Website Design Frequent Questions

When do I use .gif & .jpg images in a webpage?

Jpg`s (.jpg file extension) should be used when incorporating photos or other images that will have a large number of colours. You can `compress` jpg`s down to a suitable size but be aware that over-compressing them will deteriorate the quality of the photo. Good graphics programs will allow you to preview the image before you save.

Gif`s (.gif file extension) should be used with images that have less than 256 colours i.e navigation buttons or logos. Again, good graphic programs will let you reduce the number of colours in order to make the file smaller. This is called `reducing colour depth`.

The physical dimensions will also play a part in the file size of an image so reducing the width & height a little will also be of help. NEVER, force an image to be smaller using html tags e.g height="250" when the image height is actually 350.

Generally speaking, you shouldn`t have any graphic larger than 25-30kb in size unless the visitor to your site is informed that it will be a large file.