Optimizing images for publishing a Digital article in Studio

Images that are added to a Digital article in the Digital editor can be of a file type or a file size that makes them unsuitable for publishing to a digital channel.

Example: Images in Photoshop format, images in a very high resolution or file size, and so on.

To optimize such images as much as possible, an automatic process takes place when the article is published. Images can optionally also be cropped in the Digital editor.

Making this work requires a particular setup and configuration steps. These are explained in this article.

How it works

Optimizing images is done in the following ways:

• By automatically converting the images when the article is published
• By manually cropping an image in the Digital editor

Image conversion

When an article is published, any images it contains are automatically optimized to the following characteristics:

• Format: JPG
• Image quality: 90%
• Dimension: A maximum of 2500 x 2500 pixels

Notes: This process only takes place for images that are stored in Assets. The conversion only applies to the published images; the original images are not modified. The default Assets color space is used. GIF files are not converted or down-sized. PNG files are not converted to JPG. No metadata is embedded in the image. Files in SVG or PDF format are not supported. The image shown in the Digital editor is the optimized version of the image.

Image cropping

When only part of a large image is required, cropping the image helps in making sure that the image fits best in its frame. This can be done by using the cropping tool in the Digital editor.

Notes: The cropping tool is only available for images that are stored in Assets. Image cropping is not supported when Assets Server is installed on macOS; the feature needs to be disabled as explained later in this article. Cropping is not supported for files in SVG or PDF format. The original file is left intact; the cropping area can be adjusted at any time.

How to use the cropping tool is explained in Creating and publishing channel-neutral content in Studio.

Requirements

This feature requires the following:

• Image cropping:
• Assets or higher running on Linux or Windows

Notes: When Assets Server is installed on macOS, the feature will not work and needs to be disabled as explained later in this article. It is assumed here that a full integration of Studio Server with Assets Server is in place and fully functional, and that Studio is installed and fully working.

Configuration

The following can be configured:

• The image dimension to which the images are automatically converted to
• Enabling or disabling the cropping tool in the Digital editor

Image dimension

By default, any images that are bigger than 2500 by 2500 pixels are automatically down-sized to that format.

When needed, this format can be manually set to a custom setting.

Note: This can be done for each Publication Channel individually.

Do this by navigating to the Management Console > Publication Channels > Your channel and setting the required values.

Enabling or disabling image cropping

The Image cropping tool of the Digital editor is enabled by default. To disable it, enable the option Disable cropping for Assets images on the Management Console > Features page.

Note: Image cropping needs to be disabled when Assets Server is installed on macOS; this feature is not supported on that operating system.