# "TECH" Question



## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

I got a canon scanner over the holidays.
Is there a way if you want to scan a recipe to share with the community .That you could scan it and then post it?
Nothing stupid I mind you just food and wine related stuff.

TIA.
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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

I'm sure there's a way, but wouldn't you be dancing pretty close to a copyright violation? Just curious.


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

Thanks mezzaluna.

I don't know!
But I was thinking of my own recipes that I have in hard copy forum.
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## nick.shu (Jul 18, 2000)

wouldnt you just scan the recipe and then attach the .JPG file to the post?


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

Thanks Nick!!
Now what is a JPG file?








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## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

Please delete this dupe. (Thanks!)

[This message has been edited by cchiu (edited 01-30-2001).]


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## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

Cape Chef,

You "can" do this. Is the recipe too long to type?

I would highly recommend not scanning it in especially if it's only one recipe. Why? It will take you longer to do than you think. Because the quality will not be as good as if it were typed in. Downloading it for everyone else will take a long time if you want the quality to be good. Anyone who uses MasterCook or similar software won't be able to easily include it in their files by importing it. Personally, I don't think it's worth the hassle. (How many recipes have you come across online that are scanned in?)

If you have several recipes, I recommend an "OCR" software. This stands for "optical character recognition" like Omnipage Pro. With this, you scan the document (in your case, the recipe) and it converts the image into a text file, like you spent the time to type it in. There is a free OCR software here: http://www.expervision.com/webtr6.htm

For information on OCR products, look here: http://web3.humboldt1.com/~jiva/ocr/_ocr_resource.htm

Cape Chef, a "jpg" file is a format for an picture or "image" to be displayed on the internet by a web browser like Netscape or Explorer. There are other types or formats that an image can be such as "gif" and "tif" Some are bigger files and some are smaller. "gif" is smallest and quickest, "tif" is larger and much higher quality, often used by graphic designers to send to the printer. By larger and smaller, I am not talking 5cm by 7cm but rather 750K vs 5 Megs of disk space which affects download time.

For more info on Image Files look here: http://www.google.com/search?q=.jpg+...n&lr=&safe=off and here: http://scv.bu.edu/SCV/Tutorials/Imag.../image101.html

If you REALLY want to do it, I might be able to help.


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

cchiu...

You have certainly given me something to think about!
I really appreciate your time to post all that information for me. If I do indeed decide to scan I will contact you.

Once again thank you
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## david jones (Jan 15, 2000)

There's a product called Adobe Acrobat that generates files in a cross-platform format call .pdf - portable document format. The Acrobat Reader is a free download, from their website. The full product doe scost some money, but I find it really useful.

What I would probably do if I were you, if I definitely wanted to scan it for a photo or whatever reason, I would upload it to a free website. Geocities is really easy to use. You can upload the scan to your own website and then post a link here on ChefTalk.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

I have to go with Cchiu on this one. If the user doesn't have adobe acrobat they cannot read the pdf format. It is also a slow download time if the file is of a large size.


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## david jones (Jan 15, 2000)

Acrobat Reader is free and incredibly useful to have - whether you're dowloading tax forms from the IRS or a users manual for a product or a catalog. Here's the link: 
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

The full product is somewhat expensive, but not considering its capabitlities. An experienced user could scan recipes into pdf and have a recipe book searchable by keyword. You can also regulate who saves, prints, etc. Pretty amazing.

Problem with plain text is that you'll lose photos of plates or wine label graphics - I don't know if that's important to you cape chef.

Regardless of the file format, I still say uploading to a third-party website is better than putting a monster file on the ChefTalk server. Keeps ChefTalk out of the copyright issue, too.

[This message has been edited by David Jones (edited 01-31-2001).]

[This message has been edited by David Jones (edited 01-31-2001).]


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

thanks all,


I think I will just use my nibble fingers and type!!!
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## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

David and Cape Chef,

I thought about recommending the pdf format but then you'd need Acrobat Distiller and other software. The easiest, most convenient format for the internet is straight text.


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