Image optimization

Optimizing images for web is a tricky business. You have to get the right balance between filesize and picture quality. It is an essential step though. Look at any webpage, and you will see that most of its load time come from images.

There are three key areas where bytes can be shaved off graphics: bit depth(number of colours), resolution, and dimension.

One of the more common mistakes which lead to images sizes is people using the wrong file format for the job. The simple rule to follow is this:

• GIFs should be used for the bulk of your images. Simple line drawings, shapes, small icons, nothing to complex.

• JPEGs should be used for photographs and blurry background tiles where little of the intended look will be lost by the JPEG's compression.

• PNG stands for Portable Network Graphics and is a file format used for graphics and developed as an improvement to the GIF.