Normally I would handle this task in Adobe Photoshop. Most web servers can optimize photo delivery, but it’s best to provide a compressed and optimized picture from the start. This is too big for our website to display and the file size is too large to load quickly (especially on mobile devices). For example, if we want to publish a photograph straight from a digital camera, we will get a 12-megapixel picture that is 10MB in size. One very common task I have when doing graphic design or web development work is having to resize pictures to a specific size, and optimize an image’s compression settings so it will look good and load quickly on the server. Think of a shell script like a cooking recipe, which utilizes ingredients, actions, measurements, but can also include sub-recipes (like frosting for a cake or marinade for a roast). For a task list, there can be a step that references a separate Python script or opens and closes an application like Microsoft Excel. What’s also nice is that it will enable other programming languages and applications. It’s not a robust language, like what powers Microsoft Windows (C), Apple macOS (Swift), or websites (HTML, PHP, Javascript), but if you want some basic tasks completed, you can write a shell script for tasks like creating folders, moving certain files around, and converting filetypes. It will look intimidating, and I’ll admit I was intimidated when I first started to work with code, but this will help guide you through some foundational concepts that will hopefully let you conceive of other automations that you can apply in your day-to-day tasks.Ī shell script is a simple programming language that is mostly an instruction sequence for computers to execute. This post is about utilizing bash scripts on the computer, specifically for image compression. This is particularly useful when I have many images to optimize for a website, or videos that I want to compress to ensure that they’re compatible with as many computers and streaming services as possible. When we work on computers all day, there are some tasks that I have come to find can be simplified through some basic automation that streamlines the time required to complete some projects. In my role as the Digital Practice Lead, I often have to work on standard tasks in video production, graphic design, or web development. If there’s a simple task that you execute frequently enough, you should question if it can be streamlined or automated.Įven though we at The Pollack Group work with a wide variety of clients in different industries, many of our day-to-day tasks are pretty standard. Without hesitation, the professional said that if he does the same thing three times, he’ll build his own tool for the job. He says that he once asked a professional how frequently he repeats a task before building a custom tool to expedite the work. French for “to put in place,” it means to have all your tools and ingredients prepped and ready to go before you begin the part that to the rest of the world looks like cooking. Professional chefs so celebrate the meta-work of their craft that they have a term for it: mise en place. And most of the work on a film set is before “action” and after “cut.” Much of the process of fine woodworking is creating jigs and rigs. Most of the work of painting a room in a house is prep and masking. But then I started watching how professionals in other fields work. I considered my dalliances into tool-making to be a distraction, and I was impatient with tasks like balancing a gimbal or leveling dolly track. I used to think that the “work” of work was the creative mouse-moving or pencil-pushing or camera-clicking. A few years ago, filmmaker and Chief Creative Officer of Red Giant Stu Maschwitz wrote a fantastic blog about his opinion that Automation is the work.
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