am i doing it right

[rockkeeper]

how do you do your photo's for the web site without losing to much detail,
here what ive been doing,seem to lose loads.is it correct ?

file
> automate
> fit image
> constrain withing(pixel size 800x600)
> file
> save to webb
> optimize to fit size 200k

 

[Toothie]

I cheat and let flickr uploader do it for me.

 

[rockkeeper]

thats cheating, but worked with p/bucket but loses qualty

 

[moomike]

I have always done it a different way but have never had any problems at all with quality - takes slightly longer if you have loads of images but I find it's fine as I have a template pre-made.

1. After I've finished working on my image I open my web template (800 x 800 pixels at 72 dpi with guides already set to the centres of the document & also to where I've judged the borders should be previously to save time)

2. Click & drag my image onto the template & free transform (Apple+T or CTRL+T I think on a PC) at the bar at the top there are areas to enter dimensions & also a constraint dimensions button which I click (looks like a chain link) I normally just knock it down to 20% & go from there by dragging the edges of the image to fit the outside guides (holding down shift to ensure I'm not distorting the image.

3. I then add a very small amount of smart sharpening & add a 1 pixel border.

4. Save for web at whichever level will give me closest to 100K.

I can easily process an image in this way in about the same time it takes to run through the steps you've outlined above but this way I get direct control over the level of web sharpening & get an accurate preview of how the image should actually look