PS/PSE: Save Layouts for Web

Tutorial by Amber Clegg

What you need PRIOR to this tutorial:
A finished layout

Reason for resizing:
When you have a finished layout it is most likely to be 12 inches x 12 inches and 300 ppi (pixels per inch), a perfect size and quality for printing a 12 x 12 page.  This means the layout is actually 3600 pixels x 3600 pixels, which is HUGE on a 72 ppi screen.  If that size of a layout is uploaded it would be 50 x 50 inches on the screen.  You know, the type of photos you’ll sometimes get in emails where you have to scroll WAY across and down to see the whole photo.  Therefore, posting on the web requires a much smaller layout size.

Follow these steps and you should be able to resize with ease.
Throughout this tutorial when I use CTRL if you use a Mac use CMMD.

1. Save your finished layout as a psd (layered photoshop) file in case you find any errors you might want to change at a later date.
FILE > SAVE, or shortcut CTRL + S, and choose the first photoshop option and press SAVE.

2.  Save your finished layout as a jpeg.  This will be flattened and no longer editable.
FILE > SAVE AS, short cut CTRL + SHIFT + S, and then select the jpeg option for the file format.  A window titled “JPEG Options” will pop up.  I usually save my jpeg at 11, Maximum, with Baseline (“Standard”).  You can fiddle with the settings, but these are the ones I usually use.  Then click OK.  Your layout will now be a BOTH a psd file and jpeg file.

3.  Open your layout that is a jpeg file.  Resize your layout to a MUCH smaller size so it is small enough for the web.  I normally resize to 600 x 600 at 72 ppi.  This is the standard size for scrapbooking site’s galleries.

4. Finally Save the layout for the web.
FILE>SAVE FOR WEB & DEVICES, or for the keyboard shortcut SHIFT + CTRL + ALT + S.

A new window will pop up.  I save as a jpeg, optimized, high, around somewhere between 60-65.  You can see the size of the image changing according to the settings in the bottom left corner.  Then click SAVE.

A new window will open.  I rename my layout by adding “-web” to the end of it to help me differentiate the web size layout from the original layout.  Then click SAVE.

Now your layout is resized to 600x600 and saved optimized for the web.