Alright...dumb question...

So as I have the status of a newbie, I thought that this would be a good place to ask a dumb pics question...

First off, what is the difference between a .gif and a .jpg? I know that .jpg's offer more colors and better compression, and that .gif's can move. That said, why would anyone ever have a non-moving image in .gif form? Is there any time when I would use a .gif form for a non-moving image, or is .jpg the better way to go?

Thanks for all your help!

-Ben

the point you are looking for is that GIF supports transparency and jpegs don't. even better than jpg's is PNG though.

Alright, so .gif's can show transparency better. If I am not using transparency at all, should I save everything as a jpg? Oh ya, and what is better about the png? If it is so great, why doesnt anyone slap a load of png's on their site instead of gifs and jpgs?

Bottomline: Which is the best type of image to use for a website with no transpareny or movement in the images to ensure the smallest load times and the best quality?

Thanks...
-Ben

Gif support animation and transparency. You may also control the amount of colors that are used when creating a gif, which CAN make smaller file sizes than a jpeg.

A jpeg supports millions of colors and CAN make smaller file sizes than a gif (for images such as a photo graph, where so many colors would complicate a gif).

Play around with one image and save it as a gif and as a jpeg. You'll notice that a jpeg can distort simple images with only a few colors, and make them large file sizes -- so you would probably use a gif.

In contrast, a photograph made with a gif would be limited to use only 256 colors, so the photo would most likely look weird and become distorted. So many colors makes a huge file size, so compared to a jpeg, the image will look cleaner and load faster.

Sweet. I think I get it. So lets see if I do...

In my site, I use two types of pictures. One type is a photograph, and the other is a floor plan. For the photographs, I want to use .jpg, and for the floor plans (as they are just black and white) I would want to use .gif......right? Or am I completely wrong?

I really appreciate your willingness to help me out!

-Ben

You got it!! That's the basics.

Sometimes, you will notice that you still use a jpeg because you like the quality of it (even if it's basic) -- but that usually will make things a little fuzzy. Play around, and see what visually looks good for you, but still keeps the quality.

As for animation, check out:
http://www.pixel-industries.com

All the animation on that guys website, are gifs that he created. Jpeg does not support animation.

I just made a website that is also a good example (local DJ event managers site in San Francisco):
http://www.bgdevents.com

The text at the bottom (date and the title) are all gifs -- because its such simple images and doesn't create any funky problems. All the other photos are artwork are jpegs.

PNGs come in a bit bigger size but their quality is amazin compared to gid and jpg

That's a pretty tight sight! I noticed on your banner that it is composed of several individual pictures, what is the advantage to that? Also, I have noticed that the horizontal rule is very nowadays. Even the business sector is starting to use them! I didn't do this site, but it has the horizontal on the top.

http://www.khco.com/commercial.html

Thanks a ton for your help. Now I can get started on cutting down a ton on load times by redoing some of my images.

-Ben