Converting to Non-Crappy Images, Part Deux

We talked last time, you and I, about converting to a better image format. Remember? (Come on! It wasn't that long ago.)

Well, while it's true that JPGs don't look as crisp as PNGs, they are not usually so bad that red shows up as black. Apparently, for my example, I just happened to pick the one design which our PNG Person png'd the wrong version of. He found an old copy of the design in some dark, dusty corner of his hard drive. We'll get the right one on the site RSN, though I think I'll leave those different ones on the blog post below.

In the meantime, note that these changes don't change what's actually sold on CafePress whatsoever. If you click through the page with red text, you'll still wind up buying the shirt with black text.

So here's another pair of images, to compare and contrast JPG vs. PNG image quality. The crispness of the text is pretty obvious, but also notice how much bolder the color of the giant robot is.

Converting to Non-Crappy Images

Here's an example of one of the little behind-the-scenes projects we've been working on here at Far Out Shirts. One of us noticed that some of the pictures on our site were blurry, or had some weird color distortions*. It turns out this was because we were using JPEG images, and the compression was not quite right.

So we've started switching all the design pictures to use the newer and far superior PNG image format, instead. The files are a little bigger, but the clarity, brightness and accuracy are way better.

For example, compare the "thumbnail" size (150x150) for TVegan:


In case you can't tell, the first one is the JPG, and the second one is the PNG. We'll probably convert all the designs, but for now we've just done the most asstacular ones.

* Note! None of this has the slightest effect on the quality of the shirts you have ordered or will order from us. Those are printed by Cafe Press, and we have used the highest resolution graphics they'll accept from the very beginning. This boring little post concerns only the images you see when you browse around on FarOutShirts.com.

Statistical Anomaly

Told you that I told you we weren't done with designs! Here's our 247th original:




Maybe you're way above average, or maybe you're way below average. It all depends on the Y axis.

In: Computational

Messenger

Told you we weren't done with designs! And to prove it, here's our 246th original:




When the news is bad, it seems like the Messenger gets the short end of the stick. Wear this shirt over your kevlar vest, and deliver unpleasant information with a smile!

In: Guns

We're Here, And We Love You, But We've Been Busy

People of the Internet! Loyal Friends, Companions and Kindred Spirits! We have not forsaken you. Nay, perish the thought! Rather, we have been toiling deep in the bowels of the t-shirt industry. Bleeding, sweating and tearing, er, crying.

You get the picture. We're here, and we're working on stuff. It just hasn't been very visible stuff. I know we haven't written, or even called. But we think about you every day.

There have been site improvements, which you may have noticed. Mainly, there is now a browser frame at the top of the window that lets you get back to FarOutShirts.com after you've clicked through to Cafe Press to see - and hopefully buy - a shirt. There are also new links to get to your Cafe Press shopping cart from every page on our site, so that if you do return to browse for a while, you can actually, you know, eventually get back to Cafe Press and check out.

There's an excellent reason why we never had this kind of cross-site navigation before, even though the site's success is pretty much entirely based on lovely people such as yourselves being able to easily get around in this way. That reason is: we're idiots. And by "we", I mean, "me", Chief Technical Officer in Chief.

More site changes are coming, all of which will be upwards of 94% awesome. (Inevitably, however, some will be idiotic. I told you: we (i.e., me) are idiots.) Some designs will be going away (if you've browsed much, you can probably guess at some of them *cough*Hot*cough*).

And eventually we'll get back full steam to cranking out more cool designs. You may not believe it, in fact I know you won't - it is pretty much not possible that you could believe this even with great exertion - but we have more great ideas for shirts than we know what to do with. It's just a matter of getting the time to create the designs.

So hang in there, buck up and keep a stiff upper lip. It'll be upwards of 94% worth it!

Sore Loser

Brand new; our 245th design:




You can't always be gracious in defeat. So give 'em the finger and walk away cursing and grumbling!

In: Identity