Head First HTML with CSS

How images work
Images are just images, right? Well, actually there are a zillion
formats for images out there in the world, all with their own
strengths and weaknesses. But luckily, only two of those formats
are commonly used on the Web: JPEG and GIF. The only tricky
part is deciding which to use when.
What’s the difference between JPEG and GIF?
Use JPEG for photos and
complex graphics
Works best for continuous tone images,
like photographs.
Can represent images with up to 16
million different colors.
Is a “lossy” format because to
reduce the file size, it throws away
some information about the image.
Does not support transparency.
adding images to your web pages
Use GIF for images with solid
colors, logos, and geometric shapes.
Works best for images with a few
solid colors, and images with lines,
like logos, clip art, and small text in
images.
Can represent images with up to 256
different colors.
GIF also compresses the file to
reduce its size, but doesn’t throw
anything way. So, it is a “lossless”
format.
Allows one background color to be
set to “transparent” so that anything
underneath the image will show
through.
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