Here's a quick repeat of something I've said before.
Fetch the appropriate package from
http://imagemagick.org and follow the installation instructions.
You'll not get the displayer which can do just about everything with images if you're running Windows. For you it'll be just a displayer. For everyone(?) else it'll interface with all the manipulation routines via point-n-click. But don't fret over it because the best way to use this stuff is with the command prompt anyway.
Open a command prompt window (enter "cmd" in the "Run" dialog box). In the shiny new window enter the command:
cd \path\to\wherever\your\images\are
(Can't help you with just exactly where they might be; holler if you can't find them. There are a few things to know about manipulating the working directory for the prompt. Holler if you don't know them but need to.)
I
think there is "tab completion" at the "cmd" prompt, so once you start to type the path you should be able to hit the tab key to get the steps automatically completed as you go. Just try it and you'll see what I mean.
When you're there with the images, enter the command:
mkdir shareables
("shareables" being an example directory name) and it'll create a new directory where you'll be dropping the modified copies.
Then enter the command:
for %i in (*.jpg) do convert -quality 75 -resize 60% %i shareables\%i
(should be all one line, and "shareables" represents the actual directory name you just made above)
I'm pretty sure that's the right syntax for (yes, it's) DOS, if not let me know and I'll research it. At any rate, what
should happen is every image in the directory will be manipulated as per the options to "convert" and the results will be placed in the new directory. It will all happen quicker than you think. It will leave the originals unmolested. If you've given the image files names with spaces in them, you might have to enclose with quotes the %i parameters to the convert command
... convert ... "%i" shareables\"%i"
I'm not entirely sure about
that either. I don't spend many nanoseconds in Windows and I don't use spaces in file/directory names because they're so inconvenient to use later.
This stuff is quite easy once you get the hang of it. I personally feel it's easier to learn than the menu-navigating/manipulating graphical method of "computing". It may seem archaic or inconvenient but like a
Ferrari F40 which may be low on creature comforts, well, just try to keep up with it on the road coarse in your Lincoln Town Car.
A series of commands can be saved to a text file and named
whatever.BAT and invoked just like any other executable in Windows, so you could do that once and never have to type them at the prompt. But the Windows command prompt (and its batch files) is absolutely medieval compared to some of the (interactive) "shells" on other systems. The number of options available to "convert" is almost mind-boggling. Enter "convert -help" at the prompt to see an overview. This is powerful stuff but it's not impossible or even terribly difficult to use apart from the possible option paralysis. Once you try this sort of stuff a few times you'll come to understand just how useful computers can actually be!
Well, maybe this wasn't such a quick (small) post after all...
Holler if you're interested and need a hand. I'll do like your dad did when he pushed you those first few times on your bicycle. And I'll grin just as proudly when you take off and leave me standing there.
Later,
Glen
