[thuynh7]

Just a quick question, what tools does everyone on here to make their web graphics.

I see crystal clear images on web sites, but their file size are amazingly low. When I try and get an image's file size to reduce, it is at the expense to the quality, often resulting in the image looking hazy.

[Mr.M]

For online graphic try
Here

Try to make your own with photoshop 6.0
At least use imageready.

Best Regards.

[prospero]

I usually use PhotoShop to create graphics, but I find MM FireWorks gives the best results for file size because we only have PS4. I think later versions (5.5+) are better optimised for web.

Experiment with whether gifs or jpegs are best for quality. Rule of thumb is, large areas of colour = gif, photographic images = jpeg.

[johnp73]

I was a die-hard Fireworks user until I started working with die-hard Photoshop users. Something had to give, so I started using ImageReady. While I still prefer Fireworks, you really have to start the entire process in Fireworks. Transferring from PS6 to FW4 is problematic at best.

Now that I've used ImageReady for awhile, I can honestly say that there isn't a whole lot of difference between the programs. I think image optimization is much easier and intuitive in Fireworks, though.

My one piece of advice, which always raises hairs, DO NOT do your final web graphics straight out of Photoshop. While it DOES work, you just don't have the same amount of control. At least use ImageReady, which comes with PS...hell, there's even a "Jump to ImageReady" button at the bottom of the toolbar (or use Cmd + Shift + M)...so there really aren't any good excuses not to

- jp

[Paul_Statham]

Whats the largest image size that should be displayed ona web page? Is about 12k right?

[Mr.M]

12K images on the net sound great.

Vector graphics are quicker

[Editor2]

Personally, I use photoshop 6.0. Photographs I save as jpegs and Photoshop 6 has great compression tools with their Imageready program.

For images that dont have a million colors i save them as gif's.

I also use Flash.

It really depends on what kind of images you are making to what program you should use.