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If you have ever waited on a site with large image files to load, you have seen why image compression is necessary. To compress images means you take away or regroup parts of an image so that it takes up less space.
There are two basic algorithms used for compression – lossy and lossless. Lossy compression makes changes that create lower quality images. The smaller you make the file, the more noticeable your differences between the original and the compressed file become.
Lossless compression algorithms don’t discard any information, so they result in larger files than lossy compression generates. Lossless compression finds better ways to store the information, and the picture does not lose any quality.
Types of imagesFirst, let’s take a look at four of the most popular image types.
JPEG images (Joint Photographic Experts Group) are “lossy” images. They use a scale of compression that decreases the image’s file size substantially. It eliminates as much information as possible from the file by deleting data your eyes won’t notice. However, if you make the image too small, the result will have more obvious pixelation. The images also have more artifacts, which are features on a compressed image not in the original. JPEGs have 24-bit color with up to 16 million colors available.
The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) compresses images in two ways. One, it reduces the number of colors. GIF images have an 8-bit palette and only 256 colors. It also replaces large patterns with smaller ones. So, if there are five kinds of blue, GIF will represent them as one. It is both lossy and lossless depending upon the picture you are compressing. A picture with fewer than 256 colors, will not lose any quality. However, if you have a full-color photo, it can lose up to 99.998% of the color.
TIFF is a very flexible format that can be lossy or lossless. Most TIFF files are not compressed, and their high quality makes them perfect for storing graphics and printing. These image files contain all the details of the storage algorithm and all the colors, so they are very large. Their large size requires a long transfer time, slows loading time, and uses a significant amount of disk space.
Portable network graphics or PNG files is a lossless compression, so it does not cause loss of quality and detail. The compression is completely reversible, meaning the image will be recovered precisely as it was sent. PNG finds patterns in the image to use to compress the size. This file type uses only 256 colors but saves the information about those colors quite efficiently. It also supports 8-bit transparency.
Reasons to compress your imagesThe most common reason for compression of images is to optimize your website. Sites with uncompressed images can take a much longer time to load. Long load times will cause more of your customers to abandon your page in search of another one.
If you have pictures you want to send over email, you need to be aware of what the file size limit is for attachments with your service. If your file is too large, you won’t be able to send it, and even if you can send it, it may transfer too slowly.
Compressing your images will reduce the amount of space you need to store them. If you compress your images, they won’t take up as much space, preventing the need to purchase more storage.
Two free, useful online toolsThere are many different tools available to compress images. Two of them are Optimizilla and CompressNow. With both these services you can upload multiple images at one time and preview the result of the compression before you download it.
Both tools use a simple drag-and-drop method for uploading your image files and the ability to upload using the file manager. You can download all the files you compressed together, or you can do it one at a time. When you download your images, they will keep their original names but will have a tag added to the end of the file such as “-min” or “-compressed.”
When you use CompressNow, you choose the compression level before you compress the file. You can upload up to ten JPEG, GIF, or PNG files at a time up to 9 Mb.
Optimizilla gives you the option to upload up to twenty JPEG or PNG images at a time and displays the photos before and after optimizing, and you can change the optimization level for each photo.
For WordPress usersIf you are using WordPress for your online sites, we have previously covered some of the best image optimization plugins you should use for your site. This site uses chúng tôi image optimizer, though many would recommend WP Smush, which comes with more features.
Whether you need to speed up your website or send pictures over email to Grandma, you should consider using one of these tools to compress the images. What other tools have you used?
Tracey Rosenberger
Tracey Rosenberger spent 26 years teaching elementary students, using technology to enhance learning. Now she’s excited to share helpful technology with teachers and everyone else who sees tech as intimidating.
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How To Create Urgency Without Hurting Your Brand
Urgency messaging is a great way to raise conversions but is getting an increasingly bad rep
Getting visitors on your site and converting seems to be more difficult than ever. Consumers are indecisive, and, with more choice online than ever before, your website visitors are less likely to hang around.
Creating urgency is one of the best ways to raise ecommerce conversions. In my 16 years in ecommerce, there are few techniques I’ve seen that so reliably raise sales.
Urgency works by overcoming your visitors’ mental hurdles to purchasing from you. Perhaps they’re indecisive, prone to overthinking, or they just want to shop around a bit more. There are so many psychological factors at play that influence whether someone will buy from you.
It is, however, a technique to be used with caution. The problem with urgency messaging is that it can come off as disingenuous or just all round scammy. At best this renders your urgency efforts ineffective, and, at worst, it hurts your brand image, damaging trust and losing potential customers.
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Consumers are more suspicious than ever before when it comes to urgency techniques. There have been numerous news stories in recent times about how brands have been accused of misleadingly using urgency techniques, with some possibly facing court action. These stories inevitably filter into public consciousness, putting more pressure on marketers to deliver.
While urgency as a marketing tool is going nowhere, it’s more important than ever to implement it in a genuine, helpful and engaging way. In this article, I’ll run through some of the most effective urgency techniques I’ve seen, with some ideas for how to ensure they’re done well.
1. Social call-outsUsing call-outs on product pages with stats about other shoppers’ behaviour increases the perceived popularity of a product in real time, as well as activate the fear of missing out. And this, of course, increases urgency – 50 dresses bought today? Wow, other people like this too – I don’t want it to sell out! Rebellious Fashion saw some great results by using these call-ous on their product pages.
Popular products are the most likely to sell out, and showing a product’s popularity is a persuasive technique. However, it doesn’t make sense to show these stats when a product is selling poorly, as it could have the reverse effect. Use a targeting tool to define how many views/purchases need to be reached to trigger a call out message.
2.ScarcityThe fear of missing out is more motivating than the promise of gaining something. Scarcity messaging no doubt plays on this fear factor, but it is also genuinely helpful. We all want to know when products we like are running out, don’t we? Scarcity also increases the desirability of a product – we all know that studies in psychology have shown that things in a short supply are perceived as more appealing than those in an abundance.
Consider using call-outs on product pages, stating how many items are left in stock. But be careful. The trick with scarcity messaging is not to let it be counterproductive. Set parameters for when scarcity messaging is triggered – when a product has, say, fewer than 10 items left. Test to see which numbers are most effective, and try different ways to deliver the message such as slide-in containers used above by fashion retailer, Rebellious.
3. Use urgency-increasing copy – but make sure it matches your brand voiceYour web copy will help considerably in increasing urgency and persuading your visitors to act fast. There are certain words that are known to create urgency: buy now, hurry, only one left, quick, approaching, selling fast. However, it’s important to use a tone of voice that matches your brand.
Sadly, some retailers go all out with a ‘Hurry now!!!’ tone that can often come across as cheap or desperate. This tone of voice just wouldn’t suit a store selling luxury products, for example, and may alter the perception of your brand and products. However, the only way to truly know is to test different versions of the copy to see which converts best.
4. Bring urgency into social product recommendationsA good way to kickstart browsing on a site is to show best seller recommendations such as these on the Love Sofas homepage. These recommendations let your visitors know which items are popular in your store, and the injection of social proof can increase perceived desirability.
There are various techniques you can use to imply your store is really popular. Showing these bestseller recommendations “from the last hour” gives the impression your store is overflowing with visitors (which it might well be – if so, let it be known!). You can amplify this effect by adding stats to the recommendations showing how many have been sold or viewed that day.
5. Time-limited incentives with countdown timers (but don’t overuse)There are few techniques more urgency-inducing than a time-limited sale or offer, with a prominently placed timer ticking the remaining hours or minutes away. They can be used in a number of ways.
Consider:
X hours left to get free delivery
X% off an item for the next X hours
Summer sale ends in X
Order in the next X hours and get a free gift
One of the issues I see with countdown timers is overuse. Are you using countdown techniques so often that they’re becoming less effective, or that your visitors are reliant on them, or perhaps even questioning the authenticity of them?
Be sure to measure the effectiveness of your countdown methods on your conversion rate over time.
6. Use colours that promote urgency – but make sure to testWe all know that certain colours promote caution and fear – yellow, orange and red being the ones we usually think of. Red is usually the colour we most associate with urgency, and is the colour we most often see adorning shop window signage when a sale is on.
When it comes to colour, it’s worth remembering we’re all wired differently and, thus, react differently. Test different colour variations on your site to see what works best with your audience. If you already use a lot of red in your branding, you might find other colours work better in drawing attention and promoting urgency.
Amazon often uses green in its scarcity messaging, and also assures the customer that more items will be in stock soon. This use of green to promote urgency comes across as genuinely helpful and certainly less aggressive than techniques I‘ve seen employed by others. Red, in this case, is used to draw attention to the lower price.
7. Be TruthfulFor many, this will go without saying, but it’s worth pointing out – don’t state anything in your urgency messaging that isn’t true. There’s nothing wrong with implied urgency, but if you’re misleading people, eg. applying a false timescale to a sale, your visitors will soon work this out.
This will then make further urgency efforts redundant, as many shoppers simply won’t believe you. Customers buy from brands they trust, not ones that manipulate their shopping habits through false claims.
ConclusionTo wrap up, urgency messaging works best when it’s used carefully and genuinely, by nudging your customers to overcome mental hurdles and take action quickly. It’s important to be careful to avoid bad practices that might damage your relationship with customers, as well as being wary of making your urgency efforts ineffective through overuse.
Try some of the techniques in this article to see the difference it makes on your site, and as always, make sure you test, test, test!
How To Compress Video On Iphone Or Ipad
The iPhone and iPad can capture amazingly high definition video in 4K, 1080p, and 720p resolution, and while those movies will look fantastic they also create large file sizes. While you can always change the recording resolution of video in iOS ahead of time, another option is to compress video after the fact, thereby reducing its file size dramatically. Compressing video is helpful particularly if you want to share a video from an iPhone or iPad but you’re finding the movie file size is too large for a standard file transfer, message, or email.
We’re going to show you how to compress video on an iPhone or iPad to reduce the file size or lower the video definition quality. Compressing video is not a feature that is built into iOS natively however, so we’ll be relying on a free third party app that does the job quite well.
To be clear, this approach is taking a video file that is already recorded and stored on the iPhone or iPad and compressing it. If you want to make a smaller video file size to begin with, you can change from using 4K video capture to 1080p or 720p ahead of time, or changing the video recording frame rate at 60fps or 30fps, each of which will reduce the file size of a movie recording, but obviously that’s not helpful for changing the compression or video quality on a video that has already been captured. Thus, we’ll use Video Compressor to shrink down and reduce the file size and definition of a video in iOS.
How to Compress Videos from iPhone and iPad with Video Compressor
Grab Video Compressor for iOS on the App Store, it’s free and works on iPhone and iPad
Launch the Video Compressor app on the iPhone or iPad after you have downloaded it
Tap the video you want to compress and shrink down the file size for
At the video preview screen, select “Choose” to open that video into Video Compressor
Use the slider at the bottom of the screen to adjust the video compression based on target file size of the compressed video, the further the slider moves to the left the stronger the compression and the smaller the resulting file size of the video will be
When satisfied with the compression and target file size of the video, select “Save” in the upper right corner
Video Compressor will go to work on the targeted movie file, this can take a while depending on the size of the video selected on the iPad or iPhone
The compressed video will be saved to your iOS Camera Roll when complete
Video Compressor is very effective and you can easily shrink a very large high resolution video down to a remarkably small size. In the example above I shrunk a video to 4% of it’s original size using Video Compressor on an iPad, taking a 150mb video down to a mere 6mb. Of course this comes at a hefty cost to the video quality, since compressing video inevitably reduces the resolution and definition of any video, so use the slider and target size to suit your own use case and needs.
The ability to compress video to shrink down size and reduce quality should probably be built directly into iOS so that iPhone and iPad users can do this directly in iOS without requiring third party apps (a similar feature exists native in Mac OS video encoder tools), so perhaps we’ll get such an ability in iOS down the road too.
Keep in mind if you use iCloud (and you should) then if you try to email a very large video then you should be able to share it with Mail Drop too. And of course if you’re nearby to the person you want to share a large video with, then sending over AirDrop from an iPhone to a Mac or other device is a viable solution too.
It’s also worth pointing out that if you want to copy high definition videos from an iPad or iPhone to a computer the best way to do that is with a USB cable and direct transfer as described here, it tends to be the fastest approach that is also lossless.
Related
Quality Quest: The Irrational Ratio
Linda G. Hayes
Do you remember learning about irrational numbers? I always pictured them as being somehow unreasonable, numbers you had to coax or cajole into behaving rationally. Actually, they are numbers that never end–no matter how far you carry them out–like pi. In that sense, the term is particularly apropos for describing the proper ratio between developers and testers, because the answer keeps changing the longer you look at it.
Not a conference or class goes by that the question is not asked: What’s the magic ratio? Some breathlessly report that they heard Microsoft has a one-to-one ratio, while others abjectly confess that their companies have 10 or more developers for every tester. So what’s the best answer? That’s easy. It depends.
The ideal ratio between developers and testers depends on the type of development and the phase of the project. In some cases, developers should outnumber testers, but in others–believe it or not–the testers should outnumber the developers. The secret is to know when and why to adjust the ratio.
Planning and Design
In the earliest stages of developing a new application–that is, one being written from scratch–developers should outnumber testers. Although test planning and design can and should commence during the planning and design phases of the development project, the fact is that there is simply more work to be done by developers. Until the design stabilizes, which in most cases happens during coding, testers can at best define and prepare the test environment and process.
The ideal ratio at this stage is probably one tester per team, or about one for every four or five developers. Most applications are built with a team this size; especially large applications might have multiple teams, but each team typically stays small. We have all learned the hard way that adding more people does not always add more productivity.
Testing Ratio Tricks and Techniques
If you follow these basic rules, you will be in a better position to effectively use temporary resources and/or employ automation in testing when it’s appropriate. These tricks and techniques may also help you achieve a more rational method for managing the ratio of developers to testers in application development.
Plan your test
Document your tests
Dumb-down your tests
Standardize your tests
There is an exception, however. In some cases, new applications are really just modifications of existing ones. For example, a retail data analysis firm developed six applications that were simply just special versions of the same system customized for different customers. The same application in other cases might be ported to execute on multiple platforms. The effort in these situations is more like maintenance and enhancement, so the rules are different.
Coding and Testing
As a new application completes the coding phase and moves into test, the ratio should start to shift in favor of testers. In fact, a ratio of one or two developers per tester is probably realistic.
This happens because the testers now have enough information to design, develop, and execute test cases. It takes time to review the application’s intricacies in order to design the proper tests, then more time to develop the tests, and then even more time to execute the tests and document the results. Then it takes yet more time to work closely with developers to resolve issues. The iterative retesting of corrections and changes adds substantially to the testing workload as the application nears release.
Reinstall Windows Without Losing Your Data
How did things get this messed up? Windows has slowed to a crawl. Programs won’t run. The free firewall you installed last year won’t update or uninstall itself.
I’m not going to lie to you–this is a scary and time-consuming job. Your PC may be unusable for a day or more. You could even lose all of your data.
And let’s face it: You’d be wise to avoid this chore if at all possible. If someone in tech support tells you to do it, get a second opinion, and then a third.
If you have to reinstall–and sometimes it is necessary–here’s how to make the process as safe and painless as possible.
Gather What You NeedYou’ll have to collect a few things before you can begin.
First, you’ll need your recovery tool. What’s that? If you’re using the version of Windows that came on your PC, it’s probably in a hidden partition on the computer’s hard drive. That partition contains the information necessary to restore the hard drive to its factory condition.
If you upgraded Windows since you bought the PC–for instance, going from XP or Vista to Windows 7–the upgrade disc is now your recovery tool.
After Windows installs, you’ll have to reinstall all of your programs. Collect all the original discs or downloaded installation files, and all of your license numbers.
Finally, you’ll need time. The best-case scenario for a reinstall is a day. The worst case: three or four days. You’ll be spending a lot of that time waiting, so get a good book, too.
Back Up EverythingThings could go horribly wrong, so you need to make a backup of your entire drive. That way, you can at least return to where you were before the reinstall.
You also have to create a backup of your data, because the reinstall might destroy everything on your hard drive.
Be sure to create an emergency boot disc with EASEUS or whatever program you use to do the cloning. Without that, you may not be able to recover from a disaster.
Having a second backup of your data wouldn’t hurt, especially since you’re about to erase the original. If you don’t already have another up-to-date backup, create one with whatever backup program you regularly use.
The Windows ReinstallExactly how you replace an old Windows installation with a new one depends on your recovery tool. If your PC came with a recovery partition on the hard drive, find the instructions for booting into the repair environment. Watch the screen as you turn on the computer; it might show a message such as ‘Press F10 for Repair’. If it doesn’t, check the manual or call technical support.
Either way, follow the prompts.
Setting Up WindowsCongratulations: You have a fresh Windows installation. Now the hard work starts.
You’ll have to reinstall at least some of your drivers. You can go back to the discs that came with your PC, printer, scanner, and so on, or you can download newer versions off the Internet. Alternatively, you can install the drivers off the clone you made before reinstalling.
If you reinstalled Windows from a vendor-supplied tool–one that returns your hard drive to its factory condition–you probably have a lot of junk on your computer. You’ll have to uninstall the stuff you don’t want.
The uninstallers that come with Windows applications are notoriously sloppy, leaving all sorts of remnants behind. I recommend either Revo Uninstaller or Total Uninstall. These programs run the application’s own uninstaller, and then clean up the remaining mess.
Now that you’ve cleaned Windows of unwanted applications, you have to reinstall the programs you do want. Start with your security tools, and go from there. Don’t try to install two programs at the same time, and if an installation requires a reboot, don’t put that reboot off. Just do it.
Once everything is installed, take some time to make Windows your own. Pick your wallpaper, change your power and screensaver settings, and so on.
How To Create Quality Mockups With Canva
If you’re looking for a quick, easy, and simple way to create good-looking mockups you’ll be excited to hear that you can create them with Canva.
We’ll cover three different ways to create mockups with Canva in this article, all of which are incredibly easy to do and also free!
There’s also no experience needed with complicated design software like Photoshop, as everything in Canva is beginner-friendly.
Let’s get to it.
Jump to a specific section:
Creating mockups with Canva: Method 1The simplest way to create mockups with Canva is to utilize the ‘frame’ elements in Canva’s library.
Canva also has a good-sized library of existing templates that contain frame elements already. Most of these contain device frames such as smartphones, MacBooks, or laptops.
Here are some examples:
Mockup templates on Canva
From here you can replace the existing image in the frame(s) with a new one, or you can even add a video file to show within the frame:
Mockup template
Customized mockup template
It’s worth noting that you can only add images or video files to the frame elements on Canva.
So, you can create designs on Canva and save them as templates but you will only be able to add them to a frame if you download them and reupload them to your Canva account.
Also, the frame elements on Canva are fairly limited at the moment, so if you’re wanting to create mockups for products such as mugs or apparel you’ll need to use another tool or a different method on Canva (we’ll cover that later on).
Related articles Creating mockups with Canva: Method 2You can create mockup scenes from a blank canvas in Canva fairly easily.
The way we like to do is to start with a blank canvas in our chosen dimensions, and then we add a background color, pattern, or image e.g.:
Creating a mockup from a blank canvas
You can then add various elements to make up your image. You can make it as complex or as simple as required but using the frame elements will make it a lot easier:
Adding frame elements
Then all you need to do is add your designs or images to the frame elements plus you can add text or other elements where required:
Completing the mockup image
You don’t necessarily have to use the frame elements from Canva. They have other elements such as iPhone and MacBook cutout photos that you can layer over an image or element in your design.
It’s not as simple or as clean utilizing the frame elements though:
iPhone cutouts
MacBook cutouts
If you want to create flat lay mockups such as the one in the image below, you can do this with Canva too:
Flat lay mockup
There isn’t a huge amount of elements in Canva’s library that are suitable for flat lay designs though. However, there are some if you do a bit of searching in the Photo tab.
For example, we created a quick mockup scene with a pencil, pen, coffee mug, iPad, iPhone, eraser, paperclips, and notepad – all from Canva’s elements library:
Flat lay mockup created in Canva
If you want plenty of elements to use for flat lay mockup designs you should check out Creative Market or Envato Elements:
Scene Creator packs on Creative Market
Scene creator packs on Envato Elements
You can download flat lay collections from these sites and then upload them to Canva to use in your designs.
If you search for ‘scene creator’ on these sites and you’ll have thousands of options for elements to use for your flat lay mockups.
Creating mockups with Canva: Method 3The last method, and probably the one that gets the best results, is to use the Smart Mockups integration on Canva.
To start the process, create a new design on a blank canvas. You’ll need to make sure the dimensions of the canvas work with the Smart Mockups template that you plan to use.
In our case, we’ll be using a landscape template, and the dimensions 1600x1069px work well for that.
You’ll need to upload a design to your canvas that you want to see on a mockup template. Having a design with a transparent background is probably the best idea:
Design for our mockup
Navigating to the Smartmockups integration
There are mockup templates for smartphones, computers, cards, frames & posters, books, clothing, and mugs (nowhere near as many templates that are available on Smartmockups though):
Smartmockups templates on Canva
Choose a template you like, and it will load onto your canvas with your design or image added to it. You can then resize the mockup to fit your canvas.
Mockup template controls
The only customizations you can do at the moment are to resize and reposition your design on the mockup and change the main item color in the mockup template (e.g. the t-shirt or mug color):
Mockup customization options
And that’s you created a mockup via the Smartmockups integration. You can now download your mockup image.
We created this mockup in a matter of seconds:
Our final mockup
Related articles Alternative optionsPlaceit mockup generator
Whilst Canva is an incredible tool for creating all kinds of designs, we feel there are some better options when it comes to creating mockups online.
Placeit is probably the best mockup generator but there are some other high-quality tools that allow you to create incredible-looking mockups with ease. Here are the top alternative tools for creating mockups:
FAQsHere are the answers to some of the most common questions around creating mockups with Canva:
Do Canva do mockups?
As you can see in this article, Canva do offer users the ability to create mockups. Using the frame elements that Canva offers or the Smartmockups integration, users can quickly and easily create mockups without needing any design software experience.
Plus you can create so much at no cost at all. That being said, we would recommend using Placeit if you’re looking for the best mockup tool online.
How to make mockups in Canva?
Again, you can see how to create mockups in Canva earlier in the article. It depends what you’re wanting to create.
The premade templates with the frame elements are great to use if you’re promoting a digital asset and can utilize the smartphone, tablet, or computer frames.
If you want to use a different kind of product such as t-shirt, mug, or book the best way to create those types of mockups is by using the Smartmockups integration in Canva.
What is the Canva and Smart Mockups integration?
Smartmockups is a fantastic mockup tool, they are one of the top t-shirt mockup generators and book mockup generators.
A small selection of their mockup template library is available to use within Canva. So users can take one of their images or designs and put them on the Smartmockups templates that are available on Canva.
If you have a Smartmockups account you can also connect your Canva account and this will allow you to transfer designs from Canva to your Smartmockups account to use with the full Smartmockups template library.
You can read more about it here.
Can you use Canva mockups for commercial use?
There are some restrictions that you can read about in this article.
How to use Canva mockups?
You can utilize the mockups you create in Canva in several ways.
If you’re looking promote print on demand designs, you can utilize the mockups via the Smartockups integration to create promotional material for your print on demand products.
Again, this could be images for your product listings, social media content, and your website.
Wrapping things upSo, there you have it, that’s how you can quickly, easily, and affordably create high-quality mockups in Canva.
Canva is such an awesome online design tool that literally anyone can use, beginner or expert! So, if you’re looking to create some great-looking mockups and promotional material you should give it a go.
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