Images
This section is important for setting your image sizes. This is an area that seems to cause many headaches for people. Some things to note about images: If you set only one of the dimensions, either width or height, the other will fall proportionally if you also have calculate image size set to On. These settings do not Resample the images, so no matter what size they are set to, they will consume the full sized image bandwidth.
It is common to see osCommerce and osCMax websites with distorted product images. This is caused by specifying both width and height, where the uploaded images used are not square.
Settings
Small Image Width :: The pixel width of small images that are displayed in product listings -
InfoBoxes (side boxes) in particular.
Small Image Height :: The pixel height of small images that are displayed in product listings.
Heading Image Width :: The pixel width of heading images displayed in the heading of the center of each page.
Heading Image Height :: The pixel height of heading images displayed in the heading of the center of each page.
Subcategory Image Width :: The pixel width of subcategory images displayed on main category pages.
Subcategory Image Height :: The pixel height of subcategory images displayed on main category pages.
Calculate Image Size :: This setting tells osCommerce to calculate image sizes if enabled. This is needed if you want oscommerce to automatically keep your thumbnails proportional. If this is on, it is recommended that you only set one of the values for your image sizes, either width or height, but not both. Leave one of the values blank (Note, blank does not mean 0. If you set a value to 0, it will not display).
Image Required :: Enable this to display broken images. Good for development. If you do not want broken images to display, set this to false.
osCMax 2.0.15 (and later) specific options
Product Image Width :: The pixel width of product images (thumbnails) displayed on main category pages.
Product Image Height :: The pixel height of product images (thumbnails) displayed on main category pages.
Specify either Product Image Width or Product Image Height not both - unless all of your images a square or a fixed aspect ratio. This is the most misused setting.
Product Popup Image Width :: The pixel width of product images (full-size) displayed on main category pages.
Product Popup Image Height :: The pixel height of product images (full-size) displayed on main category pages.
Specify
both Width & Height for Popup Image - these are
maximum sizes.
Any product images added via the Admin Console will use these values to limit the size; it will not act on images retrospectively. Resizing of existing images may be done using your favourite program or as a batch, using for example Irfanview - see below.
Dynamic MoPics and Extra Images: Dynamic MoPics, does not appear to use the admin/configuration/image settings for the extra PopUp images (Extra Image Pattern), rather this is set in the image itself (bug?). If you use a product like iWatermark (OSX/Win) you can set the Extra Images to a size likely to work for most viewers. Consider using 800 X 600 resolution for re-sizing the Extra Images.
Setting up a new image size
Creating Bulk thumbnails using Irfanview
Source: EJ Solutions, Ridexbuilder, osCMax.
Create a directory (folder) for the photos and copy all the photos there.
Create a subdirectory of this folder called thumbs.
Start up Irfanview
File, Batch/Convertion Rename - a new box opens
Work As: select Batch conversion
Look In: Browse to the directory containing the photos; Files of type : should set set as Common Graphic Files
Click on Add all.
Output Format: JPG - JPG/JPEG Format, Options Save Quality 75, OK
Click on Advanced Resize, Set width to - example 150 pixels (equivalent to Product Image Width, mentioned above).
Ensure Preserve aspect ratio and Resample are ticked.
Set DPI to 96
OK
Click on Use current directory, then add thumbs\ to the end of Output directory for result files.
Click on Start Batch.
To process pre-existing large images this sequence can be repeated for images_big. Obviously, change the subdirectory name in the second step from 'thumbs' to 'images_big'. It's suggested to set Quality in step 8 to 85, though this is entirely subjective and lower values may be suitable.
In step 9, set the height to match Product Popup Image Height (mentioned above).
Note: for a large image, on-screen height is normally the limiting factor - you don't want the image expanding below the users browser window, thus hiding the description/close prompt. You can't help those people who insist on showing numerous browser toolbars but a size of 600-700pixels would be appropriate.