Web Design Perth Graphic Designers + eCommerce Website Designs & SEO Perth Australia

Managing Product Images: Problems with Blurry Images for Your Larger Images

When you upload an image for a product, the image that you upload is then recreated 3 times to 3 different sizes automatically.  You can control the three size settings for the small, medium and large images by changing the image size setting under the configuration settings.

The trick is to always have your original image as big as possible in pixel width so that when it is recreated into the 3 sizes, these are smaller than the original.  This means you won’t get blurry images.  It also means your base picture needs to be a decent size in the first place.

The problem of your larger images looking blurry is a direct result of taking a small image and making it bigger.  How does this happen?  In our experience it is when images of products are taken from other web sites and instead of taking a copy of the biggest image possible, often the mistake of taking the first smaller image is made. 

To solve this, always click to view the largest image possible and save this version on your computer.  Of course make sure you have permission to do this.  Then you can usually upload these pictures without fear of getting a blurred blown up version.

As a rule of thumb if you are resizing pictures down from a digital camera photo then resize to 800 pixels wide and let the height vary depending on the aspect ratio.  This will make for relatively fast uploading of images about 100kb in size.

In instances where your largest image is not that big, e.g. 250 pixels wide, then you may need to adjust the image size configuration settings (Shown right) before uploading that picture so the image is not made bigger than it should be.

Then reset the image sizes (in the configuration area) back to their usual sizes for the rest  of your images.

Caching Issues

We occassionally have a client who has a problem with caching and gets frustrated because they can’t see the product image change even when they upload a new image.  

The effect of caching is to show an old image even after it has been replaced.

The best way to deal with it is to click on the “delete main product image” link first on the image upload page and then go back and upload the new image.  I.E  Delete the original image first. But even then you can have caching that shows you the old image even though you have successfully uploaded a new image. 

There are a number of ways to try and force the cache.  Usually it is a simple process to hold the SHIFT Key down and click Refresh (right click and select refresh).  When this doesn’t work then stay calm!   Take a look on a different computer, or have someone else take a look and see if they see the different image. 

More severe strategies are to go back into the edit product page and click on the change ID link and change the product id by 1 character.  Often this immediately shows the new image.  Once you are satisfied with this then change the id code back to the original one.  In fact, I would try this strategy first once you are comfortable with it.

Once you are happy that your images are indeed changing, having proven it by doing the above, then just upload your images and don’t worry that you are seeing an old one (know that its caching), otherwise it will slow you down in your data entry.  In a few hours or a day at worse, you will see the new ones on your computer.  Everyone else will be seeing the new ones straight away.

If you are still getting problems then its time to pick up the phone and call our support hotline - 1300 856 533  : )

Dale Carter
Managing Director
GTP Internet Commerce