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Skinny Graphics, Continued |
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| Colors The fewer colors in an image, the smaller its file size. In an image editing program such as Adobe Photoshop, you can reduce the number of colors in each image's palette. In creating your artwork, make sure to use browser safe colors (the 216 colors that display consistently on both 256-color Mac and 256-color PC monitors). But don't stop there. Instead, shoot for saving files with less than these 216 colors. An image created using four browser-safe colors and saved as an Exact Palette 4-color GIF will be three or four times as fast as the same image saved as a Web Palette 216-color GIF. In the second case, the image is carrying around 212 extra colors it doesn't need. You can also try posterizing images to reduce colors before converting to the browser-safe palette (in Photoshop, you can find Posterize under the Image >> Adjust menu). Other ways to reduce colors include using flat art (illustration) instead of detailed color photos, and using simple black and white images wherever possible. |
Lynda.com The site for Lynda Weinman's definitive web graphics book, Designing Web Graphics 2. Limit Yourself: Small and Safe Color Palettes Gif Girl, Tripod's design columnist, tackles optimizing images by reducing color palettes. Includes how to load the browser safe palette. 
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