What do you concider a "poor" quality Image?

[Dzine]

As many of you know, my site's content is purly image related. Working with jpgs/bitmaps in flash can be tricky trying to decide how to optamize my images.

This isnt a question on how to do it its a question on how much is too much.

I went to GMFs site (nice work by the way) the images used in his portfolio sites were rather pixelated, Ive went to other sites however and they werent.

Is this a developer preference or is there a standard on how much to degrade your jpg on publication. With todays cable + users do I make it for the broad band people and "scew" us 56kers or do one for both?


I have no problem with doing one for both, ive just seen in the past with giving that option people come to me with, "how do i get in your site?" and it stumps me that someone living in 2001 even though theyre not a webdesigner or a computer geek, that they dont know what the difference between "Click here is you are on a 56k or slower modem" and "Click here if you are on a Cable connection or higher"
means.

Anyway
your thoughts?

D

[Wes4444]

Well...as a experienced graphics designer for the past 5 years...Id have to say that you should make something that isnt too much for 56k users...Make it universal. If you are using Adobe Photoshop, use save for web naturally, which optimizes it. But in my opinion, there are stil la awful lot of dial uppers out there to tune them out and focus on high speed cable and DSL users...So..thereofre, id recommend using something not to ohigh, but not too low in quality...

[GMF ™]

Thanks for the time and credit

I think the best way of doing it is to make it for the 56 users and still getting a good quality . Tricky sometimes , but there are some good tricks in Photoshop and Fireworks to do it . Like scaling the right size .

The page you wrote about is for the Norwegian people (mostly) and there arent many left with 56 modems . Thats way i did it that way.

I also think this goes for any object on the internet , make it small in size but still good quality . Sounds are hard to work with if you wants both.

*************************************'

From my tip´sntrick´s page : (i know you didnt ask a question )

[b]Improving bitmap image quality in Flash

There are a few things that can be done to improve the image quality of bitmaps before and after importing them to Flash.

To improve bitmap quality in Flash: Don't scale imported bitmaps within Flash, which can greatly reduce image quality in published SWFs. Rather, use an external image editor such as Macromedia Fireworks to scale the image to the desired pixel dimensions before import.
After importing the image into Flash, break it apart and convert it to a graphic symbol. To do this, first select the image and choose Modify > Break Apart. Then, with the image still selected, choose Insert > Convert to Symbol and select the Graphic option for the behavior.

In the HTML tab of the Publish Settings (File menu > Publish Settings > HTML tab) set the Quality to Best.
Disable the Allow Smoothing option for the bitmap. In the Library window, right-click (Windows) or control-click (Macintosh) on the bitmap and select Properties. Un-check Allow smoothing in the Properties dialog and click OK.
Use lossless compression for the bitmap. In the Library window, right-click (Windows) or control-click (Macintosh) on the bitmap and select Properties. Choose Lossless from the Compression pop-up menu and click OK.

This will cause Flash to render the image at the original imported quality and will probably cause the SWF file size to increase considerably.

*****************************************

Bitmap images

Flash relies on vector based rendering for efficient storage and delivery. Raster (or bitmap) based rendering systems store information about individual pixels to be presented on the screen. The amount of information required to render a raster image is based on the size of the image (or the number of pixels that image contains). Vector based rendering requires far less information, storing only the mathematical data needed to calculate and render the image. For these reasons, raster images can drastically reduce the efficiency of Flash when used excessively.

Here are some tips for using bitmap images effectively:

Take advantage of compression to reduce the total file space occupied by bitmap images.
Flash supports two methods of compression for bitmap images: JPEG and Lossless. JPEG compression is the default compression for all bitmap images exported to Flash Player format. The value in the JPEG Quality field in the Flash Player export dialog box can be adjusted from 1 (most compression, lowest quality) to 100 (least compression, highest quality). Because JPEG compression can result in a loss of image data, you should test images with different JPEG quality values to achieve the best level of compression and image quality according to your preferences. Bitmap images may also be exported with lossless compression to retain image quality. Lossless compression, however, cannot achieve as great a reduction in data size as JPEG compression. To specify lossless compression, open the Library and select the desired bitmap. Choose properties from the Library pop-up menu and then choose Lossless in the Export As pop-up menu.

Use bitmap images sparingly.
Even though Flash will allow you to create a frame by frame movie with one bitmap image in each key frame, the resulting file will still be too large to deliver quickly over a 28.8Kbps modem. For smaller file sizes and faster playback, use bitmap images as accents or backgrounds.

Avoid animating bitmap images.
Bitmap images, unlike vector images, do not scale or rotate well on the screen. Also, Flash Player must render bitmap images again each time they change positions on the screen - often changing large areas and slowing down playback as these areas are continually redrawn.

To retain definition and clarity in the original bitmap, disable smoothing for that image only.
Open the Library, select the desired image and choose Properties from the Library pop-up menu. In the Bitmap Properties dialog box uncheck the Allow Smoothing check box. This will disable anti-aliasing (or smoothing) for this image only. Repeat for each image desired.