Creating an eye-catching website is essential for making your business stand out, and graphics play a key role in achieving that. To enhance your website’s visuals, it’s helpful to understand Adobe Illustrator and InDesign. Adobe Illustrator is a free and powerful tool for creating art-like figures, borders, and shapes, accessible at www.adobe.com. Although InDesign is more computer-oriented, installing the desktop version of InDream allows you to seamlessly integrate it with your computer for graphic additions. Both tools make it easy to save files as editable images without requiring special training. Don’t forget to explore AI graphic design tools for added versatility. This article guides you through optimizing images for the web, providing essential insights to improve your website engagement. Let’s get started on building your website today.
Use modern image formats
PNG is the most common image format used in the web world. It is a binary format that cannot be distorted or changed as a file can.
The Power of PNG gives it quality control abilities not available in other file formats. Thus, when designing websites, graphics need to be in PNG format.
If your website does not use a standard format for design files, then it will look worse than if it was designed in PNG format. Use the same file type for graphics and documents, or risk pixelation and poor-quality images.
PDFCAT is a free app for PC that automatically converts formats between Windows and Mac computers.
Use smaller image sizes
Using the correct image size for your website or project is a vital part of improving graphics on your site. When images are too large, you may not be able to easily update them or remove them when you need to.
To determine how large an image you want, start with a small image and work down to the largest size you want your final image to be. This will help give you a good baseline to work from when designing your image.
For your computer to view an image this size, it must be downloaded and installed as a file. Once that happens, the computer will recognize it as an installed file and update it accordingly.
Using small images also helps keep things simple looking-wise. When more images look like what you have, then they must use similar software for this effect to come into play.
Because of this, many web designers suggest using smaller images for animated graphics such as cartoons or illustrations.
Use compression
Compression is an important part of improving graphics on a website. It can help reduce the size of your graphics, making them look better and more immersive.
Compression can be automatic or semi-automatic. The majority of web developers offer some form of compression, so you do not need to worry about becoming proficient in this area.
Most commonly, compression is used in large images such as image files or videos that your site needs to display more content. These images may also be used in marketing materials, advertising, or promotional material for your site.
Using compression can give you some nice side effects such as removing the need for a digital resizing app or digital export app on your device.
Create multiple versions of your images
Creating multiple versions of your images will give your users some options as to how they want to view your website. This can be important for users who are searching for information about your business, as these images may help them determine whether or not you’re a good fit for their needs.
When users click on a photo or video link, their computer will render the image or video in the way that it is intended. This can be important if someone is looking for something specific, such as a smiling image of a restaurant name, a happy image of a medical center name, and a dark image of an office building.
By creating different images, users can determine which one best represents them. This is particularly important when some special circumstances require an altered picture, such as being lost in search results or being informed of an issue.
Implement a CDN
If you want your website to be mobile-friendly, then a CDN is essential. You can get a free one from CloudFront, but if you want more features then buy it.
Mobile browsers cannot access local files because they do not use the file system. Therefore, you must have a website host that has a CDN so your files can be loaded onto the appropriate device.
There are many benefits to having a CDN, including getting updates from your server quickly and having reliable service when travelling because you will have a reliable data connection.
Many websites that are not mobile-friendly do not have a CDN, making it difficult to achieve an optimal mobile experience for users.
Reduce bandwidth usage with adaptive streaming
When you are streaming a large amount of data, your internet connection may use too much bandwidth. If you are streaming a lot of data, then you should consider using adaptive streaming.
Adaptive streaming means the internet provider will periodically switch to a different resolution or quality of video for the duration of a download or upload. This helps save on internet connection and device storage.
When it comes to website graphics, having them adapt saved space on your device and your internet connection. When you are looking for something, the font may be remapped into another one to save even more space!
However, when using adaptive streaming, there can be some issues. First, when it comes to devices that have only one screen, then they will need to get used to having two screens.
Use the latest technologies and standards
As the saying goes, technology changes, people change, and standards and technologies evolve. That’s true even for website designers and developers.
Today, new standards and technologies are mainstream. A few years ago, using JavaScript was a crime that only professionals were allowed to do. Today, everyone is familiar with it.
Similarly, legacy systems that don’t use the latest technologies aren’t going to be useful or accurate in today’s digital world. You can see that in the rising number of technical requirements for websites and apps.
Today there are new ways to program code, create documents, and present highly technical information. These are typically not designed for easy access by plain-eye citizens, but should be used more often!
Use them! They can make a big difference in your audience’s experience with your website or app.
Test your site with Pingdom
When your site is running great, let it be. Now is not a time to fix or update your site!
Instead, try using the free tool Pingdom to see if your site is connected to the internet. You can then go ahead and update your graphics to improve their quality.
Pingdom will check for website speed, uptime, and continuity of content. If any of these factors are poor, then there may be a chance that updates will improve graphics as well as user experience.
