J. McKenzie Hansen

Image Optimization Article

The image optimization article was very interesting. The beginning paragraphs were a lot of things Thomas went over with us in class such as, images occupy a significant amount of visual space and there is no one way or “formula” for optimizing images.

Article Takeaways: 

1. Using web fonts instead of encoding text into images.

This was very interesting to me because web fonts enable use of beautiful typefaces while preserving the ability to select, search, and resize text – a significant improvement in usability. The text in the images could have poor quality due to the text not being selectable, searchable, etc. The only thing is the font has to have its own set of optimizations.

2.  Vector images are more ideal for images that consist of geometric shapes.

This was just used as an emphasis to me from things that Thomas taught us in class. Vector images are better for logos and icons on a website because if you zoom in, it does not pixelate the image.

3. Selecting the right image format.

I really enjoyed the chart that was given to us to help us choose the best format for optimizing images. This section also provided a nice flow chart that helped guide us down the correct path based on what we are designing and what it will be used for. The only thing I do not like about this is some formats are only available for certain browsers, such as the JPEG XR, which is just for Internet Explorer.