Preparing Images
[UPDATE: Images are automatically optimized when you upload them to the pantry module and you no longer need to size your images. However, the information below for finding images may still be useful.]
Since images are used to display items when a Pantry Member is creating their order and are displayed all at once, images that are too large will create issues with the load time of the menu. In order to avoid this, it is important to web optimize the images you put into the system to keep things running smoothly. This guide will go over sourcing basic images for google and optimizing them for uploading to Unicentric.
Selecting an Image
While you have the ability to take a photo of a food product and upload it, we recommend sourcing your images from the web. This is because using a photo that you take will likely include a Branded item, which are not displayed within the system. So this will help to ensure that you use a generic photo for the Branded items that are displayed in the menu. To grab an image from the web, we recommend google images as their advanced search will allow you to attempt to grab an image of the correct size, so that you can limit the work needed on your end.
Search for the food item that you are trying to locate. Then, on the results page, near the search bar, click the Tools option to display the advanced search features.
You will now see additional filters that can be applied to the search. Click Size to expand the options to apply, and "Exactly..." to enter the exact dimensions to search for
We recommend that the size of the images uploaded be either 100x100 or 128x128. If you are unable to find any suitable images of this size, you can take a larger image and edit it to be of the correct size (demonstrated later in this article).
You will also want to filter the images by usage rights. Simply expand the menu and apply the "Labeled for reuse" filter to filter results further.
Unicentric does not condone the use of images that are not licensed for free use. It is up to your organization to ensure that the images you use are controlled, this filter is an important step in that process.
If you find an appropriate image after applying these filters, you can use that image as is and upload it to Unicentric. Otherwise, we will have to pick a different image and resize it before uploading.
To expand the search, we will have to click the Settings tab and select Advanced search.
On the resulting advanced search page, we will have to ensure that the "image size" filter is set to "any size" and that the "aspect ratio" filter is set to "square" before clicking the Advanced Search button. We set the aspect ratio to square to limit distortion of the image when we resize it.
If at this stage, you still cannot find a suitable image, remove the Aspect Ratio filter and continue searching. It is important to note that taking this step means there will be some distortion to the image.
Resizing an Image
Many image editing software can resize images, we recommend using an online editor, PIXLR Editor. If you use this resource, you will see the above image displayed. You will be able to open an image from your computer if you have the image saved, or from a url if it was sourced from the web and not downloaded.
After you open your image, click the Image menu on the menu bar at the top of the browser and select Image Size to open the resizing window.
On the Image Size dialog, first uncheck "Contrain proportions" and enter 128 in both the Width and Height fields. When the options look like the above, click OK.
Note that this guideline is explicitly for images that are intended to be uploaded as Food Items. If you are using the image as a Nutrition Fact label, you will want to keep "Constrain Proportions" checked so that the text is not distorted.
Now go to the File menu and select Save to save the image in it's newly formatted size. This new version of the image is what should be uploaded to Unicentric.