It is important to use images and photos in articles and pages. Images and photos make, if well used, an article more interesting and attractive for visitors. But we have to make sure that we use the best images and photos.
Important aspect is the size (width and height) but also the file size (KB). On the other hand, compressed images and photos should be still of great quality.
There are several tools to optimize images and photos. Of of them is TinyPNG that we describe below. You can also use other tools like Photoshop.
- Image and photo size. It is important to upload only those images and photos that have the correct dimensions. Correct dimensions are those dimensions that are fit for the purpose. For example, if you want to add a picture of a person in an article, a size of 250 pixels width and a 250 pixel height is great, you don’t need and should avoid an image of 3000 x 3000 pixels. Not only the filesize will be larger but also loading time for the visitor will be much longer as a larger image needs to be downloaded to the browser first and then, when the image is downloaded, it needs to be made smaller to 250 x 250 pixels. Therefor always upload images in the correct size. Look at another article in this KCI-Support site for the correct sizes.
- File size. Once your image or photo has the correct width and height for its pupose we can compress an image without loosing (visible) quality. A photo or image in a webbrowser, on a computer monitor or mobile phone has different requirements as an image for a printed magazine. Therefor its good to compress your image before uploading it to your online post. An ideal free tool to compress your images and photos before uploading, is tinyPNG.com. Here you easily upload an image and download the compressed image. In many cases filesizes can shrink up to 60% (!) without loosing visable quality. Find below a screenshot with examples. tinyPNG.com is free to use and you can upload several images in one go.
On the left you see the filnename and original size, on the ight the compressed size and the percentage that was gained.
