Optimize Your Graphics For A Fast Loading Site

Heavy graphics cost you money and traffic. They cost youmoney because heavy graphics require both significant storage space andbandwidth. Since your web host will usually give you a limited amountof storage space and a maximum data transfer allowance, heavy graphicscan cause you to exceed those limits, in which case you'll have to payextra.

Then, heavy graphics cost you traffic: put up a web page thattakes more than 10 seconds to load, and your visitors will run awayfaster than you can say "back button". If you happen to be running ane-commerce website, you already know that traffic equals money, soheavy graphics will make you lose both.

Fortunately, there is a solution: you can optimize yourgraphics for the web. Your graphics should be in either .gif or .jpgformats (.gif works best for logos and navigation buttons, while .jpgworks best for photographs.) The idea is to reduce the size of yourgraphics so that they take as few bytes as possible while retainingacceptable quality.

GifBot

This can be done using free on-line graphics optimization tools. One of the best ones out there is Gifbot, by Netmechanic. They have a user-friendly web-based interface that works like this:you upload your picture, they process it, and almost instantaneouslythey will give you several lighter versions of your graphic for you tochose. Pick the image that takes the fewest bytes while still retainingand acceptable quality level. It is not uncommon to reduce the weightof a picture by up to 70% with no noticeable decrease in quality(especially if the image is in .jpg format.)

Another useful tip is to use thumbnails. Thumbnails areminiature versions of a picture that are hyperlinked to its actual sizeversion. The thumbnail will load fast, and by clicking on it yourvisitors will be able to see the actual size version.

Also, it is very important to specify the width and the heightof your pictures in your HTML code. Since the text of your page usuallyloads faster, if you don't specify the width and the height of yourpictures the browser will have to reposition the text once the picturesload, consuming more time. If you take the time to specify the widthand heigth of your pictures, the browser will lay out the text where itshould go from the beginning, even before it loads the pictures, savingtime.

Use all these techniques and you will have a faster loadingwebsite, while you will save more of your storage space and datatransfer allowance for that useful content your visitors are alwayslooking for.

Optimize Your Graphics For A Fast Loading Site
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