Optimization

Graphics need to be optimized according to their use. Remember that GIF and JPEG are used for different types of images.

In Fireworks you can set general optimization settings. The settings of individual slices, however, override these settings. Therefore it is a good idea to set your optimization settings when you work with slices.

You can make your selections from the Settings dropdown menu. In the menu these optimization presets are available:

GIF Web 216 forces all colors to Websafe colors. The color palette contains up to 216 colors (see the explanation of the color palettes below).

GIF WebSnap 256 converts non-Websafe colors to their closest Websafe color. The color palette contains up to a maximum of 256 colors.

GIF WebSnap 128 converts non-Websafe colors to their closest Websafe color. The color palette contains up to 128 colors.

GIF Adaptive 256 is a color palette that contains only the actual colors used in the graphic. The color palette contains up to a maximum of 256 colors.

JPEG - Better Quality sets quality to 80 and smoothing to 0, resulting in a high- quality but larger graphic.

JPEG - Smaller File sets quality to 60 and smoothing to 2, resulting in a graphic less than half the size of a Better Quality JPEG but with reduced quality.

For GIF files these palettes are available by default:

Adaptive is a custom palette derived from the actual colors in the document. Adaptive palettes most often produce the highest quality image.

Web Adaptive is an adaptive palette in which colors that are close to Websafe colors are converted to the closest Websafe color.

Web 216 is a palette of the 216 colors common to both Windows and Macintosh computers. This palette is often called a Websafe or browser-safe palette because it produces fairly consistent results in various Web browsers on either platform when viewed on 8-bit monitors.

Exact contains the exact colors used in the image. Only images containing 256 or fewer colors may use the Exact palette. If the image contains more than 256 colors, the palette switches to Adaptive.

System (Windows) and System (Macintosh) each contain the 256 colors defined by the Windows or Macintosh platform standards, respectively.

Grayscale is a palette of 256 or fewer shades of gray. Choosing this palette converts the exported image to grayscale.

Black and White is a two-color palette consisting only of black and white.

Uniform is a mathematical palette based on RGB pixel values.

Custom is a palette that has been modified or loaded from an external palette or a GIF file.

Remember that you can look at the different optimization settings in the 2-up and 4-up views of the document window.