Image types?

[MrApples]

Which image type is the best? I notice everyone seems to use .gif, but i've been a fan of .png which seems to produce least file size and best quality.

I've made a header of complete png images now, like 40 of em, and people have reported some loading troubles even though it's only 200KB total.

[calorie]

There is a similar thread here that might help answer the question.

[MrApples]

It's more on the 2nd line. According to that thread .png is probably best, yet there are issues.

Is 400KB too much for a header? This isn't static, it's made up of 25 images total.

[Dismounted]

Do you really need that many images? I mean, 400kB in web graphics is alot...

[ChrisLM2001]

Try to keep the logo under 32kb, and the page (now) under 60kb total that includes images. This is especially true if you have an international audience. For example, I have a 580x120 logo on one of my sites that's over 38000 colors, with many colors and gradients (full color spectrum and many fades), under 29kb @ 93% JPEG. Besides, a 4kb image, it's the only graphics I have on it, since I use CSS to do all the backgrounds/accents (get 23byte buttons with drop shadows this way, compared to over 200bytes with even PNG).

TIP: PNG is a favorite for tcats and theads caps and backgrounds because gradients are 24bit (no degradation) but very small, under 200bytes per image (caps will be larger, like 1kb).

No need to skimp on quality, just choose the colors carefully (less=smaller file size), and keep the images small enough. No background images larger than 4kb; accents under 1kb (preferably under 500bytes); and break up long text in smaller pages to control page sizes.