Homebrew PCBs

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Tony Smith" <ajsmith@...> wrote:

> BMP has no patents (unlike GIF & JPEG), so it's irrelevant that Microsoft
> created it (originally for OS/2).  BMP also supports compression, usually
> with no loss of detail.
> 
> That said, GIF for line drawing, PNG for photos, and JPEG for photo where
> fuzzy edges don't matter much.

PNG is good for photos and line drawings. PNG uses non-lossy compression, depending on the program you use it can compress quite a bit. It also supports variable bit depth from 1 bit to 24 bits plus an 8 bit alpha channel.

IE will open BMPs directly but most other browsers you must download a BMP and open it in something else. Most people don't save them with any compression.

JPG should be used for photos only. It compresses 24 bit images down quite a bit and its lossy compression is designed specifically for busy photographic images.

An article I wrote about web graphics for an Amiga newsletter some time ago:
http://www.upchug.com/webgraphicstut3/index.html

Steve Greenfield