Images file should be saved in Gif or Jpeg!

[SangyD]

In what type (gif or jpeg) an image file should be saved, to be used for the Web Help file created in RH Html v6.

Although, the size of the jpeg file is much bigger than the gif file but the clarity of the jpeg file is better then gif file. However, I am not sure how much worth it is still to save the images in jpeg!

[johnmccallum]

The big difference is in what type of image it is. GIF is better for images with blocks of a uniform color such as screen shots of software dialog and diagrams, while JPG is better for photgraphic images with complex color gradations. GIF will not provide much compression on complex images. The clarity of the GIF should be perfect (exactly matching your original) unless you have some color reduction scheme in place. JPEG files can be reduced in size by changing the "quality," often without noticeable degradtion in the image.

John

[Guest]

I find that it's not about Gif or Jpeg but what package and forma the image was created in initially. Personally, I tend to capture in something like Paintshop pro then do any mods at high resolution before saving as a Gif or Jpeg. My personal preference is to use Gifs created in this way.

[Guest]

All RH users: Note this!
RH goes unstable if you use PNG image files in your projects. Symptoms is intermittent crashes for no apparent reason. Normally this happens when opening a topic; you can see the progress status stick on a PND file; and then it locks up big time and offers a message box so you can send details to Microsoft.

I have been plagued by this problem for about 4 years, and finally converted a coupla hundred PNG images in a project to GIF, and edited the html links accordingly. Now it's stable, and crashes are now very rare indeed.

[Captiv8r]

Hi all

And on the flip side of this...

I regularly use .PNG images with apparent impunity. Then again, I normally create them using SnagIt. So a PNG probably isn't a PNG. Eh?

I do believe I've seen reports of issues related to saving as a PNG from Visio and attempting to use in RoboHelp.

Cheers... Rick

[johnmccallum]

To reiterate what Rick said - a PNG isn't always a PNG. Or to paraphrase George Orwell, all PNGs are created equal, but some are more equal than others.

I don't know that the PNG format has been standardized. The compression algorithm seems to differ depending on source. I can take the same bitmap and convert it to PNG with different graphic tools and get very different files (up to 15% variation in size). Some of these PNGs work in CHM files, some don't. They all seem to work across graphic viewers as far as I can tell but other programs - like Word, RoboHelp, and the help viewer (IE components) only read some of them.

John

[M-C_Hammer]

I prefer to work with GIFs but all GIFs are not equal either. I use Paint Shop Pro and depending on which options you choose when reducing the colour depth, you may end up with grainy or pixelised GIFs...GIFs support transparency, which is nice if you use a bit of graphic design in your Help Files (map images for example). I tend to use JPGs for photos only. JPG is a compressed format but JPG compression is lossy so ultimately you loose image quality.

[Guest]

I have alot of flowcharts created using Visio in my project and I put them on a word document and import them into RoboHelp. Do you think I should convert them?

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi Richard. I come from the school that if there isn't a good reason to change something then it is best to leave alone.