Operation Manual

388

Last updated 11/8/2011

Chapter 11: Web graphics

Best practices for creating web graphics

Illustrator provides a variety of tools for creating layout for web pages, or creating and optimizing web graphics. For

example, use web-safe colors, balance image quality with file size, and choose the best file format for your graphic. Web

graphics can take advantage of slices and image maps, and you can use a variety of optimization options and work with

Device Central to ensure your files display well on the web.

About web graphics

When designing graphics for the web, you must consider different issues than when designing graphics for print. For

a video on saving graphics for the web, see

www.adobe.com/go/vid0063. For a video on importing, and copying and

pasting between web applications, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0193.

To help you make informed decisions about web graphics, keep in mind the following three guidelines:

1. Use web-safe colors.

Color is often a key aspect of artwork. However, the colors you see on your artboard aren’t necessarily the colors that

will appear in a web browser on someone else’s system. You can prevent dithering (the method of simulating

unavailable colors) and other color problems by taking two precautionary steps when creating web graphics. First,

always work in RGB color mode. Second, use a web-safe color.

2. Balance image quality with file size.

Creating small graphics file sizes is essential to distributing images on the web. With smaller file sizes, web servers can

store and transmit images more efficiently, and viewers can download images more quickly. You can view the size and

the estimated download time for a web graphic in the Save For Web & Devices dialog box.

3. Choose the best file format for your graphic.

Different types of graphics need to be saved in different file formats to display their best and create a file size suitable

for the web. For more information on specific formats, see Web graphics optimization options.

There are many Illustrator templates made specifically for the web, including web pages and banners. Choose File >

New From Template to choose a template.