I have redone my site

[leoni_v]

Re: I have redone my site

Ok, I am in the process of changing it up and removing some of the text. My biggest question right now is as I am resizing my pictures what format is best to save them in? And how do I optimize them to make them load faster?

That's a hard one - it depends a lot on what software you're using (at least for me to explain!) You'll be using either JPG or GIF compression. You'll have to experiment with both formats (and with compression ratios for the jpg) until you find a compbination that still LOOKS good but has the least possible amount of kilobytes.

On my page (www.leo-design.net) I have four very large "pictures" making the layout. The two sides I felt was okay with GIF at 14kb each. The top was a 59Kb GIF so I saved it as jpg to bring it down to 25Kb. These are large pictures, though. For a small picture in the text I try not to go higher than 5kb, and most are about 2kb (on my site, that is!). This gives fairly quick loading times for me, so hopefully it's lightning fast for people with DSL!

[mom2373]

Re: I have redone my site

That's a hard one - it depends a lot on what software you're using (at least for me to explain!) You'll be using either JPG or GIF compression. You'll have to experiment with both formats (and with compression ratios for the jpg) until you find a compbination that still LOOKS good but has the least possible amount of kilobytes.

On my page (www.leo-design.net) I have four very large "pictures" making the layout. The two sides I felt was okay with GIF at 14kb each. The top was a 59Kb GIF so I saved it as jpg to bring it down to 25Kb. These are large pictures, though. For a small picture in the text I try not to go higher than 5kb, and most are about 2kb (on my site, that is!). This gives fairly quick loading times for me, so hopefully it's lightning fast for people with DSL!

Ok, I am sorry but you completely lost me on this one.I have no clue as to JPG or GIF or how to reduce images as to not use so much kilobytes.

Can you explain to me about this so I can try to figure out what I should do? I am sorry, I do not mean to sound so dumb, I just am lost here

[Bethers]

Re: I have redone my site

Actually, it appears you have sized the pictures fine - and loading time should be improved. The number of tables on the page might also be slowing down loading time, tho.

The pics looks much better not being distorted. :)

[leoni_v]

Re: I have redone my site

Ok, I am sorry but you completely lost me on this one.I have no clue as to JPG or GIF or how to reduce images as to not use so much kilobytes.

Can you explain to me about this so I can try to figure out what I should do? I am sorry, I do not mean to sound so dumb, I just am lost here

Mmm, I'd love to come over and demonstrate for you! It's kind of hard to explain ... here's how "How Stuff Works" explains it:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question408.htm

and also

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question289.htm

But you'll find both of these confusing as well....

You have two options here - decide you've done enough as Bethers said, and forget the whole "file format mess" or decide that you want to learn and understand the technical side so that you have perfect control over every byte that goes onto the web. If you choose option 2, feel free to e-mail me (leoni.venter@telkomsa.net) and I'll do my best to painlessly educate you!

[j_enriquez]

Re: I have redone my site

I saved them as JPEG. Is this what they should be saved as?

I suggest you saved your images in .bmp file to reduce file size but it does not affect resolution of the images.

[leoni_v]

Re: I have redone my site

I suggest you saved your images in .bmp file to reduce file size but it does not affect resolution of the images.

I'm sorry, I disagree! BMP files are always LARGER than jpg, you will never be able to reduce file size using bmp. JPG is fine, leave it at that...

[mom2373]

Re: I have redone my site

So I should save the pictures as bmp files?

[mom2373]

Re: I have redone my site

Ok I posted before I saw your post Leoni. I will leave them as JPG

[j_enriquez]

Re: I have redone my site

Ok, leoni, as for experience when making website, the .bmp files is easier to load than jpeg file. But it is only a suggestion. If mom2373 wants it to be in .jpeg it's up to her.. As far as i know, .bmp is much easier to load in website..

God Speed,
Es0n™

[j_enriquez]

Re: I have redone my site

mom2373, if you decided to leave the images saved as .jpeg, i do also suggest to cut your index page into several pages to cut the slow loading of your main homepage (index).

Thanks,
Es0n™

[leoni_v]

Re: I have redone my site

Ok, leoni, as for experience when making website, the .bmp files is easier to load than jpeg file. But it is only a suggestion. If mom2373 wants it to be in .jpeg it's up to her.. As far as i know, .bmp is much easier to load in website..

It must be different in other countries then, haha! Because in 9 years of working as a computer science lecturer and getting a Master's degree in Information Technology, I have never come across any use of bitmaps as "better" or "easier" or "faster" than jpgs for websites.

If you mean "easy" in the sense of inserting the image into the page using BlueVoda or some other page generator ... well, I can't see why it should be easier than inserting a jpg or a gif.

And if the designer's goal is to make a site as streamlined and quick as possible, bmp files will always make the site SLOW. Check out the "How stuff works" links that I posted earlier to understand why.

[j_enriquez]

Re: I have redone my site

It seems that you're being too sarcastic, leoni.. We're here to help, not to scrutinize anyone who have suggestions.. I guess that you're educatio take far too long to be egoistic enough.. May God bless you though, leoni.. Mine are only suggestions but if you take it as we'are stepping on your Master's degree "ego" it doesn't make sense that you're here.. I appreciate that you're helping but being sarcastic to anyone who would like to help is another thing..

God bless,
Es0n™

[leoni_v]

Re: I have redone my site

It seems that you're being too sarcastic, leoni.. We're here to help, not to scrutinize anyone who have suggestions.. I guess that you're educatio take far too long to be egoistic enough.. May God bless you though, leoni.. Mine are only suggestions but if you take it as we'are stepping on your Master's degree "ego" it doesn't make sense that you're here.. I appreciate that you're helping but being sarcastic to anyone who would like to help is another thing..

God bless,
Es0n™

I apologise if I sounded sarcastic, it wasn't my intention. I also didn't want to brag ... I did want to present my credentials for making my statements. The reason for that was that I don't want to confuse mom2373 any more about file formats. In my opinion telling her bmps are better when she's already using jpgs after she clearly stated that she doesn't understand the formats is just going to confuse the issue.

Let's close the debate now, I don't want to fight. Really sorry, I'll keep my opinions to myself from now on.

[mom2373]

Re: I have redone my site

I have another question. I am just trying to make my site better and load quickly.......sorry if I am asking to many questions.

I was wondering if my menu buttons could be causing my site to load slowly as well? And if so, can I have suggestions on this as well?

I am learning so much from all of you

[leoni_v]

Re: I have redone my site

I have another question. I am just trying to make my site better and load quickly.......sorry if I am asking to many questions.

I was wondering if my menu buttons could be causing my site to load slowly as well? And if so, can I have suggestions on this as well?

I am learning so much from all of you

They seem to be fairly small and each one loads in quickly ... but you have such a lot of them... I don't know if it's possible, but perhaps you can use just one button "image" (repeatedly) and have the captions as normal text on top of them? That way the image will load in once, and the browser will put copies of it as needed. I have no idea how you can do that in BlueVoda, I don't use it myself.