Graphic Mistakes

Good web design requires a balance between text and graphics. How many graphics you choose to use on your web page, if any, depends on what your site is about.

The problem with graphics is that they slow down page loading time. For dial-up users the loading time of a page is of primary importance. For those with high speed connections, loading time is unimportant, but bandwidth may be an issue.

There are a few common mistakes made when using graphics that can be easily avoided and will make your site visitor's experience much more enjoyable.

1. Large and Uncompressed Graphics. Large graphics have a place on the Web, but it is not in the middle of your web page. Where a site has these images, there should be a lower resolution thumbnail linking to the larger image. Then only the people who want the large image will have to wait for it to download.

Even smaller graphics can still have large file sizes if they're not compressed properly. Consider the following:
- Reduce the number of colours in a GIF image to make it smaller.
- JPG files can be easily compressed by increasing the loss percentage - just check that you are retaining enough image quality though.
- Save photographs as JPG files and clip art type graphics as GIFs.

2. What About Animated Graphics? With the popularity of Flash movies, animation file sizes can be huge and a person with a slow modem may never get to see your masterpiece.

Simple graphic animations can be optimized in a similar way that static GIF's can. Reduce the number of colours, remove redundant pixels and keep them simple!

Flash graphics are a topic on their own, but they do require the user has a plug-in so they are able to view the file. Some people refuse to install browser plugins, thus they may never see the flash trash. Be sure to put important items such as navigational buttons in regular html code so they can be viewed in all browsers.

3. Creating Backgrounds And Fonts - If you have a favorite, but obscure font you want to use on your web site, then you should use it in a graphic because many viewers may not have that font on their systems and then their browser will default to their default font. If you choose to make some words into graphics, keep them light weight. All fonts used need to be readable, so consider the font size and effects you will use on it.

Don't create garish font/background combinations. Dark purple font on a navy background cannot easily be seen, and red on blue is difficult for many to read too.