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Subject:Re: Graphics in CD ROM-published Frame docs From:"Steven J. Owens" <puff -at- NETCOM -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 7 May 1996 19:33:05 -0700
Hey folks,
> Sarah Harris sth -at- alpha -dot- sunquest -dot- com asks, among other things:
> 2. What's the optimal [graphic] file format for online publishing?
joyce flaherty (flahertj -at- liebert -dot- com) responds:
> <...lotsa good detailed stuff about advantages of various formats...>
> which makes DXF your best choice. Other choices are
> JPG for largest file in smallest space, GIF, which is
> somewhere in the middle for size and speed.
There are also some qualitative differences with GIF vs. JPEG
(the actual name of the format, an acronym for Journalistic Photo
Expert Group format, or some such, although in filenames it's usually
contracted to JPG, probably because of all the DOS machines out there
:-). JPEG is what you call "lossy" compression, which means that you
actually do lose some image data (and image quality) when you create
it, although not in direct proportion to the amount of space savings
you get. When you create it, you can specify the tradeoff in picture
quality vs. compression. You also "pay" in terms of the time required
to decompress the image.
Finally, it's "common knowledge" among the WWW crowd (at least
I've heard this repeated half a dozen times, though never seen a
detailed discussion of why) that JPEG is better for photos and the
like (makes sense, Journalistic Photo group) and GIF is better for
drawings and the like.
I suspect that the really important factors in image format
decisions are the platform, media and display system. MS-Windows
likes windows BMPs and Metafiles, Web browsers like JPEGs and GIFs,
Macs like what ever it is that Macs use best (is it still Quickdraw
stuff?).
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