Photographer: Thanks! Sure I can make you prints. What size prints do you want?

Client: I want eight-by-tens.

Photographer: Well, one of the photos you want is square, and the other has a three-to-two aspect ratio? Do you want a ten-by-ten and a eight-by-twelve, or some other sizes?

Client Uh, I’ll get back to you…

I’ve found it hard to communicate with some potential customers for my prints what size they want. Usually they ask for one of the “standard” picture frame sizes, like eight-by-ten, even though though the crops don’t match that aspect ratio. Just recropping to the asked-for size is destructive, and probably not what they really want. Throwing the term “aspect ratio” back in their face is just confusing.

I think the solution is to be able to just show the user a list of sizes available for that specific image. I plan to add this to pixel-and-ink.com at some point (when I have time).

I believe showing the customer a list of sizes can also encourage them to order a larger print than they might otherwise. I like making big prints. Most photos look great big, and if someone is only buying one or two prints, it’s just as much work to make a large print as a 4×6.

For now I have written a JavaScript library to calculate print sizes consistent with a given image’s aspect ratio. The range of sizes is bound by a maximum print area and the smallest desired print size (on the long edge). The resulting print sizes are formatted as whole and fractional inches.

I’ve added a BSD-style license to the scripts. Links to them are available on a demo web app. You can view source to see how to use the API, but here’s a bare-bones example snippet:

// the largest I can print in house, in points (72 points-per inch)
var superB = new PrintSize( 13 * 72, 19 * 72 );
// Typical dimensions of digital image from a DSLR
var twoByThree = new PrintSize( 4256, 2832 );

// Available print sizes, on Super B down to 6 inches.
var printSizes = PrintSizes.GetPrintSizeOptions( twoByThree, superB, (6 * 72) );
for( var p in printSizes )
{
var nextSize = printSizes[p];
console.log( nextSize.toString() );
}

[self.navigationController pushViewController:anotherViewController];

Cuz the method is

- (void)pushViewController:(UIViewController) viewController
animated:(BOOL) animated

Duh. This is also why XCode gave me a warning about an unrecognized selector when I built the code. Classes tend to have the methods developers gave them, not the methods I remembered they had.

var thingy:Object = new Object();
thingy.partA = "head";
thingy.partB = "tail";

trace("The Keys:");
for( var key in thingy )
{
	trace( key );
}

trace("The Values:");
for each( var value in thingy )
{
	trace( value );
}

End of test.