Adobe photoshop elements User Manual

dobe Photoshop Elements lets you 
optimize the display and file size of your 
images for effective Web publishing 

results. In general, the file size of an image should 
be small enough to allow reasonable download 
times from a Web server but large enough to 
represent desired colors and details in the image.

Optimization is the process of fine-tuning an 
image for use on the Web and is an important step 
in producing an image with good display quality 
and a small file size for use on the Web. Creating 
small graphic files is key to distributing images on 
the World Wide Web. With smaller files, Web 
servers can store and transmit images more 
efficiently, and users can view and download 
images more quickly. 

There are three major graphic file formats used on 
the Web: GIF (Graphics Interchange Format), 
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), and 
PNG-8 or PNG-24 (Portable Network Graphics, 
with 8-bit or 24-bit color). You can optimize 
images in these formats using one of the
following methods:

For precise optimization, you can use the Save 

for Web command to preview optimized images in 
different file formats. You can view the original 
image and the optimized image simultaneously 

and modify optimization settings to select the
best combination of settings for your needs. You 
can also use the layers in your original image to 
generate an animated GIF. When you save the 
optimized file, you can choose to generate an 
HTML file for the image. This file contains all 
the necessary code to display your image in a 
Web browser.

For basic optimization, the Save As command 

lets you save an image as a GIF, JPEG, or PNG file. 
Depending on the file format, you can specify 
image quality, background transparency or 
matting, color display, and downloading method. 

For complete information on using the Save As 
command to save an image as a GIF, JPEG, or PNG 
file, see “About file formats” on page 245. 

You use the Save For Web dialog box to select 
optimization options and view optimized images.

Choose File > Save for Web, or click the Save for 
Web button (

) in the shortcuts bar.