Basically, resizing an image is the process of cropping one picture to make it appear as though it was enlarged. The original image is left untouched, and a new image is created from the original using some lossless technique such as Photoshop, Illustrator, or Fireworks. The end result is a smaller image with extra details added. Many businesses use resizing on their websites to improve their design and make the site appear more cartoony or 'appealing' to their target audience.

In this article I will explain what resizing is, show you why it's still useful even if you're using a resize tool and how to select the best tools for the job.

Why is it useful?

Well, first of all, smaller images load faster and don't use as much bandwidth. This means that visitors get the best experience on mobile devices - where Internet connection speeds are often very slow. The result is a better user experience, which increases loyalty among customers and reduces the need to send junk email to people who haven't visited the website. Another benefit is that resizing can dramatically decrease the size of image files that are used on the site. This results in lower overall site load times.

But does resizing increase quality?

Image-editing software such as Photoshop and Illustrator have their own tools for cropping images. These tools also have tools for resizing, so it's possible to resize an image without using the other tools. The result is an image that is closer to the original, and one that appears to be sharper. Some of the 'unsharpened' images look better as a result, because the pixels are slightly off-center.

Does resizing increase quality when images are resized for web use?

Yes, but only up to a certain point. Because some of the sharpening tools in these programs are not available on mobile devices, you may still end up with images that are too small to display properly on a small screen.