Tagged: format

Google JPG is 35% smaller/higher-quality – but you’ll never use it

General / Links
22 Mar, 2017

Google JPG is 35% smaller/higher-quality - but you'll never use it

Google has come up with an algorithm that reduces JPGs by 35%, or maintains existing file sizes but dramatically improves quality. The new JPG is 100% compatible with existing programs and web browsers on all platforms. It’s 100% open-source and compatible with the current JPG standard.

And not a single person will ever use it.

Ok, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch. I’m sure some people at Google will use it. And probably a few geeks who like to tinker, but don’t rely on producing visual graphics for income.

Just because it’s free, or offers the end-user a better user experience, doesn’t mean it’ll actually be popular. Unless Google can convince EVERY LAST IMAGE EDITOR ON THE PLANET to use it by DEFAULT, it’s not going to matter. Google Maps is better than Apple’s iOS Maps. Wanna guess which map app is more popular on the iPhone despite that? Convenience trumps everything.

One has to wonder what the point is. Coming from Google, the angle they take is faster website loading.

I’m sorry, but having a 100kb JPG be reduced by 35% means absolutely nothing. The site is not going to load faster, because a 100kb JPG loads instantly to begin with. Ridding a site of Javascript for tracking and ad-serving is the only thing that’s going to speed up a website (something we know Google is never going to do). Heck, I get emails with 1MB animated GIF images in them that load virtually instantly.

But if Google can convince Adobe to use the algorithm as the default in Photoshop when saving JPGs, I’ll be happy to re-save a ton of old JPGs that are still 30MB in size due to their massive size and PPI settings.

New animated Web graphic format

Internet
17 Oct, 2008

One feature that got little to no press at the time of launch of Firefox 3 is a new animated Web graphic format. Until now, Web designers had two options, Flash and animated GIF format. However, users of Firefox 3 have another format available to them, Animated PNG format(APNG). What’s the advantage of APNG? For starters, animated GIF files are limited to 256 colors and do not support partially transparent pixels. APNG supports a full color spectrum, just as normal JPG and PNG files do. It also supports full or partially transparent pixes. Unfortunately, because it’s not a Web standard just yet, it’s only available to Firefox 3 users. The Firefox logo above is animated, the fox is spinning around a stationary globe, but you’ll only see it in Firefox 3. In order to create APNG images, you’ll need Firefox 3 and the APNG Editor extension. The APNG Editor not only allows you to create APNG images, but you can also edit animated .gif images, frame-by-frame. The editor offers a simple set of options and looks a lot like the animation panel in Photoshop. I absolutely hate the constraints placed on me by the GIF format. It’s just so restrictive. I hope the APNG format takes off and gains a lot of popularity, because it’s certainly a lot more flexible. You can read more about the Animated PNG format at the Mozilla Web site, and download the APNG Edit extension here.

Learn more about the PDF/X-4 format in InDesign CS3

General / InDesign
3 May, 2007

One of the many new additions to InDesign CS3 is the PDF/X-4 format in the export dialog box. There are several PDF formats, each with their own specific uses in the industry, and the latest version has it’s particular strong points as well. Steve Werner at InDesignSecrets.com has a great introductory article explaining the new PDF/X-4 format that is quite informative.

Get better .eps preview images from Photoshop

Photoshop
8 Apr, 2007

You may have noticed that if you save .eps images from Photoshop, when you place them in InDesign, Quark or other layout application, the image is jaggy to outright ugly. This is because the .eps image is using the default preview mode of 1 bit/pixel (or 256 colors). You can get beautiful full color/full resolution preview images in your .eps file simply by changing the Preview setting when you save the .eps image. Simply select Macintosh (JPEG) from the Preview: drop down menu. No more jaggies! Never use the TIFF preview image option. It seems to cause a lot of problems with RIPs at service bureaus, printers and publications when outputting.

Create better PDFs by understanding the formats

General
14 Dec, 2006

Adobe Acrobat Acrobat PDFs were created a long time ago with the idea of creating a file format that was universally readable by any operating system with a PDF reader, regardless of whether or not you had the original program and fonts that created the PDF file. The idea was fantastic. Over time though, different versions of the PDF file format started popping up in Adobe programs, allowing great control over the creation of the PDF, as well as the ability to edit the PDF files – something not originally intended for the format. Today we have no less than five main versions of the PDF format to choose from, and even more standards when creating PDF files. It’s just gotten too confusing, in my opinion. Nevertheless, PDF is here to stay, and you had better know how to work with them if you want a smooth workflow and less problems when sending PDF files of your ads and collateral to publications and printers. Below is a very brief breakdown of the various PDF formats and standards used in the design and printing industry.

Acrobat 8 (PDF 1.7) The baby of the bunch. Acrobat 8 just started shipping a short while ago, so not many applications can create an Acrobat 8 PDF, and even less can use them. Avoid this format for a while.

Acrobat 7 (PDF 1.6) Not much changed from version 6 in this release. Some techno-geekery and that’s about it. I would guess that most people completely skipped this release, and it’s probably best if you skip using this format as well.

Acrobat 6 (PDF 1.5) This is probably the version you should use for most screen resolution proofs, internal PDFs and for output with commercial printers. Lots of people have this version and it’s a proven winner. This version introduced layers to the PDF format and allows for JPEG2000 compression, a new JPEG format that uses better compression methods. This version also properly supports transparency in the PDF file.

Acrobat 5 (PDF 1.4) This was the first version of PDF to support transparency and metadata support. While this version is also the first version (that I’m aware of) that is not a “flattened” format. There’s not much reason to use this version when creating a PDF file, as most commercial printers have moved on to newer versions.

Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3) This is the most widely accepted version of a PDF. Virtually everyone can open a PDF 1.3 file. It predates transparency and unflattened formats, but includes support for CMYK and Spot colors, so it’s probably the “safest” format to use when sending PDF files to smaller printers and publications for output since it offers the least amount of things to go wrong. Acrobat also offers pre-defined output settings called “standards” which aid you in creating better PDFs. These are not special formats, just ways of creating normal PDFs for specific uses.

PDF/X-1a This is the absolute best way to send a PDF for output, in my opinion. It is the standard used by the vast majority of the printing industry. By requiring the PDF to have all fonts embedded, any transparency flattened, and the colorspace to be either CMYK or Spot color, the PDF/X-1a format (which is a 1.3 version file) is all but guaranteed to output correctly.

PDF/X-2 Not a viable format except in special cases. This version of PDF was designed for specific workflows such as OPI. If you aren’t sure what that is, then you shouldn’t use this format.

PDF/X-3 PDF/X-3 is basically the same as PDF/X-1a except that it allows RGB data in the files. The advantage to this is that it gives you the ability to maintain the most amount of color in your images, and the printer the most control over the file when they convert it to CMYK – resulting in better color conversion. Unfortunately, most printers don’t want that responsibility or flat-out don’t support it. It’s probably best to avoid this format standard as well.

PDF/A The “A” probably short for “archive.” This standard was basically created to “future proof” your current PDFs. Files saved with this standard are more likely to work perfectly 10 years from now with any application that can read a PDF. This format is perfect for archiving old work when you know you aren’t going to change it or output it commercially. In closing, I’ll leave you with a bit of advice. To keep things simple, use PDF/X-1a for ads. This is the most universally accepted method and will yield the best results when you’re uncertain as to the capabilities and experience of the publication or printer who will be outputting the file. Use Acrobat 6 (PDF 1.5) when creating your PDFs when you’re confident that the printer knows what they’re doing and their RIP supports it properly. It allows for greater flexibility on their end. If you’re in doubt, fall back to the PDF/X-1a format.