Message-Id: <mailto:199507171403.JAA09071@library.wustl.edu> Date: Mon, 17 Jul 1995 10:02:38 -0400 From: Cynthia Frazier <mailto:cf12@CORNELL.EDU> Subject: Re: GIF inline images in WWW pages To: Multiple recipients of list IMAGELIB
The best information I've seen on this topic is at: http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/M_III_6.HTMLThe Yale Style Manual developed by Patrick Lynch
>I have been doing some reading on browser support of GIF images and there
>seems to be a lot of advice (which I think may be erroneous) that if one
>uses fewer colors in a GIF image for inline display the file will be
>smaller. Other sources seem to indicate that after about 5 or 6 images are
>displayed by a browser, the "colors are used up" and no more images can be
>displayed on the page. My understanding of GIF files is that they are all
>8-bit, 256 color images, meaning that a maximum of 256 colors *can* be
>displayed, not that these are always present. In fact, if one saves a
>bitonal image of text as a GIF file, it is saved as 8-bit color, even though
>what is displayed is only black and white. What affects the file size in
>GIF files, since they are all 8-bit color, is resolution and the image's
>dimensions.
>
>My question is this-- is this browse infomation incorrect, as I believe it
>to be, or are browser displays different than typical viewers such as LView
>or WinGIf? I have also heard that some browsers limit the number of
>colors they can display to 8, but that affects only the display, not the
>size of the GIF file. If this is true, then I suppose if one created an
>image with more colors in it, they simply would not display, not act as
>though the colors were "used up".
>
>Comments and hard information appreciated. Best, Pamela
>
>Pamela Mason, Chief
>Electronic Information Program
>National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
>Office of Information Services, E-106
>Gaithersburg, MD 20899
>PH: (301) 975-4465
>FAX: (301) 869-8071
>Internet: mailto:pmason@enh.nist.gov