Resize/crop/pad a picture to a fixed size

Question

I need to resize a picture to a fixed size. But it has to keep the factors between the width and height.

Say I want to resize a picture from 238 (w) X 182 (

Answer 1

are these thumbnails? if they are, cropping is not a huge problem. we do it all the time. i don't even shy away from cropping arbitrary ratios into crippled quadratic thumbnails, completely messing up the image (yes, i'm that hardcore), if it just looks good. this is a designers answer to a technical question, but still. don't fear the crop!