Smartly Optimizing Graphics as a Part of Web Design
It is not only the text and font but it is also the images that add to the weight of an online page. In fact, in several cases, only images make up for the page’s significance. Therefore, graphics are a must to convey lots of information in a short and sweet way. Nevertheless, a weighty page also means slow download that is something that visitors will not tolerate. Therefore, it does not suffice to simply add relevant images to the pages. Optimizing images on a page is also one of the vital tasks of designing a Web site. So, here is how you need to properly optimize the images on any Web page.
Ensure Perfect Resolution
As a rule of thumb, the pictures on a Web page need to be of high resolution but should be of small size. This is because although the images will appear clearer, they would not slow down the page’s downloading speed. This is also a vital ranking criterion of the search engines. As computer monitors can accommodate only 72 dots per inch (dpi), you need to keep the resolution of 72 dpi. In case the image is big, consider splitting it into smaller ones or cropping it so that it loads in a fraction of the total time its big version would take.
In addition, you need either the JPEG progressive or GIF or PNG interlaced property for speeding the loading time. These properties load the image initially as a blurry image and then make it sharper and clearer.
Include the Width and Height Attributes
These attributes are added in the tag in HTML code. When you specify the width and height attributes, the tag indicates the box size to the browser for displaying the image. This means that the browser can easily load the rest of the page while the image is downloaded. However, in absence of width and height, the browser will halt the page downloading process until the image gets downloaded. This is surely going to take much time to load the entire page, which is not feasible.
Retain the Quality
It is known that images need to be clear in terms of looks and fine in terms of color. Therefore, it is vital to utilize a graphic editor for discarding any distracter that can harm the looks or color. There may be unwanted marks, unaligned edges, and red-eye errors; which any designer will remove on the spot. Further, a designer may also desire to adjust color level or change the background by using an editor. Apart from image modifications, you can also think of some enhancements for ensuring quality. For example, you can add a thumbnail on the page for allowing the user to choose to view or ignore the image. Moreover, it is wise to keep stylized graphic text.
Further, many graphic files entail information that is usually not needed on the Web. Therefore, designing programs such as Photoshop offer an option of ‘Save for the web’ to keep all unnecessary information at bay without risking the picture quality.
Keep Fewer Graphics
It is true that graphics help in improving the usability of a site apart from providing the information that a visitor is seeking. However, this does not mean that you can use as many graphics as you want. In fact, having too many images on a page is not good. Anything in excess is dangerous! Several images on a page not only irritate the visitors but also slow down the loading speed. This is because graphics share over 50% of the download time of a page. Therefore, one must limit the number of images on a Web page.