Resizing an image

You can visually resize elements such as images, plug-ins, Macromedia Shockwave or Flash files, applets, and ActiveX controls in Dreamweaver.

Visually resizing an image in Dreamweaver helps you to see how the image affects the layout at different dimensions. Visually resizing an image does not scale the image file to the proportions that you specify. If you do visually resize an image in Dreamweaver, but don’t use an image-editing application (such as Macromedia Fireworks) to scale the image file to the desired size, the user’s browser has to scale the image when the page is loaded. This may cause both a delay in page download time and the improper display of the image in the user’s browser. To reduce download time and to ensure that all instances of an image appear at the same size, use an image-editing application to scale images.

To visually resize an element:

1. Select the element (for example, an image or SWF file) in the Document window.

   Resize handles appear at the bottom and right sides of the element and in the lower-right corner. If resize handles don’t appear, click somewhere other than the element you want to resize and then reselect it, or click the appropriate tag in the tag selector to select the element.

2. Resize the element by doing one of the following:
   • To adjust the width of the element, drag the selection handle on the right side.
   • To adjust the height of the element, drag the bottom selection handle.
   • To adjust the width and the height of the element at the same time, drag the corner selection handle.
   • To preserve the element’s proportions (its width-to-height ratio) as you adjust its dimensions, Shift-drag the corner selection handle.

Elements can be visually resized to a minimum of 8 x 8 pixels. To adjust the width and height of an element to a smaller size (for example, 1 x 1 pixel), use the Property inspector to enter a numeric value.

To return a resized element to its original dimensions, in the Property inspector, delete the values in the W and H text box, or click the Reset Size button.

To revert an image to its original size:

• Click the Reset size button in the image Property inspector.

To resample a resized image:

1. Resize the image as described above.
2. Click the Resample button in the image Property inspector.

   NOTE

   You can not resample image placeholders or elements other than bitmap images.

Related topics

• Editing images in Dreamweaver