Tips for Prepping Images for the Web

Tips for Prepping Images for the Web

The three most common formats for images on the web are:

• .JPG (JPEG - an acronym for Joint Photographic Experts Group)
• .GIF (Graphic Image Format)
• .PNG (Portable Network Graphic)

Typically, you will find JPG images used for photos, while GIF and PNG are used for artwork and graphics with larger areas of color.

5Q designs our sites to have similarly sized images for client convenience. The following tips are from eHow. For editing images, a good free service to use is Picnik.

1. Make sure your picture is saved in JPEG format (for photographs and other rich-depth pictures) or GIF format (for line art, clip art and logos). These are the formats recognized by most Web browsers.
2. Reduce the file size without sacrificing the quality of GIF images by reducing the colors used. Many GIF images can be reduced to 16 colors (see "How to Decrease the Colors in a Picture With a Paint Program").
3. Take advantage of the image specification tags in HTML (see "How to Learn HTML"). Using image specification tags, you can make a large photo smaller, thereby saving file space by not having to use a larger file.
4. Use an online image compressor, such as JPEG Wizard or GIF Cruncher. These free services compress your image's file size without reducing its quality.
5. Download or purchase an image compressor program, such as Adobe ImageReady. Many image compression programs also offer image editing capabilities and don't require you to connect to the Internet to use them.
6. Check to see if your image editing program supports graphics interlacing (for GIF files only). Interlacing graphics causes them to download line by line instead of taking a long time to fully load.
7. Find out if your image editing program can create a progressive JPEG. Progressive JPEG files work similarly to interlaced GIF files by letting the image load line by line.

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