Image Size and Quality on Websites

Photo by Christof On Unsplash

The size and quality of images play a crucial role, especially for web pages. Both are determined by several factors, including physical size, file size, resolution, and file type.

If your WordPress theme has a fixed content width of 600 pixels and you insert an image with 800 pixels width, the image will push the sidebar and disrupt the layout.

To keep your design clean, resize the image to a maximum width of 600 pixels. From there, adjust it to match the overall layout and style of your site.

The file size of an image affects the loading speed of your webpage. The larger the file size, the longer it takes to load due to higher resolution quality.

People often lack the patience to wait for a slow-loading webpage, so keeping file sizes low will speed up your website’s page loading time.

Typically, high-quality large images should be saved between 100K and 60K. Smaller images should be around 30K or even lower.

Image resolution refers to the number of pixels in an image. It is often identified by the width, height, and total number of pixels.

A higher resolution provides better clarity, but it also increases file size. Therefore, you need to balance between image quality and file size.

Different file types commonly used on the internet include compression features. When you save an image in one of these formats, data in the image file is compressed.

Web browsers decompress this information to display the image. Some graphic editing software allows you to adjust compression levels to control image quality and file size.

Depending on the use of images on your site, you may need to experiment to find the right ratio that maintains good resolution quality while keeping the image file size small.

In general, websites use four types of files. The file name suffix (called an extension) indicates the file type. Below are some types of image files used or loaded on a website:

File ico, is a type of file commonly used to create favicon files — but these files usually only appear in the Title bar of your website. The other three types are used for general images.

Jpg (JPEG) stores photos as jpg, which removes details from the photo. A good photo editor allows you to control how much detail is removed (“compression”).

Different photos require different compressions, and if you do this carefully and review the results, you can get a usable photo with a small file size.

Gif, this image file type is very poor for photos. Gif is good for simple animated images, line art, such as logos, with solid areas of the same color.

Png is for photos and line art. This file type can be used for photos without losing detail but usually results in a larger file size than JPEG. However, some older browser versions do not fully support png image extensions.

If you’re not sure which file type is best for a particular image, try saving the image in different types and then compare their file sizes. Using the right type can make a huge difference! There’s more information in the Guide to Image File Types and Formats.

Resizing Images

Resizing images is one of the most common tasks in graphic editing. Although not all graphic software includes this feature, most modern tools do. To check, look at the software’s menu, contents list, or index for options such as resize, scale, or adjust image size.

If your current software doesn’t provide resizing, switch to another program that offers the features you need.

Methods for Resizing Images

Resizing an image is a simple process. Generally, you can use two main methods:

1. Dragging the Corner Handle

Most graphic editing software allows you to resize images directly. The best way is to grab the corner handle, not the edges. Using the corners helps you resize the image while maintaining the correct aspect ratio. This ensures the image doesn’t look stretched or distorted.

2. Setting Exact Dimensions

Another method is to set the final size manually. Advanced graphic software usually lets you define the size by entering exact dimensions or percentages for enlargement or reduction.

After resizing, you might notice the image looks slightly blurry. In that case, use the sharpening tool in your software to restore focus and clarity.

Saving the Resized Image

Once you finish editing, export the image in a standard format such as JPG, GIF, or PNG. Choosing the right format depends on where you plan to use the image—for example, PNG for high quality or GIF for simple graphics.

That’s the article about Image Size and Quality on websites, which Mangcoding is sharing. Hopefully, this article is useful and can provide new knowledge for you. If you have any constructive criticism or suggestions, feel free to comment or send them via Email and Mangcoding’s social media.

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