Composing Bitmaps for SURVEYWin^®

You can use bitmap graphics in SURVEYWinâ to embellish a page or to use as response buttons. The bitmaps may not exceed 32 KB, but there are procedures you can use to create and use images within that 32 KB size. These procedures were tested using MS Paint and MS Word.

A graphic of 2.5 by .75 inches is about as large as you would want on a project screen. A graphic of 4.5 by 2.5 inches completely fills the screen. A graphic cannot be sized in SURVEYWinâ so design and size the graphic before inserting it into a form. If you have a graphic in a format other than .bmp, you will need to use a graphics program to change it to the bitmap format. Sometimes you can insert it into an MS Word document, copy it to the clipboard, open it in MS Paint, resize it and save it as a 16 color bitmap. Depending on the format, you can resize it in the MS Word document before copying it. Remember that SURVEYWin_® can only display bitmaps.

If you are creating your own bitmap in a graphics program, use basic colors and save the image in 16 colors. A simple graphic of 2.5 by .75 inches consisting of a blue oval on a red background takes 42 KB when saved at 24-bit color, 15 KB when saved at 256 colors and 8 KB when saved at 16 colors. If the graphic is simple and small enough, you can save it in 256 colors and still stay under 32K. Remember that if your are distributing the file, the colors may appear different on different monitors, so use basic colors.

SURVEYWinâ will layer bitmaps in the order that they are inserted. You can make a series of bitmaps each of which is 32 KB or smaller and insert them into a page, placing them on top of one another to form a more complic ated graphic. You will need to be careful to adjust background colors on the top layers to conform to the lower layers.