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> In my experience, inserting .bmp screen caps in a Word doc causes
> the doc to be of a larger size than if another graphic format, such
> as .gif. TIF files seem to be not appreciably smaller than BMP files.
> I have always printed screen caps grayscale, so have not had the color
> issues/process that Jane references in her message.
One thing I neglected to mention is that the colour depth of an image will
also make a difference. A GIF will often take up less memory than an
equivalent BMP or TIFF, because it has a much smaller colour depth. Having
only 8 bits of colour information, rather than 24 or even 32 bits as
true-colour formats have, means that the uncompressed size of a GIF is only,
roughly, 1/3 or 1/4 that of the same image in true colour. (Compression
ratios will vary, depending on the image.)
I would concur with Jane that in many if not most cases, an 8-bit image is
just as functional as a true-colour one, although I would be prepared to use
the better-quality image if necessary. Since both greyscale GIFs and
greyscale RGB images use 256 levels of grey, I think you should also be able
to get comparable quality in the GIF with considerably less byteage.
Take care,
Scott
--
Scott A. McClare - Technical Writer
Neptec Design Group
(613) 599-7603 x504
smcclare -at- neptec -dot- com
