Problems with Blog Images

byTedBurke

82 followers

3 years ago

This is not an instructional post, it is a plea for help!

My output on content is constrained by the fact that i cannot as yet upload clear images into my blog. It still remains a frustration for me.

I thought Kraken was automatically reducing my images, so I turned it off, and I also turned off all values in the Media Settings section of the dashboard. Then I started testing image sizes to see which was the clearest.

I have used the following KB sizes and dimensions for the same picture and tested them as ‘Featured Images’ in my blog posts.

File 1a.jpg – 99 KB, 768 by 512 px - after posting – image remained blurred

File 1b.jpg – 314 KB, 1536 by 1052 px - after posting – image remained blurred

File 1c.jpg – 447 KB, 1920 by 1281 px - after posting – image remained blurred

File 1d.jpg – 394 KB, 2560 by 1708 px - after posting – image remained blurred

File 1e.jpg – 255 KB, 3840 by 2562 px - after posting – image not blurred

I used automatic file size compression tools in some of the images above, the result was blurred images, so I tried several good image compression tools. In the end I found an excellent free tool from Google.

As you compressed the image, so too would the file dimensions be reduced, but my threshold for a clear image was at 80% compression of the original which reduced it from 1.4 MB to 255 KB without any change to the dimensions (still 3840 by 2562 px). I reset the ‘Featured Image’ for my blog and the image was not blurred. Horray!!!

I then repeated the process and put all of the values back into the Media Settings section of the dashboard, and after resetting the Featured Image, found that my image was still clear.

So then I turned on the Kraken Image Optimizer, and my formally clear image was blurred once again.

I am at a loss on how to figure this out. I hope someone will give me clear instructions or point me to a good tutorial, so that I can spend time on content rather than spending days playing with image quality. How does one adjust Kraken so that it does not overly reduce image sizes or image quality?

I already reviewed the ‘How to Add a Featured Image to your Wordpress Post’, as suggested by AbieAJbut that did not touch on problems with image sizes and how to overcome blurred images. I also checked out the website suggested by Lulu. This article suggested looking in the Theme Editor to see what the image sizes are for my theme. Unfortunately this information was nowhere in the Theme Editor I looked at.

I guess the bottom line is that file size is more important than image dimensions as the Wordpress Program will force large images to fit smaller boxes and still maintain clear images. Is that right or am I dreaming?

Any help on this would be appreciated, as you can see I am spending a lot of time on this, but I cannot move forward with content, if people can’t see my images clearly. Thanks