Web Graphics

Web Graphics

There are a wide variety of formats used for web site graphics. However, the two most common are:

GIF - Graphics Interchange Format, and
JPG (or JPEG) - Joint Photographic Experts Group.

These formats are designed for the World Wide Web, specifically for ease in downloading. GIF is used more often than JPEG. JPEG is a format developed by graphic artists and designers - hence, "Photographic Experts" - and is used primarily for photographs and high resolution pictures. In any case, for the average web surfer these images look identical. Should you find an image you wish to save, the process is the same regardless of the format.

For PC users: Place your cursor on the image and click to choose the image. Then hold down your right mouse button and choose "save". The browser will then prompt you for location to save the image. Note the directory into which you save the image. It will make it easier to find later.

For MAC users: Since your mouse has only one button, you need only hold down this button after clicking on the image. Everything else is identical to the way PC users save an image.

Another item to look for is the Animated GIF. If you have spent any time surfing the Web recently, undoubtedly you have come across images that move. These are animations and are formatted as animated GIFs. Animated GIFs can be saved in the same manner as regular GIFs.

Occasionally you will come across MPEGs - Moving Photographic Experts Group - as well. These are not like animated GIFs. Think of them as movie clips. They can also be saved following the same steps above.

Some other formats of web graphics you may see are: PCX, TIFF, TARGA and PIC. Unless you wish to create graphics yourself or plan on designing web pages you do not need to know anything about these image types except:

1. they can be saved exactly as the other image formats we have discussed, and
2. they look like GIFs or JPEGs. You will only see the difference when you look at the name of the file.

For PC users: The files will have an extension at the end - i.e., picture.gif or picture.jpg or picture.pcx
For MAC users: The files will have a description telling you that they are a GIF file or a JPEG file, etc. If the image was named as picture.gif then the file name will be picture.gif. Remember that images created on a MAC will most likely not contain the .gif but will just have the name Picture. This is a difference between file naming on the PC and on the MAC. This is not a new aspect of file names for the internet; it is just the difference between file names on the two platforms.

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