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Saving for the Web

4:31 with Allison Grayce Marshall

When saving graphics for the web it's important to differentiate between lossless and lossy data compression and various file types in order to achieve a graphic or image that is both high in quality and small file size.

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    [? Music ?] [Treehouse]

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    Saving and optimizing graphics for the Web can be tricky.

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    In this video, we'll use the built in Save for Web feature in Photoshop

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    to save and optimize our graphic for the Web.

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    You want the perfect balance of a graphic that is of high quality

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    but also small in file size.

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    Okay, so when your graphic or image is ready to save for the Web,

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    make sure to use the built in Save for Web feature in Photoshop

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    instead of going to File, Save As like in most other programs.

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    The only time I use that is if I'm not finished with the document

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    and want to save out a fully editable file like a PSD,

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    PDF, or TIF, for example.

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    While there is an option to save out a JPEG,

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    it's not correctly optimized for the Web.

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    In this example, I'm using a badge I created for Treehouse.

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    Since I'm ready to save it out for the Web,

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    I'll navigate to File, Save for Web & Devices.

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    First and foremost, while there are many different image formats out there

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    like JPEG, GIF, PNG, to name a few,

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    all images can be further divided into 2 separate categories:

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    lossless and lossy.

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    Lossless data compression allows media to be represented

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    without any loss in quality or information,

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    while lossy data compression may result in a loss of quality and information.

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    The most common lossless media types in web design include

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    GIF and PNG, while JPEG is the most common of lossy graphic media.

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    Our preview menu is on your left.

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    There are tabbed options for your preview window.

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    I prefer the 2-Up View where we can see the original

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    and the new graphic right next to each other.

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    Now let's move our attention to the right side of the screen,

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    which has all of our important options for saving out the graphic.

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    The drop-down at the top has several different file types,

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    all of which the Web supports, so going down the list of file types,

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    we can mark JPEG off the list because it doesn't support transparency,

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    and we can mark WBMP off the list because it only supports black and white.

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    That leaves us with GIF and PNG.

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    GIF would be a good option for this badge.

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    Short for graphics interchange format,

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    it supports only 256 colors,

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    but since our badge only has a few different colors,

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    no quality will be lost.

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    GIF would also be a great choice because the background color can be set

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    to transparent in order to let the color on the underlying web page show through.

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    If this badge were for some reason animated,

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    it would be the best option since PNG and JPEG

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    do not support animation.

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    Short for portable networks graphic, PNG is another viable option.

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    In fact, if this badge were to have a drop shadow in addition to the transparency,

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    it would most definitely be the best option for this graphic.

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    PNG-24 has great color and can handle effects and transparency beautifully.

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    It also has lossless compression,

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    but the file size is huge.

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    PNG-8 uses the same color indexing and has the same limitation

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    that GIFs do, so since there's no drop shadow

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    and very few colors in our graphic,

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    we can focus on choosing between PNG-8 and GIF.

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    My advice is to switch between the two,

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    play with the amount of colors in the graphic, and keep your eye on

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    the bottom left-hand corner, which tells you how big the file size is.

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    Once narrowing down the best couple options for your graphic or image,

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    it's a matter of how you can balance quality and file size.

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    For this badge, I've decided to go with the PNG-8

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    with 32 colors for the graphic.

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    I've also decided to add a mat of the background color this badge will appear on,

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    which dithers the edges to prevent harsh, jagged edges around a graphic.

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    If you're working with a lot of the same type of graphics like I am

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    with the Treehouse badges, you can create a custom preset

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    which will save all of your settings so you don't have to redo it every time.

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    Let's create one for badges.

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    Saving for the Web is about playing with the settings for the graphic at hand

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    to achieve the highest level of quality while also keeping the file size down.

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    Zoom in on your preview and check the edges of your graphic,

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    and be aware of any distortion that might be happening up close

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    to make the best decision possible when choosing a file type for the Web.

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    Now that we understand how to save and optimize our graphic for the Web,

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    we can find a balance between a graphic that's both

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    high in quality and small in file size.

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    [? Music ?] [Treehouse]

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