Yea, I forgot about this option earlier. It's basically like setting a focus point, although without a UI. I would have liked to have a similar solution also for slideshow intro "cover" mode, but that requires some way to set focus point on a per-image basis.
metallissimus wrote:I wasn't aware the background offset wouldn't affect an image as soon as it's shown at 100% width or height.
Yep. In all cases of cropping (without zoom), it's always ONLY top+bottom OR left+right that gets cropped. Not both. Imagine an image 1:2 that should fit into an area 1:1 ... The 1:1 cropped version would always contain the entire width of the tall image, making the x-focus-point irrelevant. The y-focus-point would then decide the vertical position of the image inside the 1:1 box. Likewise, if you have an image 2:1 that you want to crop to 1:2, it would only use the x-focus-point. This is essentially "cover" mode, in which case an image will scale to cover a designated area ... Scaling an image to cover an area with a different aspect than the image itself, will cause either top/bottom or left/right to be cropped.
As you can see here, for a wide image to cover a mobile screen, it would display the entire height of the image, but left/right would be cropped. And in the example below, it would use the x-focal-point to adjust the X position:
metallissimus wrote:There's one problem remaining, but it's not really about cropping or shifting the image: Images that have a wide subject, e.g. a couple standing some feet apart. This simply won't work on a small vertical screen. You would need an option to switch from COVER to something similar to CONTAIN (but without the repetition) as soon as the width drops below a certain value.
I think perhaps this simply gets a bit too complicated ... How would X3 know at what screen-vs-image aspect threshold to change from cover to contain? Besides, this means that if you are using a tall image, it would be set to "contain" mode on wide desktop screens, which would look quite unattractive.
I think now with the option to set focal point, I'm pretty sure you can tweak most images to look "acceptable" also on mobile screens. If not, and it's crucial, then maybe you need to re-consider the images you use. Images that need to be displayed in their entirety, should go into standard gallery layouts and the X3 popup, whereas intro "cover" mode is less optimal for these images.