Option to resize pictures while uploading

Question

We have often talked about a size limit for pictures.

It could be way more useful if the dialog for uploading pictures would offer something like this, and if the size limit would not be enforced but offered in a convenient way.

For instance, I just edited two pictures into a new user's question. I could spend some minutes to download them onto my computer, fire up GIMP, scale them, and save them using an appropriate jpeg quality setting. But honestly, when I'm just editing someone else's question to help out, this would take too long and keep me from starting to embed the images in the first place.

Thus, my feature request: The box that opens whenever I upload a picture from my PC or from the web should offer two sliders: "Adjust Width" and "Adjust Quality/Compression". I figure this would require an image editor on the server anyway, so SE could also add "Brightness" and "Contrast" sliders, which would be handy to enhance badly lit photographs.

Answer 1

Adjusting pictures appropriately for this site is something the users should do. Doing it automatically may degrade pictures in unexpected ways. I don't think it should be SE's job to be the image editor for you.

A better strategy would be to warn users when trying to post excessively large images. Let them then fix that with whatever tools they have and are already comfortable with. If the image is less than some size, then let it thru. If it is too large, pop up a window explaining that the image is too large and what problems that may cause. Provide a button like "yes, I know this image is large, but I have thought about it and it needs to be this size" so that those that know what they are doing can proceed with just one additional click.

If we give people partial image editing tools, they will use them badly but fell justified posting bad picutures anyway, because after all "SE did it". We don't want to "own" the bad pictures. Put the responsibility squarely where it belongs, which is on the user.

I post pictures, ususally of schematics, here frequently. It's really very little trouble to do this right. There is no excuse.