Photo Images

There are a variety of Images throughout the Abacus 21 system, for example:

• Member Photo ID Images (standalone and/or for Member Photo ID Card purposes)

• Prospect Photo ID Images (standalone and/or for Prospect Photo ID Card purposes)

• Other (Guest) Photo ID Images (standalone and/or for Guest Photo ID Card purposes)

• Staff Photo ID Images (standalone and/or for Staff Photo ID Card purposes

• Gift Card Images & Loyalty Card Images

• Inventory Item Images

• Inventory Logo Images

• Recipe Photos

• Company Logo

• Company Photo

• Application & Section-specific Images

• Certain Application Background Images

• Menu Navigation System Images

• Branding Images

There are, of course, professional services for all of the above, but the following guidelines may be helpful.

Image Pixel Size Proportions (which vary slightly from Application to Application -- and which are in most cases 'stretched' to fit if not exact):

Digital Camera Specifications -

There is no 'special brand' of digital camera that is more-less suitable for this purpose (unless you get into Photo ID Card Printers that are 'integrated' together -- and to the Abacus 21 software).

Basically, most cameras come with some 'download & editiing' software -- and are typically attached to a PC via a USB cable (or perhaps your PC has a Memory Card slot that might be compatible with the style of the Memory Card utilized by the camera itself).  You can also edit Photo images with MicroSoft Paint and PhotoShop etc. etc. etc.

Member/Prospect/Other & Staff Photos:

The photos should be taken at a 'high enough' resolution that is 'fine enough' for your reproductive standards... without getting the image's physical file (storage) size overly large.  There is no 'golden rule' for this.  You will need to 'try-it-and-see' in order to set your standard.

Typically, you would be taking a series of Photos -- and downloading/editing/saving them in a batch (rather than, for instance, taking one Member's Photo, processing it, then repeating for the next Member).

Most cameras generally 'name' their image files with some kind of a 'sequencing' number... and these names should be re-named when saved (where, for example, assuming a 5-digit prefix and 3-digit suffix construction, xxxxx is the padded Client ID Prefix and yyy is the padded Client ID Suffix):

• Prospects:  Pxxxxx-yyy.bmp  (Example:  P10240-000.bmp)

• Members:  Mxxxxx-yyy.bmp  (Example:  M00100-000.bmp)

• Others:  Oxxxxx-yyy.bmp  (Example:  O70001-000.bmp)

See Abacus 21 for 'Other' ID conventions.

Most cameras (and/or their accompanying softwares) have a method for 'post-viewing' the Photo shot (so that the Member can approve or re-take) -- which, of course, you'd want to offer them.

POS Section Images -

Images for the Point-of-Sale Server-Clerk Sign-In Screen can be configured by setting the 'Lead-In Image' in PSS-PSC (Point-of-Sale Setups, POS Configuration -- under the 'General' Tab.

This will give the following result:

Spa Images -

Currently, the following convention is used for referencing Spa System Images:

• Spa Reservations Screen:  SpaSpaSignIn.bmp on the ...\Media\Graphics\Menu directory.

• Spa Therapist Screen:  SpaTherapist.bmp on the...\Media\Graphics\Menu directory.

Statement Images -

Abacus 21 can vary the Logo-Watermark image per each Company -- without having to customize the Statements for each.

In a nutshell this is how it works:

• Abacus 21 can accommodate one background image for the whole Statement, so...

• We combine the Logo image with the Watermark image (and whatever other images) into one 'background' image.

• This is an 'artistic' effort that can be delegated to the Client's graphics personnel.

• As such, the 'Logo' could contain Address Info within itself.

• The system then prints the Statement detail goodies on top of the background image.

• The system determines the Background Image name from Company setup -- so each Company can have its unique (but consistently-patterned) images.

In the selection of the Logo image, care should be taken not to consume too much of the vertical space on the Statement -- which would consequently minimize the space left to accommodate Statement Details.

In the selection of the Watermark image, care should be exercise in selecting an image that is not too dark or distracting -- making the details hard to read.

The Statement example below incorporates the Abacus 21 Logo (inclusive of the Company Name and Address info) with the (half-tone) Watermark image behind the transactional details of the Statement:

The following is an example of a Statement Detail Addendum Voucher (inclusive of captured Signatures in this case):

Branding Image Considerations -

Note:  All of the Branding Images are .bmp type

Log-In Screen -

Profile Screen -

The Selection View...

... and the Search View -

The Splash Screen -

The Menu-Banner -

Tips & Caveats -

Image Resolution - If this is too high or too low, the quality of the displayed image is in question.  What is the size of the images in question?  If they are high resolution and full body shots it is quite likely that they can crop out head shots and get a decent image.

Image Quality - If the image is of poor quality -- like the image is over or under exposed -- it is probably necessary to get a new image.

Display Quality - Under Citrix, the resolution settings will impact the quality of image display.  Frequently the color settings for the screen display are trimmed back in order to increase performance -- but have a negative impact on image quality.

Display Distortion - Normal images are either portrait or landscape.  People should take the Member head shots in a portrait format. Now the problem is - either of these normal formats will end up distorted because displays pretty much square display area.  Since we stretch to fill, we will end up with either a short/fat or tall/thin image.  So what you need to do is crop the images into a roughly square shape.  This will help.