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Next Page
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How to Optimize Your Photos and Graphics
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Optimizing involves finding the right balance between reducing the file size of an image and preserving its quality. There are
four ways to optimize an image:
 Crop the image to its essential parts.
Resize the image to reduce the number of pixels.
Reduce colors.
Save the image using a compressed file format such as JPEG, GIF, or PNG.
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| Why Optimize Photos and Graphics? |
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If you optimize your graphics before uploading them to the web, your
pages will download quicker making your visitors less likely to lose
interest and leave your web site. Examine the table below for download
times for various file sizes accross different connection speeds:
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File Size
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14.4 K Modem
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28.8 K Modem
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56 K Modem
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128 ISDN
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Cable/DSL
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T1
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| 5 K |
3 sec |
1 sec |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 10 K |
6 sec |
3 sec |
1 sec |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 20 K |
12 sec |
6 sec |
2 sec |
1 sec |
0 |
0 |
| 30 K |
18 sec |
9 sec |
4 sec |
1 sec |
0 |
0 |
| 50 K |
31 sec |
15 sec |
6 sec |
3 sec |
0 |
0 |
| 80 K |
50 sec |
25 sec |
11 sec |
4 sec |
1 sec |
0 |
| 150 K |
1 min 33 sec |
46 sec |
20 sec |
9 sec |
1 sec |
0 |
| 400 K |
4 min 10 sec |
2 min 5 sec |
55 sec |
24 sec |
5 sec |
2 sec |
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If you plan to to put more than one image on a single page, keep in mind that as far as load times are concerned it's the total that matters. While a single 20 KB image might only take 12 seconds to download
on a slow connection, as soon as you put 6 of them on a page, a visitor will have to wait at least a minute before the page finishes downloading giving them ample
opportunity to get bored and leave.
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