MeTool Blog
Scenario-driven guides, comparisons and technical deep-dives that help you find and get the most out of the right online tool.
Solutions
Start from a real-life or work pain point and solve it step by step with the right tool.
Scanned PDF Too Big to Send? How to Shrink It Down
Scanned contracts and photo PDFs often hit tens of MB—too large for email or WeChat. This article explains why scanned PDFs are so big, what compression actually removes, how small you can go without blurring, and when compression won't help.
Video Too Big to Send? How to Compress It to Fit
WeChat won't send it, email attachments exceed limits, uploads stall—video size exceeds platform caps. This article explains why videos are so large, how small you need to go to send, resolution and compression settings by scenario (WeChat/email/Xiaohongshu/TikTok), and how to balance quality vs. size.
Need to Change One Word on an AI-Generated Page—Re-Prompt or Edit Directly?
ChatGPT/Claude HTML landing pages, reports, and slides are often 90% right—one headline, image, or paragraph off. Re-prompting is slow, burns tokens, and can break what already works. This article explains why you should not go back to the prompt, and how to edit HTML without writing code.
Subtitles Out of Sync? First Identify Which Kind
Downloaded subtitles half a beat slow, or fine at the start but drifting later? Out-of-sync subtitles have three distinct causes and three fixes. This article shows how to tell which you have and fix SRT/VTT/ASS in seconds.
Writing WeChat Articles in Markdown—How to Keep Formatting Intact?
WeChat's editor does not understand Markdown; pasting raw source shows # and *, and styled HTML often loses formatting. This article explains why WeChat layouts break, a stable workflow that keeps .md as source, and how to handle images, code blocks, and formulas.
You Write in Markdown—How Do You Deliver Word or PDF?
Markdown feels great to write, but clients, advisors, and colleagues want Word or PDF. This article compares three conversion paths (paste, pandoc CLI, browser conversion), their pitfalls, and how to handle long docs, images, and fonts.
Comparisons
Side-by-side comparisons of approaches, tools and formats to help you choose.
What Does Image Compression Remove? Choosing JPG, PNG, WebP, and AVIF
The same image as JPG, PNG, WebP, or AVIF can differ in size by several times. This article explains lossy vs. lossless, what each format excels at, and a decision table for screenshots, photos, and illustrations.
Choosing Invisible Watermarking: Frequency-Domain vs. SynthID vs. C2PA
Invisible watermarks for anti-theft and provenance differ widely: classic frequency-domain blind watermarks, deep-learning watermarks (SynthID/Pixel Seal), and C2PA metadata signatures. This comparison covers robustness, customization, and use cases.
Choosing Perler Bead Pattern Tools: Color Charts, Kit Alignment, and Editing
Converting images to fuse-bead patterns differs less in 'can it convert' than in whether exported color codes match beads you actually own. This compares MeTool, Pixelbead, and 拼豆酱 on MARD charts, kit alignment, brush editing, and color counts.
Choosing Screen Recording Zoom Tools: Screen Studio, Cap, and Online Editors Compared
Viewers can't find the action in screen recordings—dynamic focus (auto zoom) is the fix. This compares Screen Studio, OpenScreen, Cap, CapCut/iMovie, and online editors on zoom, platform, price, and editing workflow.
Overleaf, Local TeX, or Online Tools? A Decision Guide for Writing LaTeX
Overleaf, local TeX Live, and lightweight online tools are not ranked good vs bad—they fit different tasks. This article compares collaboration, privacy, packages, offline use, and cost, with a decision framework.
Tech Deep-Dives
How the tools work under the hood — principles, implementation and limits.
Diagram-as-Code: How Text Becomes Graphics, Engines, and Limits
How do Mermaid, PlantUML, and Graphviz turn text descriptions into diagrams? This article covers the parse–layout–render pipeline, trade-offs between engines, and where automatic layout stops working.
Don't Store Passwords with MD5: Hash, Salt, and Password Hashing Explained
MD5 and SHA-256 are hash algorithms, but using them directly for passwords is wrong. This article clarifies hash vs. salt vs. password hashing (bcrypt/Argon2), and why file checksums use SHA-256 while passwords need slow hashes.
Can Blind Watermarks Survive Screenshot, Compression, and Rotation?
Blind watermarks hide information in image frequency domain—invisible to the eye. But do they survive WeChat compression, screenshots, and rotation? This article covers spatial vs. frequency domain, DCT/DWT, geometric attack resistance, and limits.
Why Is the 3D Model in My Web Page So Laggy? Decimation, Vertex Welding, and Texture Compression
Smooth in Blender, sluggish on the web with long loads. This article covers triangle count, duplicate vertices, and texture size—the principles, tradeoffs, and limits of Web 3D optimization.
Transcode and Edit Video Without Installing Software: How WebCodecs Works in the Browser
Browser video used to mean upload to a server or slow ffmpeg.wasm soft decode. WebCodecs lets the browser call hardware codecs directly. This article covers how it works, differences from ffmpeg.wasm, and limits.
How Does LaTeX Run in the Browser? Two Stacks—from Formulas to Full Documents
You can render .tex in a web page without installing TeX. Two different technologies power it: KaTeX/MathJax for formulas, and a WebAssembly TeX engine for full documents. This article explains how they work, performance trade-offs, and capability limits.
One Markdown Draft, Many Channels: WeChat, Xiaohongshu, and PDF
Same content for WeChat, Xiaohongshu, and PDF means reformatting on every platform. This article walks a real publish pipeline—write once in .md, then convert for WeChat, Xiaohongshu cards, and PDF delivery—with pitfalls at each step.
From Formulas to Submission: A No-Install LaTeX Paper Pipeline
Writing formulas, editing with preview, exporting PDF, compressing, and sharing with advisors—each step has its own pitfalls. This article walks through a real submission workflow: what each step solves and how to avoid common mistakes.