[Gimp-user] > Newbie is HELPless for "help" -- No HELP file in download! -- I just want to thin down eBay pix!

[John J. Zanath]

Gentlepeople:   I've downloaded a few freeware pix managers simply to find one that allows easy "thinning down" of jpegs for quicker eBay downloading.  Is this called resizing, resampling, or what?    I can't call up HELP to find out how this is done in Gimp, as I get a   The GIMP help files are not installed.   Could not open 'C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\help\en\gimp-help.xml' for reading: No such file or directory   Please check your installation.   message.  Yet there's no indication of any additional downloading for Help files on the Gimp download site, that I can find.    Please clue me as to whether I should be using Gimp of another, easier to learn-into product.  I'm a post 9/11 aerospace layoff case, never did learn the details of jpeg so I don't know what thinning is called, or technically what it is.  I had a ULEAD product on my old obsolete laptop, its 3.0 version free trial ended on my new system and I have no cash for the product (they won't sell me an upgrade, as old version is not on current system!)   Surely someone offers a thinnr that allows finer options than 10%, 20%, etc.?  Ideally with a slider, like ULEAD has? And which *previews the thinned version before you save it, AND indicates the download time for a modem user, so you can select the thinness intelligently?*   I sound like a real jerk here, I know (I've done top level systems design for UDLP, MAgnavox, and then Rockwell till 9/11, but I'm no visuals dude) -- kindly help me, I'm hanging in there (barely) on eBay, and need to optimize (is that the term?) pix fast and now, and get on with survival.    Why is it so hard to find a product that actually reduces storage size of pix without reducing their display size?  Or again don't I know enough about how jpeg display products like IE and eBay render jpegs?  I want right-size pix, not thumbnails, that are quick loading, and show up in Windows Explorer as smaller in storage size.    That's all I want, and yet can't seem to get it!   Thanks for whatever you can do to help a real newbie at this freeware stuff....   Best wishes,   John Zanath