Formatting Tips To Speed Up Your Website - Part 4

One of the most important aspects of your website design is how fast your site loads. Here are a few tips to help speed up your website.

 

Height and Width Tags

When the page loads and the image size is already defined (i.e. you have used the height and width tags), the browser knows where everything will be before the images are loaded. Otherwise the page has to wait and load the images before the text. The same goes for tables, so try to use width tags when possible on those as well for a faster loading page.

 

Reduce Image File Size

There are many totally free, online image optimizers so you do not even have to install anything and it is very easy. Online Image Optimizer will greatly reduce the file size of your gif, jpg, or pngs and neither you or your visitors will be able to see the difference other than a page that loads a lot faster. They also keep the transparency and animations in gifs. For another JPEG reduction, try JPEG Wizard, also free, this one will only work with pictures in your hard drive not ones from the net. You can also choose some simple effects to be done (flip, mirror and rotate).

 

GIF vs JPG vs PNG

Some web designers are now opting for optimized pngs. They have lossless compression, unlike jpgs and can be used without worry (gifs have the potential to have copyright issues) and load fast. However, if you still want to use gifs and jpgs, and you do not need sharp resolution, choose GIFs over JPEGs, as GIFs generally load quicker. JPGs are generally best for photos, GIFs for anything else.