Week 2, even more to consider than in week 1

Another week of reading, and it seems to be drilling the same concept into our heads(in the book and on the web sites); it doesn't matter how much you are capable of doing, if you are going to be sharing it with others on the web, "dumb it down" so that everybody can enjoy it. The thing that gets me is that it seems that most professional web sites ignore this rule. Almost every time you go to one of these sites, you need to download the latest & greatest software in order to view it (and that is assuming you have a computer that is capable of handling it). OK, sorry for the ramble, but the bottom line is that although we like to buy the latest & greatest in techno equipment, and we have the ability to display phenominal images and make web pages that would make others cry with envey, not everyone has the hardware or software to appriciate what we have created. It seems that most of these "dumb it down" techniques not only apply to allowing others to optimally view you work, but it also has the advantage of reducing your file sizes (which makes it quicker & easier for others to view, as well as taking up less space on your host server. Something those proffesional don't have to worry about). Some of the techniques that we learned about involve limiting your color palette (no need to have all the excess colors that you are not using taking up space in your file), lower the resolution (the higher the resolution, the bigger the picture and the more space it will take up on lower resolution monitors. A low or even moderate reduction in resolution will save big in file size), Compression (saving the image in a compressed format, such as .jpeg or .gif, will help reduce file size and speed opening), reduce the ppi (monitors only display at 72 to 96 ppi so there is no need for anything higher if it is just going to be displayed on the monitor. This will also help in reducing file size, opening quicker and keeping others from printing your images with clarity. Proffesor M has already drilled this into our heads.), and leaving your images aliased (by not smoothing the edges, also known as anti-aliasing, you will not add more to your file size). Our last chapter this week dealt mostly with typography, and it pretty much follows the same principles as images. You have to take into account that everyones browser may not have certain fonts, so you have to type with reading & legibility in various different browsers in mind.