WDC FAQ
Process
Why should I upload files?
Files such as Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, and PDF forms can be uploaded and stored on our server for easy accessibility. These files can then be downloaded off the Internet (your web site). Files downloaded off the Internet can then be printed therefore retaining their original structure. This feature may help to lessen the flow of paper in your department, allowing your department to increase its efficiency.
How do I upload files?
To have files up loaded to our server access the services page. From this page simply fill out a request and attach the file. Be sure to mention where you want the link to this file to be placed (on your page).
How do I scan images?
Images to be posted on WDC designed pages can be brought down to the Web Development Center (or delivered through campus mail) and we will scan them for you. The images will then be returned. If you choose to scan the images yourself please submit the images in the highest resolution available to you. The images can then be sent to the WDC attached to your online request that can be accessed by going to our services page.
It is recommended that you:
- Scale the image to approximately 150% its size
- Scan the images as Sharp Color Photo or Sharp Millions of Colors
- Save the image with a .tiff file extension
These three recommendations will allow the image to maintain a very high resolution. The image can then be edited with very little loss of quality.
Image FAQ
What is a JPEG?
JPEG (pronounced "jay-peg") is a standardized image compression mechanism. JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the original name of the committee that wrote the standard.
JPEG is designed for compressing either full-color or gray-scale images of natural, real-world scenes. It works well on photographs, naturalistic artwork, and similar material; not so well on lettering, simple cartoons, or line drawings. JPEG handles only still images, but there is a related standard called MPEG for motion pictures.
JPEG is "lossy," meaning that the decompressed image isn't quite the same as the one you started with. (There are lossless image compression algorithms, but JPEG achieves much greater compression than is possible with lossless methods.) JPEG is designed to exploit known limitations of the human eye, notably the fact that small color changes are perceived less accurately than small changes in brightness. Thus, JPEG is intended for compressing images that will be looked at by humans. If you plan to machine-analyze your images, the small errors introduced by JPEG may be a problem for you, even if they are invisible to the eye.
A useful property of JPEG is that the degree of lossiness can be varied by adjusting compression parameters. This means that the image maker can trade off file size against output image quality.
What is a GIF?
Graphics Interchange Format. A format used for displaying bitmap images on World Wide Web pages, usually called a "gif" because .gif is the filename extension. These files use "lossless" compression and can have 256 colors. JPEG and GIF are commonly used for images on the Web; JPEG is considered best for photos and GIF for other graphic images.
What is a TIFF?
Acronym for tagged image file format, one of the most widely supported file formats for storing bit-mapped images on personal computers (both PCs and Macintosh computers). Other popular formats are BMP and PCX. TIFF graphics can be any resolution, and they can be black and white, gray-scaled, or color. Files in TIFF format often end with a .tif extension. TIFF describes image data that typically comes from scanners, frame grabbers, and paint- and photo-retouching programs. TIFF is not a printer language or page description language. The purpose of TIFF is to describe and store raster image data. A primary goal of TIFF is to provide a rich environment within which applications can exchange image data. This richness is required to take advantage of the varying capabilities of scanners and other imaging devices. Though TIFF is a rich format, it can easily be used for simple scanners and applications as well because the number of required fields is small.
What is a BMP?
The standard bit-mapped graphics format used in the Windows environment. By convention, graphics files in the BMP format end with a .BMP extension. BMP files store graphics in a format called device-independent bitmap (DIB).