Pictures becoming very big in Geocaching App

[+Sebastian05]

Hello fellow Geocachers.

 

I have recently hidden my fourth geocache near to where I live. Everything is fine with it, and somebody has already found it.

However there is one critical issue with the cache page. I have written the text in both Danish and English, and to show which is which I have added small flags of Denmark and the UK. I have specified their height to be 20px and it works fine on the web. However when I open the cache page in the app (on iPhone), the British flag appears to be very large. This is because the file is in very high resolution (3000px x 5000px). The danish flag shows almost right because it is only 28 x 37 pixels.

 

I have tried setting both the width and the height and both at once, and I have tried doing it both directly in the HTML/CSS and also by right clicking the image and choosing properties. As mentioned, everything is fine on the website - just not in the app.

I tried contacting Geocaching HQ support who didn't know why it was and instead suggested I ask in the forums. Thus why I am here.

 

The cache is named "Kongestien", and can be found at https://coord.info/GC94VWR. 

 

I have attached an image of how it looks in the app.

 

I hope some of you can help me.

 

Best regards,
Sebastian05

[Darwin473]

Is there a specific reason why the image is 3000px x 5000px? That's a lot of extra data for the person to download that isn't needed.

 

Why not upload 300 x 500 images? Or if you want them to display at 28 x 37, why not upload them at that resolution, or 56 x 74?

[+IceColdUK]

As Unit473L says, you should probably resize your image (or find a smaller one).  Even though you are specifying display dimensions, any browser will still be downloading the full image file.  Your UK flag is half a MB; 500 times larger the Danish one.

 

That said, I see no reason why your page should be displayed differently by the App, and it's disappointing that HQ have passed the buck.

 

I was going to suggest changing:

Quote

<img ... style="width:33px;height:20px;">

 

to:

Quote

<img ... width="33" height="20">

 

I thought maybe the 'style' attribute was being ignored, but I've just checked a local cache that uses the 'width' and 'height' attributes, and this has exactly the same problem.

 

https://coord.info/GC8J89K

[+Sebastian05]

Hi there.

Yes, I could of course use a smaller resoloution one and I will also do that if there isn't another solution. (Probably even if there isn't another solution because it is very big.)

The danish flag is specified to be exaclty 28x37 pixels with the red squares being 12x12 and the stripes being 4. The danish flag is easy to make with few pixels because it doesn't have any diagonal lines. However the british one got diagonal lines, so it needs to be bigger in order for it not to appear blocky. I was therefore hoping that I could just use a high resolution version and scale it down. 

If no one knows how to do that or why this is, I will probably just use one that's about 30x50 pixels and have it be low resolution.

 

Best regards,

Sebastian

[+TmdAndGG]

Have you changed something? It appears to be looking fine on the Android GC app.

It's possible it's just a IPhone problem. I'll have to check it out on mine.

[+IceColdUK]

2 hours ago, TmdAndGG said:

It's possible it's just a IPhone problem. I'll have to check it out on mine.

Yep, seems to be an iPhone issue.

 

https://coord.info/GC8J89K
 

Website:

 

Android:

 

iPhone:

 

Edited January 8, 2021 by IceColdUK
Added Android screenshot.

[+kunarion]

14 hours ago, Unit473L said:

Is there a specific reason why the image is 3000px x 5000px? That's a lot of extra data for the person to download that isn't needed.

 

Why not upload 300 x 500 images? Or if you want them to display at 28 x 37, why not upload them at that resolution, or 56 x 74?

 

Is it a server-side image compression issue?  Various images in the App seem blurred upon arrival. 

 

I tried making that flag "icon-sized", and I'm not certain it's 100% flawless.  But since the subject is the App, then yeah, I'd prefer not to load 500KB of data for one tiny icon.  Some compromise is better.  56 x74 pixels might just do it, except that the iPhone App doesn't currently parse the IMG tag properly.  I'd be fine with the HTML constraint size of 30 x 20 like this:  

It's not crystal clear.  I may not be going to a parade with that flag compression.  But at just over 1KB, it's light on the phone data.

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2021 by kunarion

[+SpiritGuide]

It scales and displays perfectly fine in Geooh GO to fit the screen so it has to be the app.

[+Sebastian05]

Hello again.

Thanks a lot to everyone for the replies. 

I have now changed the image to one that is 30x50 pixels. I agree, the other one was way too big. - and this pretty much solves the issue.

 

I don't think that ends it, though, because it seems like this is a general issue with pictures on the iOS app. 

 

I have myself tried multiple things to make it work and many of you have been very kind and tested things too. It appears  that it's just a bug with the app. 

 

I already tried asking HQ by sending a support e-mail under the category "Hide a Cache". They just told me to ask you. Do you all think I should try again with an actual bug report, since this is clearly a bug at this point?

 

Br,
Sebastian

[+kunarion]

3 hours ago, Sebastian05 said:

Do you all think I should try again with an actual bug report, since this is clearly a bug at this point?

 

Yes. Cache pages should look the same in at least these official Apps.