The task of designing a website is incomplete without putting images on its pages. However you need to be careful choosing the image format that you intend using.

There are currently three types of image formats which are supported by all the browsers. They are JPEG (joint photographic experts group), GIF (graphic interchange format) and PNG (portable network graphics).

The JPEG format is suitable when you have to use many colors for one image. However, it cannot be used for images which have text with photographs. In the JPEG format the photographs may look blurred. The GIF format is used when there is a less number of colors involved as it has a limitation of 256 unique colors.

Usually GIF format reflects pixelated images which affect the beauty of photographs and therefore this format is not preferred. Thus the Portable Network Graphics or the PNG came into existence when the GIF format started showing shortcomings – leading to its decreasing use by the web designers and developers across the world.

On the other hand, a wide variety of images can be stored in the PNG format. Initially the most popular browser, Microsoft Internet explorer (IE), was incompatible for this file format. But as soon as IE7 came out with other java script hacks, PNG format became very effective. Thus the PNG images certainly have some clear advantages over the GIF format.

Let us discuss in detail why the PNG images will best suit your requirement for designing an excellent website.

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