PART ONE: ACCESSING EXPORT PREVIEW
To put an image onto a web page one should first make sure that the image isn’t too big or too small for viewing. Furthermore, an image file shouldn’t take up too much room or people trying to access the image will have to wait longer for it to download. Here you will learn how to take your image files and tailor them for internet posting.
- Once your image is loaded onto fireworks and you have finished editing it, pull down “file” on the menu bar and select “export preview” {IMAGE}
- Once in export preview you should see a preview of your image on the right as well as settings on the left.
- On the top left of the export preview screen you will see three tabs labeled “options” , “file”, and “animation”. We will be only using the first two . {IMAGE}
PART TWO: CHANGING IMAGE SIZE
The simplest way to alter an image for web posting is to simply change its size. By changing the image size you can make the overall file size smaller and reduce the download times.
- Click the “file” tab in the upper left corner of the export preview window.
- Once in the file window you will see three adjustable values in the upper left corner, “percent” ,”height” and “width. {IMAGE}
- If you would like to reduce your overall image size (and file size) move the percent value slider down—if you wish to increase the image size, move the slider up.
- Once you have moved the percent slider look to the space just above the image and look for the file size. {IMAGE} It will change as you change the size of the image. The smaller the file size, the quicker it will load for you viewers over the internet. Also displayed here is the estimated download time for this image over the internet with 56kbps.
- You can also change the size manually by using the height and width values just below the percent slider. This is ideal if you know the exact dimensions you want you image to be.
PART THREE: CHANGING FILE TYPE
In addition to altering the image size, one can also change the file type. Choosing between JPEG and GIF can mean significant differences in load times. Note: JPEG and GIF are the most common file types for internet browsers, thus you should use only these file types. Using any others may result in broken links or images failing to load.
- In the upper left corner of the export preview window, click the “options” tab.
- You will now see two adjustable values in the upper left corner, labeled “format” and “quality”. Just below that you will also see “smoothing”.
- First, select type and pull down to either Jpeg or Gif and watch to see how it changes your file size and download time, just as before. If you would like smaller file sizes you should probably use Jpeg.
- Next, adjust the “quality” slider just below “format”. The higher the quality the better the image resolution. However, higher quality will drastically increase your file size.