Tips for Submitting Better Images

Before you submit a GIF or JPG image with your abstract, open it with your web browser. Look at it on screen. (The size you see there is what we'll call the "natural" size of the image. Then print the image from the browser and look at it on paper. Is it an image that you would be proud to see (at a reduced size) after your name in the Book of Abstracts? If the image does not look good to you on screen and on paper, then you should try to fix it before you send it to the ACS. Here are a few more tips for submitting better images:

1. Submit a non-interlaced GIF or a very high quality JPEG file.
   • The JPEG format (identified with the file extension ".jpg") is OK for photographs, but unless a jpg file is saved at the maximum quality setting, it will often give a fuzzy or spotted look to line art. If you decide to submit a jpg image file, make sure that you use the maximum quality setting. That setting should be visible when you save the file, either as a prominent choice or via a "More" button that appears below the file type selection.
   • The GIF file format is well suited to chemical structure drawings and other simple line art, delivering nice crisp lines and uniform colors. Most image editors and image format converters will save gif images in a non-interlaced format, recognizable when downloaded through a slow connection as an image that gradually appears from top to bottom. A non-interlaced gif is the preferred file format for chemical structure diagrams submitted using the OASys system. Most word processors (e.g. Word and WordPerfect) will, when converting a document to HTML format, save any images as non-interlaced gifs.
   • Some applications (e.g. most versions of Microsoft Photo Editor) will save gif images in an interlaced format. Such images are recognizable when downloaded through a slow connection because they appear all at once but not very clearly initially, and then become more clear as the complete file is downloaded. Unfortunately, interlacing of a GIF interferes with the analysis of image size, and an interlaced gif image of a chemical structure diagram may appear as nothing more than a small dot in some browsers. Thus, it is important to submit any gif image in the noninterlaced format. (If you cannot discover whether your image application is saving a gif image in the interlaced or non-interlaced mode, save it as a jpg file instead.)
2. Make sure that the image you submit is large enough. The smallest letter or number should be at least 10 pixels high, and preferably bigger.
3. If you get an error message when you submit the image, telling you that the display size is too large to be accepted, do not immediately try to reduce the natural size of the image. Instead alter the display size. If you are using the "copy/paste text" method of submission, then enter a scale factor of less than 100% on the "copy/paste" submission form. If you are attempting to upload your abstract in HTML format, then open the HTML file with your editing software and shrink the size of the image; this will put instructions in the HTML file that force the image be displayed at less than its natural size.

When you view a shrunken image on screen, it might not be very legible. Very thin lines, for example, tend to disappear when an image is displayed at less than its natural size. Nonetheless, such an image might look quite alright when published. Why? Because the resolution of a computer screen is many times poorer than the resolution of print on paper. Thus, a line so thin that it becomes invisible on a computer screen can often be reproduced quite nicely on paper.

After you have submitted an abstract containing an image, check it online. If it is not very legible on screen, click on the image. This will present the image all by itself, at its natural size, allowing you to see what was previously invisible in the compressed image.

If you print your abstract after submission, and if you are using Netscape Navigator as your browser, you might find that a shrunken image does not print clearly. Try using another browser instead, such as Microsoft Internet explorer.

If you still have trouble creating a satisfactory image, tell us how you are trying to create it and we will try to provide additional advice or assistance.