Best All-Around Graphics File Type for Flare

[jcorbin]

Hi there, everyone.

Can an expert tell me what they think is the best all-around graphics file type, for screenshots in Flare, for the widest variety of outputs? For example, is the PNG file type the top choice? Or GIF?

Please note that I don't do any rescaling in my screenshots; they all come in at 100% and stay that way. And as far as outputs (i.e., Flare targets), my top 3 are (in order): WebHelp, HTML Help, and PDF.

My sole criteria are:

A) The best all-around looking screenshots for WebHelp, HTML Help, and PDF output.
B) A file type that won't dramatically increase the size of the final product.

Thanks in advance...

Jim

[SteveS]

Hi Jim,

Welcome to the forums.

First thing you need to know is what format your user's can view. If they are using older browsers you will not be able to use PNG as it isn't a supported format.

About the only given is don't use bitmaps - they're too big.

If you are restricted to GIF or JPG you will need to decide if you want image transparency or not. If you want transparency you will neeed to use GIF. Is the image simple, like a screenshot or is it more like a photograph. Simple images, such as logs and screenshots, work well as GIFs, complex images like photographs work best as JPGs.

PNGs, if supported, seem to be the format of choice at the moment as PNGs handle transparency and offer good compression irrespective of the image.

Another consideration is your graphics package. A certain well known screen grabbing program (starts with CA, ends with RE and somewhere in the middle is PTU) doesn't handle GIFs very well - it creates a mottled effect when saving.

So, the choice is yours - find out what your users expect and select a format accordingly!

[forfear]

Another consideration is your graphics package. A certain well known screen grabbing program (starts with CA, ends with RE and somewhere in the middle is PTU) doesn't handle GIFs very well - it creates a mottled effect when saving.

So, the choice is yours - find out what your users expect and select a format accordingly!

I didn't notice this before in this program ...(starts with CA, ends with RE and somewhere in the middle is PTU).

we use mainly PNG.
because for our tech docs, its mostly software screenshots.
For hardware instructions, say photographs taken of how to operate factory tooling, go with JPEG.
its smaller when there are so many fine gradations of colour in real photos. or you can go stylish and do the 'new york times' style black and white photos.

PNG supports more colours than GIF too!

I am progressive.
ignore GIF mostly. all browsers in the last 5 years support PNG. if they don't they'll probably be wanting them in printed booklets anyway. unless you want to insert a simple animated GIF.

Go with PNG for screenshots, line drawings, CAD drawings, visio diagrams, etc.
Go with JPEG/JPG for photos, lots of flesh tones, etc....



Do GIF if you want

[LTinker68]

Internet Explorer 6, which is still widely used (especially by government agencies), doesn't support transparencies in PNGs. It's fine with non-transparent PNGs, but not ones with transparent areas in them.

[RamonS]

I'd go with PNG as well. When making screen shots use 256 colours, that is plenty. And ideally use classic view or some view that doesn't create forms with round edges. The round edges are really just round edges on a square transparent background and depending on how the screenshot gets processed and displayed you get white or in the worst case black fills in those corners, which really look horrible. Round form edges in Windows are just an illusion.

[NorthEast]

Yep, I would use PNG for all of the reasons mentioned.

The only reasons to use GIFs instead of PNGs are:
- if your readers use old versions of IE, v4/v5
- if the image needs a transparent colour (probably more likely for icons than screenshots)
- if you're using animated images

If using GIFs, a lot will depend on the colours used in your application, i.e. if it uses more than 256. For most applications 5 years ago 256 colours might be enough, but now many interfaces use a lot more colours when you take into account colourful icons, shadow effects, smooth shading, etc. For example, a screenshot of my Firefox browser window with this page has over 6000 separate colours, a lot more than you'd probably guess.
(And don't use Careptu to save GIFs, unless you like your images to look speckled.)

Avoid JPGs for screenshots, unless you want them to look a bit fuzzy.

[KevinDAmery]

JPEGs can be made to look good, if you ramp the quality settings all the way up. But even then they will still have some artifacting since they're lossy instead of lossless, and given that you can cut the colour depth down in PNGs the PNG file size will be smaller too.

Now, for print output you have a whole other can of worms, especially if you're going to a professional offset printer. If you need to provide image files to the printer, you're actually best to use TIF (most pre-press systems aren't geared up for PNG, and TIF has been the standard in that arena for donkey's ages). This isn't a problem if you're delivering to the printer via PDF, but it can be if you are using other formats.

[jcorbin]

Everyone,

All terrific feedback.

Coming from a FrameMaker background for many years, it was always TIFF, TIFF, and more TIFF.

Then RoboHelp was always BMPs for HTML Help, then JPEGs for WebHelp.

As originally suspected, it sounds like PNG is the way to go for Flare development for all-purpose use. I take nothing but application software screenshots; no photos.

Thanks again!

JC

[forfear]

Everyone,

Coming from a FrameMaker background for many years, it was always TIFF, TIFF, and more TIFF.

Then RoboHelp was always BMPs for HTML Help, then JPEGs for WebHelp.

As originally suspected, it sounds like PNG is the way to go for Flare development for all-purpose use. I take nothing but application software screenshots; no photos.

jcorbin, there's been a slight change.

hope you see this. i've been in the 'geek labs' testing graphics, file formats in Flare v4.2..in Visio, Illustrator, Inkscape, etc.

The file types you should choose
its EMF
for line drawings, process charts and any Illustrator, Visio or Corel drawing.

PNG/JPEG for any other types like screenshots and the ilk.

[navoff]

Another consideration is your graphics package. A certain well known screen grabbing program (starts with CA, ends with RE and somewhere in the middle is PTU) doesn't handle GIFs very well - it creates a mottled effect when saving.

So, the choice is yours - find out what your users expect and select a format accordingly!

I didn't notice this before in this program ...(starts with CA, ends with RE and somewhere in the middle is PTU).

I did. I usually do my captures with Paint Shop Pro, then I'll use the program that starts with CA, ends with RE and somewhere in the middle is PTU to add any captioning/cropping. PSP also enables me to easily modify existing images rather than to try to set up the right set of parameters to grab a screen shot (particularly when I don't have access to the program the original screen shot was taken of). It's nice, however, that Capture retains the original image information so that you can change things like how an image was cropped. I can also take that same image, crop it one way, then recall that image later and change the cropping/captioning to use it some other way without having to do another screen shot or retain a "pristine" version outside of my project.

[Richard Ferrell]

Yes capture does have a problem with GIF images, but Personally I like PNG or JPEG anyways.

[forfear]

aye aye