One of the challenges for any web development team is creating systems that are technically robust while still being intuitive to users. It's especially important to keep in mind the level of technical proficiency of the intended users of the system. We were reminded of this crucial truism shortly after the initial launch of a site we recently built.

Our consulting division had been approached by a economic development organization who wanted us to build a website. One of the desired features of the site was a system that allowed their staff to upload member company logos to be displayed on the front page of their site, as well as in a member directory section. The intent was that businesses would send their logos to the organization staff, and they'd use the system to insert the new logos and descriptive text into a database. No problem, right?

Because Modwest runs PHP as a chrooted CGI, it was easy to use standard PHP upload features to get the logos from the client's personal computer up to the server and into a database. (See php.net/manual/en/features.file-upload.php for the basics.) What we originally failed to account for was the size of the uploaded images.

The launch of the site went nicely, and the first few logos uploaded fit the design of the site nicely. A few weeks down the line, a business sent in a logo that was over 800 pixels wide. Of course, as soon as the staff uploaded it into the system, it wrecked the design of the site, as the logos were meant to be displayed in columns that were only about 250 pixels wide. The staff member responsible for uploading called us immediately, wondering why our system had broken. Of course, the system was doing exactly as it was told.

Our first tactic was to suggest that the staff member resize logos to be no more than 200 pixels wide. This suggestion may have worked if we were talking to a graphics-savvy user, but this individual wasn't terribly comfortable using Windows Paint (the only graphics program they had available). So, we needed a solution that would auto-resize photos appropriately and maintain their original proportions to prevent any distortion.