Re: GIF's for Buttons - Why? (Was: Photoshop colors)

>IMO you should use whatever has the smaller file size, completes the effect
>you want, and gives the better presentation. Namely;


Definately....I agree, however in most cases what I described will work
best. (using jpg for photos or complex images and gifs for buttons and
cartoon type image)
Don't take my word (and the word of all the expert graphic designers on
this)  there will be cases where you need to do something different (as I
mentioned in my post)
>
>If you have a complex background image and you want the button to appear
>directly on top of it use a transparant gif, if you have a plain background
>with a complex coloured button then try a gif and jpeg version and see
which
>is better.

Sure, I personally prefer not to use jpg unless I can't get the quality I
wish from a gif.  The reason for this is in part due to the fact that I know
I lose some quality when I resave jpgs.  And I certainly can attest to that
fact from experience!  The other reason is that for buttons and most web
work I often use transparency, which means I use a gif.  Also, if there is
to be any animation, I need to use a gif.

>
>IMO saving all your Nav buttons as Gifs and all your pretty pictures as
>Jpegs is a bad habit audition the two types and see how both of them look
>then make a decision.

Bad habit?   Hmmm, that might be a poor choice of words I think.  However,
I've done the comparing...and this is why I've decided to work as I
described : )   Your main consideration should be how good it looks and how
fast it loads....format is irrelivant to the viewer.

One other thing to note:   It is very important to save your work in .psd
format (if using photoshop) so that if you do need to make changes, you have
the original.  Try to never have to work from a previously made jpg or gif.
(unless you have no choice)  I've had clients send their images to me in jpg
(after saving from a .tiff) thinking they were doing me a favor sending a
smaller sized file via email.  In fact, had I known a better format was
available in the first place, it would have saved much headache wondering
how to improve upon the image.

Heather

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