Slicing is the fine art of optimizing your graphics for the web, cutting them into pieces to put back together like a puzzle, with the goal of making everything as small as possible. For the web, graphics should be scaled down to screen resolution: 72ppi. Slicing methods will be demonstrated in class, if you miss this demo, first ask your peers to explain the process, if you still have questions then make an appointment to see me.
Web safe file types:
- JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) – is a lossy file type that is excellent for images with millions of colors, like photographs.
- GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) – is a loss-less file type that supports indexed transparency and animation. it is excellent for images with a limited color palette, like logos or patterns, as it supports between 2 and 256 colors.
- PNG (Portable Network Graphics)– is also a loss-less file type that supports alpha transparency and a greater range of colors than a GIF, but is a much larger file type than GIFs and JPGs. It is excellent for anything that needs alpha transparency.
A few tutorials on the subject:
- http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/videos/fireworks-videos/getting-started-with-fireworks-intro-to-using-the-slicing-tool/?search_index=1
- http://bestwebdesignz.com/tips/fireworks/web-slices-fireworks-cs5/
- http://help.adobe.com/en_US/fireworks/cs/using/WS4c25cfbb1410b0021e63e3d1152b00d35d-7fff.html
- Photoshop VS Fireworks