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Hi Michael,
Here's the procedure I use when emailing MetaStock charts in GIF
format. When done properly, this procedure will shrink chart images
by up to 70% over what MS generates!
I don't use Communicator, so I don't know the exact steps for
attaching the GIF file. It should be something like "File.Attach
Binary File..." or something similar.
Hope this helps,
Chip
http://jpiii.com - my _other_ site
P.S. Does this count as my tip-of-the-week? Hmmmm.....
==========================
I have been experimenting with techniques for decreasing chart size
without decreasing their usefulness. Below is the technique I use to
create useful, annotated charts that are ~15K (for color) or ~5K (for
B/W) in size.
1.) Size the chart window so that only the relevant part of the chart
is displayed. Typically this means "unmaximizing" the chart window,
dragging the sides until the window is as small as practical, and the
adjusting the zoom and scaling factors.
2.) (Optional) Annotate the chart in Metastock.
3.) Use the "File/Save As HTML..." command to save the chart as a JPG
file.
Note: This command actually creates _two_ files - the JPG and an HTML
file. Since we are ultimately emailing this chart, we don't care
about the HTML file and I usually just delete it.
4.) Use a shareware utility to convert the JPG file into an 8-color
(or B/W if appropriate) GIF file. I use a utility called VuePrint
(http://www.hamrick.com). I simply open the JPG file, change the
color setting from 256 to 8, and save it in GIF format.
Note: Changing the number of colors from 256 to 8 is very important if
you want to produce the smallest possible GIF file size. If you can
get away with B/W, you can save lots more space by setting the number
of colors to 2.
VuePrint has a 15 day trail period and costs $40 to register, however
you can still use it to convert JPGs to GIFs even after the trial
period is over - just ignore the message it plasters over the screen.
Personally though, I recommend registering this excellent program, its
well worth it.
If you want to annotate your chart by hand, I recommend Paint Shop Pro
(http://www.jasc.com) which can be used to both annotate and convert
JPG files to GIF format.
(There are many other graphic converters out there, but make sure that
whichever one you use generates filesize reductions at least as good
as what I'm seeing.)
5.) The resulting GIF file is usually less than 12K in size (less than
4K if I use B/W). I can then attach it to an email message using your
email program's "Attach" command. Attaching it causes it to "grow" by
about 20% so the final file size is ~15K for color charts and ~5K for
B/W charts.
---michael.arnoldi@xxxxxxxx wrote:
>
> can anyone tell me how to send a metastock chart in a gif format.
> i use netscape communicator 4.03.
>
> thanks.
>
> Mike Arnoldi
> /\ /\/
> /\/ \ /\ /
> / \/ \/
>
>
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