Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 November 16

Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

November 16

Changing Bmp to jpg

How do I change a file from the bmp format to jpg? Thank you.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 10:24, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

In general, by opening the picture in some sort of graphics editor, selecting "file > save as" (or similar, depending on the software) and selecting "jpg" as the file type. Which software to use depends on your operating system - on Microsoft Windows, the preinstalled graphics software is MS Paint (found under Start > All Programs > Accessories), but earlier versions of Paint did not have the ability to save as jpg...the version of Paint installed on Windows 7 can do it, the version on Windows XP could not. If your computer uses WIndows XP, you'll need some additional software. There are many free converters available for download (just google for "bmp to jpg converter"), but it might be better to use a full-featured, free graphics software like GIMP or Paint.NET - these will have lots of features you don't need, but unfortunately it seems like a great many "free" file format converters are actually infesting your computer with spyware - when using GIMP or Paint.net, you can be sure to use software that's spyware-free. -- Ferkelparade π 10:46, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

The Windows XP version of mspaint can totally work with jpg files. According to the article, the Windows 98 version could too. I'm pretty sure even the Windows 95 version could work with jpg as well, but required a special filter to be installed. Another good free program for converting image formats is ImageMagick. The command for .bmp to .jpg would be "convert filename.bmp filename.jpg" AvrillirvA (talk) 11:02, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

There are few good reasons to convert BMP to JPEG; you should almost certainly convert to PNG instead. ¦ Reisio (talk) 11:22, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Actually wrong. JPG is much better for actual photos. With low compression you get an image that looks basically the same as PNG but with much smaller sizes. PNG is better for images with defined edges and text, such as screenshots. 192.84.79.2 (talk) 14:18, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Also many products, such as digital photo frames, support JPEG not PNG.[1][2] --Colapeninsula (talk) 14:50, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

I think that Reisio's point is that the type of images that get stored as BMP tend to not be photographs, but things with simple structure that PNG can compress well and losslessly. Paul (Stansifer) 16:27, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Browsers Usage Shares Among Web Developers

Where can I find statistics about browsers' usage among web developers? The only statistics I have found are in web development tutorials websites, and judging by the results (over 20% to IE, according to w3schools) I don't think many of these visitors are experienced in the field. Thanks, Oh, well (talk) 17:13, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

I'd say the majority of people in any given field are not very experienced. You know the joke "what do you call someone who graduated last in med school?"? ¦ Reisio (talk) 18:06, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

A good web developer uses all browsers available. I avoid as much web development as possible, but when I have to do something (and if I have to do it, it involves a lot of custom scripting), I use Firefox, IE, Safari, Chrome, Opera, etc... Now days, I even have to check it on an iPhone and Android phone. Of course, that is what a good web developer does. For the other 99.99% of web developers, they use IE if they have Windows. They Safari if they have Mac. They use Firefox if they have Linux - which means they aren't really a web developer. It doesn't matter what they use because all they are really doing is loading a template in some WYSIWYG program and changing the name at the top of the page. Perhaps, for pizzazz, they will add a little dog that runs back and forth in the middle of the page. That will make it pop. -- kainaw™ 18:18, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

I forgot to mention: I'm only interested in what they use when not working. The idea is to see what browsers web developers prefer. Oh, well (talk) 18:32, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Website's income and expenditures

How can I know the amount of money that a website (such as www.haxball.com) generates and how much money does it cost to operate? --Cerlomin (talk) 18:34, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

In general, if the website is operated by an American public company, you may investigate the mandatory disclosures that company makes to the government and to its shareholders at the Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR website. Websites operated by public companies in other developed nations must make similar reports to their own respective government.

If the website is not operated by a public company, you may hire a professional business analytics firm to estimate the company's business model (including its revenues and liabilities), or you may try to make such estimates yourself.

Your specific example, www.haxball.com, appears to be the work of one individual; so, he's under absolutely no obligation to disclose to you, or anyone else, how much money he earns and spends on the website. You can always ask the author directly; he provides contact information. (It may be perceived as impolite to send him an email asking about his finances). Nimur (talk) 19:08, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Isn't there a way through Google's ad planner, for example, to know how much money is the website making and how much traffic does it have —to have an idea about the amount of money that the owner must be paying to its host—. --Cerlomin (talk) 19:35, 16 November 2011 (UTC)