GIF vs JPG

[P3D Marvin Jones <Campfire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> > May I suggest running test instead of just accepting this "common
> > knowledge" without question?
> 
> It has been tested beyond any reasonable need.  JPG quality eats GIF
> alive byte for byte.
> 
> If yours doesn't, it is invariably a non-real world image that has been
> hue-dithered to give the impression of greater color depth in a 256
> color image.  At 24 bit color, hue dithering is not only pointless, it
> degrades image quality!

I guess my real-world experience is the exception, then, because I find
that GIF images are almost always superior in appearance to JPG images. I'm
not talking about any kind of extraordinary "non-real world, hue-dithered"
images. I'm talking about average photos scanned into Photoshop as 24-bit
images, tweaked and backed up as 24-bit TIF or PSD format, with JPGs saved
directly from Photoshop, or "exported" using plug-ins from Pegasus, or
converted from the 24-bit TIF by Image Alchemy (the latter being the best
JPG quality of the lot), and GIFs being exported directly from Photoshop. I
have made scores of comparisons, and GIF almost always wins out.

>I would be surprised if there is even a video card for sale which
>doesn't offer 24 bit color.  I bought my card in 1992, and even then 24
>bit color was a $50 upgrade om a $150 card.  Today there are many 24 bit
>cards are cheaper than the cheapest modem.

A poll of about 5,000 visitors to my website last year showed that
something like 80% of them were running in 8-bit mode! I've read in several
other places as well that the majority of web users are still using 8-bit
displays. It therefore makes sense to me that if the appearance of an image
is of tremendous importance to you in building a website, you're better off
doing a good, controlled conversion to GIF yourself rather than arrogantly
shoving a 24-bit image at your visitors knowing that the majority of them
are going to see it after dithering by the browser program, which will
probably do the worst of all possible conversions.


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