Re: Book Chapter Ballooning in Size

[Tom Regner <tom_regner@xxxxxxx>]

Again, thanks for the information, Thomas.  That's some
bug!  Lowering the image quality has helped a great deal.
Converting to GIF (at 8 colors) didn't help much (I thought
it would, but it did not).   The only reason we went with
JPEG is that we have had success in the past with them
(in much more limited form -- never 50 to a chapter)
and because JPEG is supported.  I'm inclined to change
all of the images to GIF because all of our vector images
(for instance, those created in FrameMaker) are saved
as GIF images for other books.

Thanks again.

-- Tom Regner


Thomas Michanek wrote:

> > it is obvious that the chapter file size will increase if the
> > files are copied into the doc rather than importing by reference.
> > However, our style guide that we've been using since 1997
> > specifies that images should be embedded and not imported by
> > reference.
>
> Yes, but realize that JPEG files still create a much larger overhead
> compared to other bitmap formats, due to the bug I referred to.
> (http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/17062.htm)
>
> > We were able to reduce the file sizes by about 2/3 by
> > painstakingly opening each one in Photoshop, changing the
> > resolution back to 72 dpi, cropping off the (often) excessive
> > extra space, and saving at a lower quality (fine for screens).
>
> Is there a compelling reason for using JPEG for screenshots?
> JPEG is a format made for realistic images, like photographs, with
> smooth color transitions and without sharp edges. Screenshots are
> generally saved more effeciently by using a format such as GIF
> (limited to 256 colors), TIFF or PNG. Even if a GIF/TIFF/PNG file
> becomes larger than the JPEG file, you could still get smaller FM
> files due to the bug with embedding JPEG files. If you make sure
> the preference "Save FrameImage..." is turned off, you won't get
> the extra overhead created with embedded JPEG files.
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> Thomas Michanek, FrameMaker/UNIX/MIF expert
> mailto:Thomas.Michanek@telia.com   (Sweden)
>   http://go.to/framers , or go directly to:
>   http://w1.133.telia.com/~u13304072/framers
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


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