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Graphic Design Reference
.gif: Graphic Interchange Format - A format for
image files.
.jpg: A standard for the compression of images,
acronym for Joint Photographic Experts Group, the creators of the application.
Animation: The creation of a series of graphic
images or frames so that they have the look of moving continuously.
Beveled: In graphic design, it is the practice
of shading around the edges of an image in order to give the impression that the
image is coming off from the page and give a 3D effect.
Bitmap: An image that is composed of rows of
small dots. An example of a bitmap is .GIF, whish is a more effective format of
for the internet than .BMP.
The Bitmap file format is used for bitmap graphics
on the Windows platform only. Unlike other file formats, which store image data
from top to bottom and pixels in red/green/blue order, the BMP format stores
image data from bottom to top and pixels in blue/green/red order. This means
that if memory is tight, BMP graphics will sometimes appear drawn from bottom to
top. Compression of BMP files is not supported, so they are usually very large.
When saving a file to the BMP format, add the ".bmp " file extension to the end
of its file name.
BMP: The accronym for bitmap.
Browser Safe Colors: Computers use 256 colors to
display images, however, only 216 of these colors are the same, these are the
so-called browser-safe colors or web-safe colors.
EPS:
The Encapsulated PostScript file format is a metafile format; it can be used for
vector images or bitmap images. The EPS file format can be used on a variety of
platforms, including Macintosh and Windows. When you place an EPS image into a
document, you can scale it up or down without information loss. This format
contains PostScript information and should be used when printing to a PostScript
output device. The PostScript language, which was developed by Adobe, is the
industry standard for desktop publishing software and hardware. EPS files can be
graphics or images of whole pages that include text, font, graphic, and page
layout information. When saving a file in the EPS format, add the ".eps" file
extension to the end of its file name.
GIF:
The Graphics Interchange Format was originally developed by CompuServe in 1987.
It is one of the most popular file formats for Web graphics and for exchanging
graphics files between computers. It is most commonly used for bitmap images
composed of line drawings or blocks of a few distinct colors. The GIF format
supports 8 bits of color information or less. In addition, the GIF89a file
format supports transparency, allowing you to make a color in your image
transparent. (Please note: CompuServe GIF(87) does not support transparency.)
This feature makes GIF a particularly popular format for Web images. When saving
an image to the GIF format, add the ".gif" file extension to the end of its file
name.
JPEG: Joint Photograhic Experts Group - A common
image format. Most of the images you see embedded into Web pages are GIFs, but
sometimes, especially in art or photographic Web sites, you can click on the
image to bring up a higher resolution (larger) JPEG version of the same image.
Like GIF, the Joint Photographic Experts
Group format is one of the most popular formats for Web graphics. It supports 24
bits of color information, and is most commonly used for photographs and similar
continuous-tone bitmap images. The JPEG file format stores all of the color
information in an RGB image, then reduces the file size by compressing it, or
saving only the color information that is essential to the image. Most imaging
applications and plug-ins let you determine the amount of compression used when
saving a graphic in the JPEG format. Unlike GIF, JPEG does not support
transparency. When saving a file in the JPEG format, add the ".jpg" file
extension to the end of its file name.
PDF: Portable Document Format - A format for
creating files so viewable or to be printed using a viewer program and will
appear the same on any computer. Developed by Adobe, and viewer available free
from Adobe.
PICT:
The Picture file format is for use primarily on the Macintosh platform; it is
the default format for Macintosh image files. The PICT format is most commonly
used for bitmap images, but can be used for vector images as well. Avoid using
PICT images for print publishing. The PICT format is "lossless," meaning it does
not remove information from the original image during the file format conversion
process. Because the PICT format supports only limited compression on
Macintoshes with QuickTime installed, PICT files are usually large. When saving
an image as a PICT, add the file extension ".pct" to the end of its file name.
Use the PICT format for images used in video editing, animation, desktop
computer presentations, and multimedia authoring.
PNG: Portable Network Graphic - An extensible
image file format that is lossless, portable, and highly efficient. It will more
than likely replace .GIF since it has better compression efficiency with
indexed-color, greyscale and truecolor images and an optional alpha channel.
The Portable Network Graphics format will
likely be the successor to the GIF file format. PNG is not yet widely supported
by most Web browsers; Netscape versions 4.04 and later and Internet Explorer
version 4.0b1 and later currently support this file format. However, PNG is
expected to become a mainstream format for Web images and could replace GIF
entirely. It is platform independent and should be used for single images only
(not animation). Compared with GIF, PNG offers greater color support and better
compression, gamma correction for brightness control across platforms, better
support for transparency, and a better method for displaying progressive images.
When saving an image to the PNG format, add the file extension ".png" to the end
of its file name.
Portable Network Graphic: - .PNG - An extensible
image file format that is lossless, portable, and highly efficient. It will more
than likely replace .GIF since it has better compression efficiency with
indexed-color, greyscale and truecolor images and an optional alpha channel.
TIFF: Tagged Image File Format - A format of
graphics developed between Aldus & Microsoft and supported by Mosaic.
The Tag Interchange File Format is a tag-based format that was developed and
maintained by Aldus (now Adobe). TIF, which used for bitmap images, is
compatible with a wide range of software applications and can be used across
platforms such as Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX. The TIFF format is complex, so
TIFF files are generally larger than GIF or JPEG files. TIFF supports lossless
LZW (Lempel-Ziv Welch) compression; however, compressed TIFFs take longer to
open. (For more information about lossless compression, see the description of
the PICT format above.) When saving a file to the TIFF format, add the file
extension ".tif" to the end of its file name.
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