Using graphics when constructing a website is something every webmaster like to do. However, images can make your website load slowly and actually turn people away. A website should load within 5 seconds, if not you will lose many visitors. You see, most people still connect to the internet via modems and regular phone lines so design your website for these people by avoid using large pictures.
So how can you create a good looking website with nice images and aesthetic quality without making it load too slow?
If it is possible try to avoid using large pictures that delay the uploading of your web page. If you have to use large pictures, try to use a graphic optimizing tool to reduce the weight of the picture(s). There are a lot of great optimizers available and the best ones can cut the weight of your graphics with as much as 50%. Some cost money and some are free to use and whatever you choose what is important is that it does not noticeable decrease the quality of the images. To find free optimizers try a search in Google for “graphic optimizers+free”. Some optimizers will slice your images into smaller pieces and put it back in place on your website. This will not be viewable for the visitor but will decrease loading time a lot if you have many big images.
Your website MUST load in 5 Seconds Or Less
Surveys proves that if a web page takes more than 5 seconds to load you will lose visitors and sales as at least 1/3 of your visitors will click away and maybe end up on a competitors’ website. You DON’T want that!
Thumbnails
If you need to have a lot of single pictures on your website it can be a good idea to use thumbnails. If done wisely, you will avoid long frustrating loading time.
So you think your website looks dull without all the flashy images? Remember that if you may have cable connections for your Internet access most people world wide still connect to the internet on dial up connections.
Thumbnail Size?
How important is the size of the thumbnails? You can put as many thumbnails on your website as you like and any they can have any size you like. But be aware of the so-called “recall factor.” Recall…what? Ok. I’ll try not too be too tech-nerdy now…
A study done by the The University of Calgary showed that thumbnails should have a size of 120 x 90 to get the greatest recall results. This is simply because it matches the screen resolution in proportions (640 x 480, 800 x 600, etc) and offered the optimal size in previewing web sites. The 120 x 90 pixels images also offered the best size in usability and download time.
Images are great for your site and you should by no means avoid using them. They give your website colour and a greater look if done correctly. However, do not overdo it. Design your web pages with your visitors and their Internet capabilities in mind. If your pages takes ages to load then you can expect to lose customers / visitors. Consider optimizing your images instead by using the options that I discussed above. I guess it will improve your clickthrough statistics.
