How do you organize your graphics?

[rebjr 0]

Categorizing graphics is easy.

Example ...

Start with 1) INDUSTRY as a mian folder

Under industry do sub folders a) electricians plumbers c) automotive repair ..

You can further break them down into as many categories as you want. Electricians to independents to commercial and residential, national franchised to commercial and residential, and so on.

You can become very anal very quick when it comes to categorizing. The main point that you want to remember is that you need to organize your files so that anubody could come in and sit down at your computer and find their way thru the maze of art that you have accumulated. Using numbers and codes is out, a pure no-no.

Use names to identify your folders and your work.

You can do a web search to find categories of clipart to use as guides. Here are some ..

http://www.free-graphics.com/clipart/

http://www.kamsart.com/

http://www.clipartholiday.com/

How to categorize and list is as different as their are folks who do it. But, keep it simple, use words, alphabetize, FOLDERS FOLDERS FOLDERS ...

Hope this feeds thoughts ..

[Guest gracewriter]

I guess one of the confusing things for me is sometimes I have graphics that fit into a few catagories.  So begins my confusion.  If I have a cat and a dog and a beautiful tree and a nice border in the same graphics, gets confusing pretty quick.  I guess that's what I meant by cross referencing but I don't think it would be a matter of programing a software program, just my brain.

[rebjr 0]

You could get carried away into never-never-land trying to cross reference. The key to any organization is to keep it simple. If you have a cat and a dog and a tree, lump them into a category entitled Animals, assorted or something to that tune, or do like most of the folks who sell you 10,000 cliparts which end up being 2,500 duplicated 4 times. Put it in each of the 3 categories, cats, dogs, and trees.

We're not doing rocket science here. Although, digital graphics in all it's splendor is on the cutting edge of some very revolutionary frontiers. Soon, we'll be able to create anything and everything imaginable with a few simple buttons and a place to plant our butts.

You'll never get an even close to perfect system for categorizing art or fonts, never happen. Too many names for too many things that are/or could be the same.

You'll have some fella who you've not heard from in a few years give you a call one of these days and want a repeat on something that you did for him way back when .. so, put together a system now, you need to start it with the first order you get, otherwise you'll never catch up.

[Guest gracewriter]

Thanks.  Good well thought out advse.

[juniorranger 0]

I would take a copy, i store mine to a flash drive i have so i can take it from computer to computer and edit it where ever i am at or save files from which ever computer i am on, i also have a 500gb external harddrive i save all my work to, i have had xp fail 3 times. So i agree save everything to a external harddrive.

[rebjr 0]

Most definately back-up everything, and do it frequently. The best place, the safest of all places is online. Flash drives are known to fail and frequently erase stored files, they are not made to take much abuse. Plus, forget to click the lil' green arrow and one risks losing it all.

CD's are not indestructable. I am sure that many here have learned the hard way. The CD writes to the coating on the top of the plastic. Scratch it, even a little pin hole and it's all gone.

External hard drives .. an HD is rated to live for 3 years, after that it is pure luck. Now, I don't need to hear any "I've got an ol' xxxx that I've had for eleventyseven years and it still plugs along" stories, I'm just telling you what the standards are. Besides, Good Lord forbid, your house/shop/doghouse burns down ..... well, you get the picture.

Most ISP's give subscribers a bit of webspace, make use of it and back-up your stuff online. You can access it from anywhere, and short of our being nuked out of existence you'll never lose your stuff, s'long as ya pay your bill and don't fergit yer p-words.

A few places to look at:

http://www.adrive.com/  (50GB free)

http://mozy.com/home    (2GB free, $5 a month unlimited space)

http://www.myotherdrive.com/  (up to 5GB free, allows 1GB single file storage)

There are tons of them, these are just a few examples. Now, there is a difference between buying storage space and buying web site space. Don't get them confused. 2 different industry's ..

[routesmith 0]

Most definately back-up everything, and do it frequently. The best place, the safest of all places is online. Flash drives are known to fail and frequently erase stored files, they are not made to take much abuse. Plus, forget to click the lil' green arrow and one risks losing it all.

CD's are not indestructable. I am sure that many here have learned the hard way. The CD writes to the coating on the top of the plastic. Scratch it, even a little pin hole and it's all gone.

External hard drives .. an HD is rated to live for 3 years, after that it is pure luck. Now, I don't need to hear any "I've got an ol' xxxx that I've had for eleventyseven years and it still plugs along" stories, I'm just telling you what the standards are. Besides, Good Lord forbid, your house/shop/doghouse burns down ..... well, you get the picture.

Most ISP's give subscribers a bit of webspace, make use of it and back-up your stuff online. You can access it from anywhere, and short of our being nuked out of existence you'll never lose your stuff, s'long as ya pay your bill and don't fergit yer p-words.

A few places to look at:

http://www.adrive.com/   (50GB free)

http://mozy.com/home     (2GB free, $5 a month unlimited space)

http://www.myotherdrive.com/   (up to 5GB free, allows 1GB single file storage)

There are tons of them, these are just a few examples. Now, there is a difference between buying storage space and buying web site space. Don't get them confused. 2 different industry's ..

But Reb, Ive got this 40mb MFM drive that Ive had for eleventyseven years and it still plugs along, I even replace the hamster that spins the drive motor every 2 or 3 years!

Sorry I had to do it.

seriously thanks for posting the great advice, you are absolutely right, these places online have many many drives and plenty more waiting in standby just in case one fails, plus they back them up nightly. That is far more that even the most dilligent of us do..

Wayne

[Guest gracewriter]

Glad I found this thread!

Ok, Tykite are you finished making the software yet?

Where are you?