Blurred JPG.s in Published Version
May 9, 2007 12:00 AM
Great discussion! I love talkin' graphics.Graphic file formats will give different results depending on the program that you are saving from, how you save them and most importantly the nature of the image itself. You can see this for yourself if you are using Fireworks or Photoshop by Exporting with Preview (Fireworks) or Save for Web (Photoshop) and then selecting the 4-up preview option. This will allow you to compare side-by-side not only image quality of different file types at different output settings but also the file size. If you are working with another program you may have to experiment: save your image as .jpg with a couple of different settings, save as .gif with different settings, save as .png with different settings and then compare. Which looks best? Which has the smallest file size? Sometimes you just have to accept the trade-off one way or the other.Again as a rule of thumb: .jpg for images with lots of color gradations .gif or .png for images with a lot of areas of high contrast.And quick thought on .png: although like Ludo above, I tend to avoid .png when I'm doing web work, it's for different reasons. I usually find .pngs render a better image quality at a lower file size consistently than .gif although the difference is often negligible. My hesitation in use is a legacy issue from the early days of .png, when browser makers were slow to support the new format. At first there was no support and then some did and some didn't and then for a while some browsers (like IE 4 - 6 I think) would render .pngs but not did not support the alpha transparency in .pngs. At this point I think you are probably better than 95% safe to use png (and if you aren't using alpha transparencies it's more like 99%) but who knows how may ancient browsers are lurking out there in dark corners of the web. We often .pngs at work because our audience is internal and we know exactly what the browser/platform common denominator is across the board.Sorry to go on, but like I said: I love talkin' graphics!
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