I have come across some tagger size kits in the past, and just now, that's why I thought I'd come here and ask: Why? What are they used for? They seem to be way too small to print, even if you'd want to do paper layouts with them. I seem to be missing something here. Can anyone clarify this for me?
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That's a good question. I have wondered myself as well.
For tags! Like these here. Now don't ask me what they are used for, 'cause that I am not sure of. E-mail decoration perhaps?
I've wondered that too!
Ok, so what people do with tags? And why so many of them look so weird?
@Lorien, lol!! You made me laugh, I wondered that same thing:)
Tagger kits are for designers that intend to use them only for graphics displayed on the web, which is why they are usually only at 72 dpi and are smaller-sized images. The "tags" are often used as signatures for blogs and forums... they would be great for blog graphics, too. They are rather useless for digital scrapbooking that is intended to be printed.
Here's a page that explains them pretty well, IMHO: http://www.simplescrapper.com/2009/04/you-asked-about-tagger-kits/
The thing is, if you're going to go to all of that work, why not make them full size and then resize them down to 72dpi?
@ Janet. I agree. It seems like it would be a better use of time to make them print sizes/dpi and reduce them later.
However, I can see a certain appeal to the tagger kits - the seemingly massive dimensions of print-ready scrapbooking items can be overwhelming and intimidating for some people. When I started working with graphics on the computer, I would size things so that they looked and felt comfortable on the screen - not for print. Print requires much larger sizes and can seem much more detailed. It freaked me out at first and has taken me a while to adjust to the concept.
Also, a LOT of resources on the internet (specifically ones not geared towards print-ready scrapbooking) are made for tagger work and web graphics. Before I "discovered" digital scrapbooking, I had a difficult time finding things at 300 dpi or brushes that could scale up high enough for what I was wanting to do with print-ready pages.
That being said, now that I am used to the size, I don't understand why people don't just make things big and scale them down when they want to. It makes for much more versatile work and isn't more complicated once you get used to it... /shrugs
When I was first starting out in digiscrapping I joined a site that had a bunch of free kits you could download as a member. My husband had just gotten me PSP & I needed something to play with & this seemed like a good thing. What I didn't know at the time is all the stuff I downloaded was tagger size! I was so bummed when I found out, because I wanted to use the stuff for digiscrapping, but it was too small. I especially loved the papers and remember emailing the site about it (asking if they could offer the papers full-size), but I never heard back from them. I thought that maybe I could try to make them into bigger papers so I could use them (like one would do with a pattern), but that wasn't possible - most of them had some sort of edge treatment (grungy or glittery border or what not). Like a lot of you, I wondered why anyone would make tagger kits... It seems like it would take the same amount of energy & time to make those as it would full-size kits, only the tagger kits have fewer uses...
I can see the appeal if you only ever intend to keep your layouts in digital format to display on screen. They would save a lot of hard drive space thats for sure. I found a blog once that had some really cute kits, but after downloading about 4 or 5 kits, she mentioned in one post that they are all tagger size. I was bummed. I've been debating whether I should offer some of my stuff as tagger size. I'm not sure how much demand there is for it.
I am pretty new to scrapbooking but have been doing digital graphics for many years. I have belonged to several different graphics groups and they have posting size limits. In these groups you make an image then email it to the group. So the tagger size kits are perfect for doing this kind of stuff. Surprisingly a lot of people are still on dial up so the size of graphics is crucial.
Also I use Paint Shop Pro 9 and the larger size stuff causes the program to hang up. That is why I use the smaller sizes.
@Sharron: I used to have that problem with PSP XI, too, but discovered it wasn't the software it was my computer (needed more memory & I'd put the maximum I could in it). When I got a new computer I didn't have that problem anymore. I'm on a newer version now (X4) and it's going fine thankfully... PSP is a memory hog.
@Sharon, how much ram do you have on your computer? I started designing with PSP 7 and only 512MB ram with a 4gig hard drive (I know I'm old!). It was sure slow! I then upgraded to 1gig ram, 400gig hard drive and PSP9. Boy, was I stylin' then.
I did find that as I tried to do more that I was having problems with PSP freezing. I did some research and what I can remember was something to do with the virtual memory. You can increase that and it shouldn't freeze up on you anymore. That second computer is still going strong. I gave it to my mother and it still working great. 
I am a tagger.
I started out on Delphi forums years ago, and a friend from there taught me how to make my own tags in PSP 5. Very basic graphics at the time. Standard size of most tags now is about 600x600 pixels. (Edit) There is a site called "Insatiable Dreams" (end edit) by a lady who uses the name Cat. Her tutorials are some of the best I've ever done. A lot of the taggers that I know tend to lean toward more "adult" tags, using art from Keith Garvey, Barb Jensen, etc. I have tons of those tags, and I own a lot of the "tubes" from the artists, but really don't have anywhere to use them any more. One of the things that I always enjoyed about tagging was doing animated tags. They're a nice challenge. If you do check out Cat's Insatiable Dreams site, please be aware that there are adult tags and steer clear of them if they offend you.
I still use my tagger kits, though, when I do new covers for Facebook. I also make tags for friends to use as profile pictures and covers.
Edited to add: I thought that link would take you directly to the page for the tutorial, but I'm guessing that it takes you to the home page for Insatiable Dreams. It is a tricky site to navigate, so I'll make a separate post on how to get to that tutorial. Sorry for the confusion!
Edited again: I'm removing the link to insatiabledreams.net. I hadn't read the post about it being "sketchy" before I edited this before.
I should add that the majority of tagger kits are meant solely to be used on forums, boards, blogs, etc. They have never been intended to be printed the way that digi-scrap kits are.
where do people use that adult tags Penny? they are so ugly IMO. Not offensive, but so ugly, with a very non-realistic 3d....
Lorien, a lot of adult tags were used on Yahoo 360 before it was closed down. There are tagger groups on Facebook that still use them. I'm sure there are other forums and blog spaces that use them as well, but I really don't know. Some of the individual artists, like Barb Jensen, have their own Yahoo groups where these tags are shared. I don't have anything to do with them, other than if a friend asks me to create a tag for them.
That's also why I warned not to look at the things on Cat's site that are marked as adult content, I don't want anyone to be offended. She has so many other cute things, like the one with the fall colors that I linked. Her site, for me, is more about learning new techniques than about the artwork that she uses in the tags.
You might think of the art that is used more as "cartoon" art... some of these artists got their start doing Marvel Comics, etc. They aren't meant to be realistic, but some of them are on the ridiculous side of non-realistic.
I just tried to go to the link you showed, but her site blocked me because I use Opera as my web browser. I would be interested to see some of the stuff. I'm not offended by adult content. I am, however, offended by the screen she has posted about blocking people using the browsers she blocks. It insinuates that I'm there to steal her graphics. I'm really offended now that this person goes by the same name as me.
Sorry, nothing against you. I just find it insulting to be accused of something that I'm not guilty of.
Sorry, Cat, I've never seen that message, but I understand how you feel. To be honest, when I used to belong to her tagger group, she did deal with a lot of people stealing her graphics and her animation actions and claiming them for their own. I would guess that she's had more of that happening, but I'm no longer in contact with her or in her group, so I couldn't say for sure. I'm sorry you had a bad experience!
Fran, I removed the link myself. Sorry.
I don't think you needed to remove the link, myself, but I was a little taken aback by the "greeting" I got went I tried to view the page. I didn't mean to come off as sounding PO'd at you. I just wanted you to know what kind of reception some people were getting when you send people there. I understand wanting to protect your work, but perhaps she should put something about visitors welcome to visit using another browser instead of being accusatory and driving away visitors IMHO...
@Penny: No one of us are trying to offend you or the sites you like; we are just, as more "traditional" digiscrappers, expressing our "cultural shock", lol.
I have nothing against adult content too - just can´t understand why they don´t do it in a way it´s beautiful and pleases the eye, as, if they have talent to do what they do, they could do pretty things really easy. But the explanations on this topic were really helpful
Oh, I'm not offended at all. As I said, I really don't do much tagging anymore, I was just trying to be helpful. The warning about the adult content was just that, a warning. When I found myself apologizing for a link that I posted, though, I decided I probably wasn't being very helpful. I don't want to post anything on your site that is sketchy or that people worry is offensive to them because of the terms of the site. This way, if people really want to look at Insatiable Dreams, they can either google it or type it into their browsers, and nothing will be associated with PixelScrappers.
My point really was that they use tagger size kits to make beautiful things. This is the example that I was trying to let people see.
What you can't see by this screen shot is that the little rain cloud is animated. The tutorial teaches you how to make the frame boxes and paste your papers into the boxes, then how to make it all look like a shadow box. I think the technique would make a very cute digiscrap page, if used with full-size papers instead of tagger size.
@Penny Animated digiscrap! I didnt even think of that. (mindblown)
@Cat I have 1.24 gig of ram. Old computer. However I was not complaining, just answering the question hahaha.
wow, really beautiful. I´d love to do a "paper sculpture" that looked like that tag....
Ha, animation, yes, I can understand why you would want to use tagger size for animated graphics. Thanks so much for explaining!
I started out as a tagger but quickly got out of it once I realized how rampant the copyright violations are in that community, and how many of the tags featured freakishly large-chested women! I did learn a lot about my graphics programs through it, though.
I've noticed that the tagger community blogs tend to be the ones that bother me the most with "cutesy" frivolous effects stuff that was super popular in the late 90's, but now annoys me (floating snowflakes across the site, auto-playing music, tons of animate GIFs, and cursor trails, etc).
A LOT also seem to have pretty risque tags. It's not so much the large breasts that bother me (at 34G, I am pretty damn used to those lol) but the fact that the women are usually in skimpy clothes or lingerie and are in extremely provocative and sexual poses. It's not something I approve of out of the privacy of one's own home and certainly not something I want my daughter to see over my shoulder.
I'm not saying it's bad, per-say, just not an environment that I would enjoy. They do have some really neat designs, though... unfortunately in tagger sizes, though, which are pretty useless for the things I want to do. lol
hi ladies i tag for 3 groups and i love to make tags i also make papers,frames,and elements working on a mini kit right now and orther things been doing tags about 4 years u can use the tag kits for items u make like elements etc they are smaller therefore better on downloading size etc and storage i use psp9 running windows 7and catshoes tuts are great took her lessons i think i have all of them.
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