converting web images for print advertising

[fiddler]

I have a client with a specialized directory site, that is, anyone that sells a certain product can, for a fee, get their business/website listed in this directory to promote their business. His customers post ads on their pages in this directory, but he has a lot of customers listed in the directory that do not have computers (particularly Amish customers). What he wants to do is take the ads from the website and include them in a magazine (as another part of the advertising service his directory site offers, mainly to give his Amish customers something tangible for their money), but he wants to be able to do this with just a couple of clicks of a button to bring the web ads over into print format. I told him because the web ads are optimized/reduced in pixel size for the web, the web ads would not convert back to decent print matter and as far as I knew, there was no such program to convert small web pictures into print quality pictures. He insists there must be something out there, citing, "if they can put a man on the moon...." So, ok, does anyone know of a program that can do such a conversion? Would somehow printing the ads out as pdfs be enough? I'm not having much luck doing it this way, but maybe there is a trick I'm not aware of.

[Jermooski]

Hello Fiddler!

I know exactly what problem you are trying to solve. This is a "Web to Print" scenario. We have built a solution for this problem...here are my comments and some information for you.

"What he wants to do is take the ads from the website and include them in a magazine (as another part of the advertising service his directory site offers, mainly to give his Amish customers something tangible for their money), but he wants to be able to do this with just a couple of clicks of a button to bring the web ads over into print format."

-- Yes, this can happen. With some additional information, this could happen without any input on his side. The website would use our service to provide the web to print rendering AND the delivery to a print shop.

"I told him because the web ads are optimized/reduced in pixel size for the web, the web ads would not convert back to decent print matter and as far as I knew, there was no such program to convert small web pictures into print quality pictures. He insists there must be something out there, citing, "if they can put a man on the moon...."

-- You are correct.. upsize rendering from 72dpi pixels to 300dpi minimum is NOT possible. What IS possible... is to start with a 300dpi.. print ready image... THEN, downrender to 72dpi.... put that image on a screen, maybe allow visitors to customize (might not be needed), THEN deliver high resolution pdf files to a printing service.

-- man on the moon... funny you should say this. There is some "Rocket Science" style coding in our rendering engine.

"Would somehow printing the ads out as pdfs be enough? "
-- pdf's should be enough. We must check with the final printer.

"I'm not having much luck doing it this way, but maybe there is a trick I'm not aware of."
-- There are no tricks... only problems and solutions. We have the solution to the "web to print" problem.

Does any of this help?
We have a new website at the following address: www.designclicksend.com
The purpose of the site is to present a solution to the very problem you outlined above. Here is how it works. The DesignClickSend.com website has a demo on the front page. This is a 72dpi image... strictly for the web. You can create a custom design on the image, then send a request to have the image up-rendered to 300dpi. We will deliver a high resolution pdf of your design.

The way our system works.... is we offer the service to any HTML based website. We offer the design tools and the web to print rendering service.

I hope this is not too confusing... but please feel free to contact us through the website for additional information.

Thanks for your time!
Jer