Web Graphics Overview
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Currently there are three dominant file types found on the Internet: GIF, JPEG, and PNG. Learn how each can work to help us preserve image integrity, while keeping files sizes minimal. Properly optimizing your graphics will make your site look more professional, and reduce the amount of time your visitors spend waiting for your pages to download.I wrote this article in response to many posts I've seen asking about file formats. This is not a comprehensive, definitive guide, but a primer providing the basics needed to make effective decisions. If you're looking for detailed explanations, the specifications for the following file formats are posted online. My goal with this article is to make sure you know what a given file type is generally best at, when to use it, and basically how it works.
Currently there are three dominant file types found on the Internet: GIF, JPEG, and PNG. The first two, GIF and JPEG, are the most common and familiar to those that frequent the Web. PNG is relatively new compared to GIF and JPEG, but it offers some very important improvements and combines some of the best of both file types. Although previously not well supported, most current Web browsers display the PNG file type.
In the following pages we'll examine each format's strengths and weaknesses. We'll learn how each can work to help us preserve image integrity, while keeping files sizes minimal. Properly optimizing your graphics will make your site look more professional, and reduce the amount of time your visitors spend waiting for your pages to download.
Next: CompuServe's Graphic Interchange Format (GIF) >>
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