when placing images on a Web page is that you want to optimize your images to keep your file sizes as small as possible. You may ask, "How small is small?" In fact, this is one of the most common questions people ask about Web graphics. The answer is largely subjective - remember that the larger your graphics files are, the Chapter 5: Adding Graphics 131 longer people have to wait for them to download before they can see them. You may have the most beautiful picture of Mount Fuji on the front page of your Web site, but if it takes forever to download, most people arent going to be patient enough to wait to see it. Also remember that when you build pages with multiple graphics, you have to consider the cumulative download time of all the graphics on the page. So smaller is definitely better. Most Web pros consider anything from about 75K to 150K a good maximum cumulative size for all the elements on a given page. With the increasing popularity of DSL and cable modems, many Web sites are starting to become a bit more graphics-heavy. However, anything over 150K is pushing the limits, especially if you expect people with dialup modems (56K and under) to stick around long enough to view your pages. To make determining the total file size of the images on your page easy, Dreamweaver includes this information in the status bar of the current Document window, as shown in Figure 5-1. This number indicates the total file size of all the images and HTML on your page as well as the expected download time at a given connection speed. (You can set your own connection speed by choosing Edit?Preferences?Status Bar?Connection Speed. On a Mac, choose Dreamweaver?Preferences?Status Bar?Connection Speed). Achieving small file sizes requires using compression techniques and color reduction - tasks that you can achieve using any of the graphics programs mentioned in the preceding section. Whatever program you use, you should understand that you can reduce image sizes to varying degrees and that the challenge is to find the best balance between small file size and good image quality. If you really want to find out the best ways to create graphics for the Web, read Web Design For Dummies by Lisa Lopuck (Wiley Publishing, Inc.). It has a fantastic section on designing Web graphics. 132 Part II: Looking Like a Million (Even on a Budget) Use GIFs for animations and transparency GIF is the most widely accepted Web file format that can have transparent pixels to create a transparency effect. (The PNG format does also, but its support is spotty.) GIFs can also have multiple frames, so you can create small, animated loops with this format. Animated ads on the Web, generally referred to as banners, are sometimes made in GIF. Designers frequently create a GIF that just consists of words because it allows them to use nonstandard fonts with perfect anti-aliasing and whatever colors and effects they want without worrying about whether the end user has the font installed. GIF is the ideal format for this because it offers more control over color compression, whereas JPEG compression can make the small lines and curves in text fuzzy. One of the most common questions about images for the Web concerns when you use GIF and when you use JPEG. The simple answer: Use For GIF Line art (such as one- or two-color logos), simple drawings,