soon

I have some Ideas to add but as i said, i needed reason

Cheers 😁

In apps that are used a lot, a clean, responsive and fluid gui is a major plus. Highlighting buttons and gadgets when your mouse passes over them, maybe some non-intrusive audio feedback, neat help text when navigating different sections etc.

Hi guys..

Ok I did some improvements I did the Keep Ratio Thing that being requested and Improved the Looks.

I might add sound as well as requested.



Quick Image Resizer by Hardcoal (itch.io)

Sorry if i now sound rude:

this is ... not an improvement in most cases (exception is the background gray - I always like these slight gradients there).

"Drop images here" - why is that area so small? Why is the text so "narrow",

Why are the borders around the input fields bigger than the lines of the chars (numbers)?
Why are the spinner-button-borders different to the input-borders?
Why is the "help" button having a different border than the input fields?
Why is the "Help" text so oddly aligned in the button (the underline element of "p" should be ignored - the height of "H" should be taken into half - and this is your point where to center at. (for now it also looks odd as the space between "l"-top and "p"-bottom towards their border-sides is off by 1 pixel.

Why is it important to read this big text "MADE BY HARDCOAL" ... I do not want to get remembered who made a tool which I just want to use for resizing.

Why is the "Last Message" thing so important to justify that high contrast  - and why does it look like the "help button", can I click on it?
Why does the background have an inner shadow - but the widgets are "flat"? You mix styles there.

The "drop Images here" button has white corner pixels - seems alpha is ignored there.



As said: sorry if I now sound rude. But you wrote

Quote from: Hardcoal on March 12, 2023, 13:22:47[...]
I'm a good graphic designer but i always keep the looks for the last..
Functionality comes first..
[...]

And this is why I point out the obvious issues your "proposal" has.
With "sleek" I was not trying to ask for "fancy" looks. Sleek and organized. Smooth visuals but also fitting into the "theme" of your Operating System. If you cannot provide native widget (looks) then find a _nice_ one which you use _consistently_ in your application. Avoid a "mashup" of various styles.
Eg. You might consider removing the "butterfly" and use an abstract "image icon"-like thing (use some vector, scale accordingly). Think about why you have chosen the butterfly ... I guess to emphasize the "image" aspect of the button ... drop your _images_ there...

I understand that. But simply making it a single-colour "image icon"-like thing allows to: make colours look more consistent (less colours = less clashes) - AND - it still tells "here is the area to drop your image" - AND - it also is clear right in that moment, that the "colourful image" is NOT the one you just dropped.

Just have a look how others design their tools. This simple tool here is basic enough to learn things with it. Use this to your advantage. And if you find out that something is not possible with your GUI framework ... then learn the limitations and find workarounds - consistent with each other workarounds!




This is the screenshot of "peek"'s settings panel ... it offers a dark theme which is kinda... "en vogue" these days. It tells all what it should and the widgets clearly tell _what_ they are "doing": Button look for things to "press", "arrows" when it comes to "there will be more", darked buttons for "cannot get lower / cannot press. Sunken fields for inputs.
"Keypress elements" have this "keypad-button-look".

all the texts are simple ... texts.


And this is what people expect from a tool: clearly telling what is happening, what is to configure ...

The drop area for images could be the upper half of your tool window. A "25% opaque" icon could be rendered in the center of that area, size would be "80% of the area" (so big but with padding). The icon could indicate a "drop image + arrow + basket" like scenario ... and done.

Drop an image and the image preview is presented there - maybe add an close-icon (cannot do the asci [ ... x ... ] as the forum software autoconverts to a list ) next to it so you can remove it.


Plenty of things one can do here ... and copying from others _here_ does not mean you won't learn from them. And with such simple tools like an image resizer you surely only do them because you want to learn from it - and maybe also because you need such a tool.
Any advanced user will surely just write some thing which on right click in the file manager exposes an "resize image to..."  (in Linux this can be simply be done with some shell script utilizing the image modifier tools of your choice). All others use matured tools like irfan view to open the image, click resize, check the settings, done.


To remind you the second time: take above not as an personal attack, just see it as the honest words you forum users are used to when you see my name next to a posting ;-)

bye
Ron