How to Prepare Images for Your Web Site – Part 2

Written by Herman Drost


When surfingrepparttar Web, you will have noticed web sites whererepparttar 134533 images load very slowly whereas other images don't match with repparttar 134534 theme ofrepparttar 134535 site or appear blurry. Presenting a

professional image for your business means your web site design must be professional also.

Part one of this article discussed when to use images for your web site and what image file formats to use onrepparttar 134536 Web (www.isitebuild.com/imageoptimization1). In this article (Part

2), we will discuss how to optimize your images forrepparttar 134537 Web.

Image optimization isrepparttar 134538 art of making your images suitable forrepparttar 134539 Web. There is a large difference in preparing your graphics for print compared torepparttar 134540 Web. In print you have to have as much data as possible to get a good graphic. The main factors that influencerepparttar 134541 display of graphics forrepparttar 134542 Web, are repparttar 134543 size ofrepparttar 134544 file andrepparttar 134545 screen display quality ofrepparttar 134546 graphic.

Factors Affecting Web Graphics

1. File Size When you design web pages you need to create a balance between visual appeal and page download time. If your page has too many images on it, it will take too long too load and visitors will not stay around to wait.

2. Cropping This means cutting out unwanted areas of your image. It decreasesrepparttar 134547 file size and helps visitors to focus on your image.

3. Anti-aliasing Jagged edges of an image can be prevented by anti-aliasing. This creates a blended edge around an image. Because ofrepparttar 134548 extra colors necessary to createrepparttar 134549 blend,

file sizes of anti-aliased GIFs are a little larger. Use anti-aliased graphics in almost all cases, except when

creating very small type as graphics.

4. Bit Depth and Screen Resolution Bit depth refers torepparttar 134550 number of colors in an image orrepparttar 134551 number of colors a computer system is capable of displaying. To calculate bit depth, one bit equals 2 colors, then multiply 2 times 2 to arrive at each higher bit depth. Quality and file

size decrease as bit-depth decreases.

New computers support thousands or millions of colors (32-bit), but many older color systems can only show up to 256 (8-bit) colors at a time. This reality imposes limits onrepparttar 134552 size of files and number of colors that can be included in Web graphics.

Check how your image appears with a 256-color monitor and a true-color monitor. Do this on your PC usingrepparttar 134553 Setting/Control Panel/Display option, then selectrepparttar 134554 Settings tab/256 color option.

Why Pop-Ups are Pop-Bad

Written by Lauri Harpf


Not too long ago, seeing a pop-up ad appear meant that you were either on a page that distributed illegal software or looking at something that isn't suitable forrepparttar eyes of under 18-year-olds. Back then, pop-ups were seen as an annoying but inseparable part ofrepparttar 134532 Web's dark side. However, encountering them while visiting larger and more reputable Web sites was something that only a small amount of people could even dream about.

Nobody could have believed it at that time, but these yesterday's dreams have becomerepparttar 134533 reality of today. Inrepparttar 134534 eyes of many advertisers and webmasters, pop-ups have shaken off their dirty past and are now considered to be quite acceptable and harmless. Rather thanrepparttar 134535 result ofrepparttar 134536 general Internet population starting to see pop-ups in a better light, this change in attitude is more a case of making a virtue out of a necessity.

As everyone knows by now,repparttar 134537 large dot-com's are in trouble and need cash. The continuing decrease inrepparttar 134538 click-through rates of banner ads has reducedrepparttar 134539 demand for banner space, and it is clear thatrepparttar 134540 sites that live off advertising need something to replace this drying income stream. Atrepparttar 134541 same time, an increasing amount of evidence seems to indicate that pop-up advertisements are more likely to be noticed and generate more sales than banner ads. Thus, it is no surprise that pop-ups have been able to break out ofrepparttar 134542 dark side intorepparttar 134543 mainstream.

Followrepparttar 134544 leader? ==================

After pop-ups started to appear on major websites, many webmasters of small- and middle-sized sites have begun to consider following inrepparttar 134545 footsteps ofrepparttar 134546 big guys. After all, we've all heard countless success stories, andrepparttar 134547 users have probably already become accustomed to pop-ups and...

While it is certainly true that pop-ups can really work, it should be remembered that using them does also have multiple negative consequences. According to several sources, pop-ups do draw more attention than banners, but users are also very hostile towards them. For example, a Statistical Research report from last spring [1] claimed that pop-ups are 50% more likely to be noticed than banners, but also 100% more likely to be considered intrusive. Thus, by having pop-ups on your site, you're increasingrepparttar 134548 effectiveness of your advertising, but you're also hurtingrepparttar 134549 reputation of your site and driving your visitors away.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
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