Pictures - on to a web site
Overview
All pictures on a web page must be in one of two formats, namely, JPG or GIF.
The JPG format is used for pictures of quality, and the GIF format is used for
drawings, cartoons, etc.
JPG Files
Photographs from a scanner are usually saved as BMP files. These must be converted to
JPG files to be usable on a web page. I have several programs to do this conversion.
My list, in order of preference, are:
- Microsoft Image Composer
- Corel PhotoPaint
Another alternate is to have images prepared in the JPG format at the same time that
your pictures are developed and printed. Walgreens, Eckard and others do this
at a nominal price.
GIF Files
Most pictures found in "Clip Art" are either in the GIF or the WMF format.
These must be converted to the GIF format. I use either of these programs for the job:
- Microsoft Image Composer
- Corel Draw
Picture size
If a pictures is too large, the web page will load too slowly. I try to restrict a
JPG file to less than 35k bytes and a Gif file to less than 10k bytes. The real
criteria is to have the page total no more than 100k bytes, and 60k or less is prefered.
You can restrict the file size by just making the picture smaller. I usually use about
400 pixels or less for a photo's long direction. (A 4" x 6" photo is usually 650 pixels
in the long dimension.)
Gif pictures often look good with a size of 100 to 200 pixels.
Picture compression
Fortunately JPG pictures can be compressed to save size too. A picture is best at
zero compression, but is almost as good at 20 % compression. If compression is increased
to 50 % , some definition is lost.
Picture references
One of my favorite tricks is to put a small, highly compressed pictures on the main web
page that references a larger, uncompressed picture on another web page.
See the picture discussions in the HTML section for how to do this.
|