Graphics images that will become a part of a web document. It will be prepared as a “GIF image”, or a “JPEG” image.
The name “GIF” stands for Graphics Interchange Format. It is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability.
The format supports up to 8 bits per pixel thus allowing a single image to reference a palette of up to 256 distinct colors. The colors are chosen from the 24-bit RGB color space. It also supports animations and allows a separate palette of 256 colors for each frame. The color limitation makes the GIF format unsuitable for reproducing color photographs and other images with continuous color, but it is well-suited for simpler images such as graphics or logos with solid areas of color.
The name “JPEG” stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the name of the committee that created the JPEG standard and also other standards. It supports a maximum image size of 65535×65535.
JPEG is the most common format for storing and transmitting photographic images on the World Wide Web, and it is also the most common image format used by digital cameras and other photographic image capture devices.
All graphics (with some exceptions) will be converted into a bitmap image and then saved as a gif or jpeg. The decision as to which format is easy. Use the following guides in preparing images for the web.
Do not count on the browser to make your images look good. Choose the correct or best file format. Do not count on the browser to scale images and make them look reasonable. Images can be scaled in Dreamweaver and through the IMAGE TAG in the html code by using the image dimension attributes (ie. <IMG SRC=”image.gif” width=100 height=225>.) Scaling images in the browser will cause unwanted distortion of the image. Always prepare your image at 100% the size to be used.
The Art of optimizing web graphics. You want to create the lowest byte count with the highest image quality possible.