How to Optimize Images for the Web on GIMP
GIMP, which stands for Gnu Image Manipulation Program, is an open-source free image-editing application with features similar to those of Adobe Photoshop. It is available for Windows, the Mac OS and Linux. Among the many things that it can do is optimize images for the Web. Optimizing refers to a combination of resizing the image and compressing the file size to allow it to load faster when someone visits the page it is on. GIMP automatically optimizes images when you save them in an image file format such as JPEG, GIF or PNG.
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Instructions
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Select "Open" from the "File" menu in the GIMP software to open the image you want to optimize.
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Select the "Scale Image" from the "Image" menu. View the size of the image and its resolution, either or both of which may or may not need to be changed. A typical Web page is anywhere from 800 to 1,200 pixels wide, so let the width guide you in your choice of image size. Input a new width, if necessary, and allow the height to be automatically adjusted to keep the image proportional. For the Web, the image should have a resolution of 72 pixels per inch. Change the X resolution if this is not the case, and allow the Y resolution to automatically reset. (They will be equal.) Then click on the "Scale" button to resize the image.
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Save the image in the native GIMP file format, XCF. This format keeps all of the information GIMP needs to let you edit the file, including transparency and layers. Select "Save" from the "File" menu and select XCF from the list of file formats at the bottom. Type in a file name if you desire to change it from the existing name, and click on the "Save" button.
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Select "Save as" from the "File" menu to export the file as an image. Select the format you want from the list at the bottom; GIMP offers many file formats, but the three most often chosen for Web optimization are JPEG, GIF or PNG. Type in a file name if desired, and click on the "Save" button.
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Wait for the "Export File" dialogue box to appear. It will ask you to confirm that you want to export the file, and may remind you that JPEG format can't handle transparent images. Set the options for the file format you have chosen, if necessary. For JPEG, this includes image quality, and for PNG, it includes compression level, which amount to the same thing. For PNG, there are other options including saving the background color and the image resolution. Click on the "Save" button to save the file.
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References
- Photo Credit business woman lay on the red sofa with laptop image by Elena Vdovina from Fotolia.com
