Image resize 'grey'? This fixed it for me

[alan]

Note: The below involves a clearly labelled optional setting so this post is not addressing a bug or a problem rather it's just me posting what I found in case it helps someone else

In a PW 2.4.x setup I found that inserting an image in a CKEditor BODY field with the regular tools in the Admin (an image that had already been uploaded to the page and whose full width size was 230px wide) was getting really very 'grubby' when I resized it down to around 140px.

So I took a look at the settings in config.php:

$config->imageSizerOptions = array(
	'upscaling' => true, // upscale if necessary to reach target size?
	'cropping' => true, // crop if necessary to reach target size?
	'autoRotation' => true, // automatically correct orientation?
	'sharpening' => 'soft', // sharpening: none | soft | medium | strong
	'quality' => 95, // quality: 1-100 where higher is better but bigger
);

...and changed soft to none.

For my particular setup (MAMP / Mac) the difference was dramatic:

Original 'soft'

Then reinserted after changed to 'none'

If this is typical then it looks like the 'out of the box' setting should be 'none' (Ryan?) but I don't know if it is typical.

[horst]

PHP 5.5.9 or 5.5.10 ?? Or what version is this running on?

[alan]

5.5.10

[horst]

This has a buggy GD library. You have a PW version 2.4.1 ?? If so, you should try it with the latest dev version of PW, 2.4.2. This has a fix in it.
 
>> https://github.com/ryancramerdesign/ProcessWire/pull/436 and here: https://github.com/ryancramerdesign/ProcessWire/pull/440

Edited May 23, 2014 by horst

[alan]

Thanks Horst I actually have 2.4.0 on this site at the moment.

This makes me think of a new feature I would love in PW; with debug turned on, it would be very nice (if practical) to have something like a persistent row at the top of the admin linking to a page of known problems with the build you are running (if there were any).

For example given 'for your info' messages are in green, such a row could be orange to denote something you need to consider.

So if I were running 2.4.0 and it has this buggy GD library then I'd see that row, click, read about this, u/g, and next time I login it's gone; until/if a problem is listed for the new build I am on etc.

[horst]

clarifying: The buggy GD lib is in PHP 5.5.9 and 5.5.10, not in PW. But after we have noticed that those buggy PHP versions out, we have added a fix to PW.

---

It would be good to have a system like you mentioned, but actually I cannot understand how this should function. I don't think that it is practical to request a page with every PW pageload if debug is true. (to much traffic)

It could be something in the admin, a link that one could click manually, once a problem was encountered.

Also I have thought of a little module that can assist with things like this by collecting server information for the user.

[alan]

Thanks for the clarification Horst.

Understood re too much traffic. If not too complex.., perhaps if at login (so first time the Admin is displayed) a request for the 'fault list' for that version of PW and if a fault found, then the 'orange row' displayed and a cookie/session var is set and no more requests are made for, say 24 hours and only ever for the initial login of the admin system, not just for a page load in the admin?

[horst]

Sounds good!

I've bookmarked this post for later use / remembering.

[alan]

Great