JPG is a default format

[Kamil Páral]

JPG is set as a default format for taking screenshots. That is very wrong, jpeg screenshots are ugly even when being set at maximum quality. Jpeg format is designed for photographs, for computer-generated graphics we have lossless and patent-free PNG. Please promote good formats and good habits. PNG should be set as a default format.

Shutter v0.80.1
Rev.579
Fedora 11

[Vadim Peretokin (vperetokin)]

jpeg quality is working out fine with our settings, so feel free to set png as the default for yourself. jpegs typically have a smaller filesize than pngs, which makes uploading them and etc. faster.

[Kamil Páral (kamil.paral)]

Yes, jpg files are smaller. But we are not in 56k modem era anymore. If you inspect jpg screenshots closely (which is the reason why you are making screenshots, for closer inspection, right?) you can see the picture being noisy, "grainy", simply ugly. It's a real shame to capture (and publish) screenshots as jpegs and I consider those people as barbarians (no offence).

Of course I can set it to PNG for myself, but please, consider once more making the right decision about the default option. You are affecting a large number of people and a large number of pictures we will see in the future on the web. If someone wants to sacrifice quality for a little size decrease, he may always change it. But the default option should be the best option for everyone. And in the 21.century that's the choice of quality, not a few kB of savings. We, the open source, are trying to convince people with the quality of our work, right? And not copy bad Microsoft-like behaviour (Microsoft Paint saves pictures as jpegs with extremely lousy compression quality, which is typical for MS products). I love programs with sane defaults. Which is why I am trying to make you think about it. Because Shutter is a very good piece of software, but jpg is a very poor default. Thanks for re-considering.

[Vadim Peretokin (vperetokin)]

Not everyone has dsl, some use even tethered phones as main internet
connection. Size is still an important factor, and I haven't seen complaints
about the image quality to consider it an issue.

Real world patent issues with jpg are nonexistent.

Ill see what Mario has to say on this though.

On Sep 8, 2009 2:10 PM, "Kamil Páral" <email address hidden> wrote:

Yes, jpg files are smaller. But we are not in 56k modem era anymore. If
you inspect jpg screenshots closely (which is the reason why you are
making screenshots, for closer inspection, right?) you can see the
picture being noisy, "grainy", simply ugly. It's a real shame to capture
(and publish) screenshots as jpegs and I consider those people as
barbarians (no offence).

Of course I can set it to PNG for myself, but please, consider once more
making the right decision about the default option. You are affecting a
large number of people and a large number of pictures we will see in the
future on the web. If someone wants to sacrifice quality for a little
size decrease, he may always change it. But the default option should be
the best option for everyone. And in the 21.century that's the choice of
quality, not a few kB of savings. We, the open source, are trying to
convince people with the quality of our work, right? And not copy bad
Microsoft-like behaviour (Microsoft Paint saves pictures as jpegs with
extremely lousy compression quality, which is typical for MS products).
I love programs with sane defaults. Which is why I am trying to make you
think about it. Because Shutter is a very good piece of software, but
jpg is a very poor default. Thanks for re-considering.

** Changed in: shutter
      Status: Invalid => New

-- JPG is a default format https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/426348 You
received this bug notificati...

[Mario Kemper (Romario) (mario-kemper)]

I don't understand why JPG is configured as default setting. It's not implemented to be default !?

@Kamil: Would you mind deleting (or moving) your ~/.shutter directory and start Shutter without any existing settings and check the default settings again?

[Kamil Páral (kamil.paral)]

I am now confused. I really did removed ~/.shutter before to check the default and jpeg was selected. Now when I did it again, png is correctly set. Maybe because at I home I'm using Ubuntu (albeit same Shutter version) and in the work Fedora. I will report tomorrow from Fedora box.

[Kamil Páral (kamil.paral)]

Alright, on Ubuntu 9.04 Shutter v0.80.1 Rev.579 installed from your PPA repo has PNG as default.
On Fedora 11 Shutter v0.80.1 Rev.579 installed from standard Fedora repo has JPG as default.

That is very weird.

[Mario Kemper (Romario) (mario-kemper)]

Am Dienstag, den 15.09.2009, 10:54 +0000 schrieb Kamil Páral:
> Alright, on Ubuntu 9.04 Shutter v0.80.1 Rev.579 installed from your PPA repo has PNG as default.
> On Fedora 11 Shutter v0.80.1 Rev.579 installed from standard Fedora repo has JPG as default.
>
> That is very weird.
>

Yeah, it is ;-)
I'll have a look at it as soon as possible. Thanks for your help.

[Mario Kemper (Romario) (mario-kemper)]

That was really a bug. Thanks for your help.

Changes are now committed and will be in the next release of Shutter.