What's so great about .gif?

[Zakama]

I've noticed that most of the pictures here are in gif format. (I know all the OotS's are in gif, so are all of Rich's avatars) Is there a reason, or did it just turn out that way?

[Ink]

GIF is a convenient format to use for images like the OotS comics that have few colours and are on the web because of the small file size. Using the GIF format for avatars allows the avatars to have background transparency that can be seen on all browsers.

[Bryn]

^Agreed with above, plus...

.png is probably a better file format, since it can achieve similar sizes and allows alpha transparency rather than the 'transparent or not' GIF transparency. However, it is not so commonly used as it was created more recently and it is therefore not supported in Internet Explorer 6, a web browser still commonly used. As more people move to Firefox, Opera, et al, or alternatively upgrade to IE7, png support is more universal, so artists (not aimed at the OP, just people in general) are better off using pngs now.

[SteveMB]

^Agreed with above, plus...

.png is probably a better file format, since it can achieve similar sizes and allows alpha transparency rather than the 'transparent or not' GIF transparency.
Specifically, you can use either a 256-color palette similar to that of a GIF or full 8-bit color in a PNG; the former gives, if anything, slightly smaller file sizes than a corresponding GIF.

Another advantage I discovered while creating a few Erfworld icons is that PNG supports more metadata tags (GIF seems to only support a generic text-comment field; PNG preserves tags for image title, artist name, copyright info, etc).

However, as you noted, PNG support isn't yet as ubiquitous as GIF support.

[Lòkki Gallansbayne]

Actually, IIRC, .png can do palettes of anywhere from 2-256 colours (as well as true colour, although that bumps the file size up a lot, but even then the file-size isn't bad for lossless true colour), where as .gifs can be two colours, 16 colours or 256 colours only. The file sizes for same-size palette .gifs and .pngs tend to be pretty similar (.pngs possibly slightly smaller) in my experience, but if you've got a large palette with a lot of unused colours, .png can save you just that little bit more space by having a smaller palette (obviously this makes more of a difference in the 16-256 range than 2-16).

Add alpha transparency to all of that and .png is pretty much the superior palette-based image file format. The only things .gif really has going for it are more widespread software support (which will change over time and is already starting to become a non-issue) and the ability to be animated. (I have heard of animated .pngs, .mngs or something, but I've no experience with them.)

Going into true colour things are a bit different. .gifs obviously lose as they support no more than 256 colours, but then you have .jpg to contend with. While for cartoon images .jpg kinda sucks due to artifacts, it performs very well at photographs (which makes sense as that's what they were designed for) and images of similar level of detail and accuracy. While true colour .pngs are lossless, I find they tend to be quite large compared to equivalent high-quality .jpgs (I haven't played around with .jpeg lossless at all) - although still nowhere near as bad as completely uncompressed formats such as .bmp - and when you're dealing with photographs the artifacts in high-quality .jpgs are practically unnoticable unless you look really hard.

[Penguinizer]

I ended up getting bad quality with .gif for some reason. I use .jpg even though theres no transparency.

[Lòkki Gallansbayne]

^ What kind of pictures are you saving, what program are you using and what saving options are you using? If, for example, you're making OotS-style art, then .gif should work provided the program you're using picks the palette sensibly. MS Paint, for example, always uses standard, web-safe (because soo many of us are using 256-colour monitors these days :smallannoyed:) colours when saving as .gif so the colours will be screwed up.

[Hakoth]

I rarely use .GIF I actually only use .BMP, or maybe ocasionally .PNG =\

[Ava]

You shouldn't use BMPs if you intend to post the image on the web. Basically there are three types of images you should use for the web:

JPG - for photos and other large, detailed image with lots of color.
GIF - for small images, those with few colors, animation, or transparency.
PNG - good alternative for GIFs (and JPG) though not always the best or only option. (see the above explanations)

When in doubt, save the image in all three and compare the visual quality and file size of each to determine which to use. :)

I save virtually all of my avatars as GIFs using Irfanview.

[xKiv]

The only things that gif has over png now that it is paten-free too (iirc) are:
1) animations
2) more entrenched support
3) something I forgot, but it is seriously important to some people (and it's not compatibility). Perhaps the way it handles layers?

[ufo]

I always use .png. .gif and .jp(e)g always mess up my pictures completely :smallannoyed:

[Hakoth]

You shouldn't use BMPs if you intend to post the image on the web. Basically there are three types of images you should use for the web:

JPG - for photos and other large, detailed image with lots of color.
GIF - for small images, those with few colors, animation, or transparency.
PNG - good alternative for GIFs (and JPG) though not always the best or only option. (see the above explanations)

When in doubt, save the image in all three and compare the visual quality and file size of each to determine which to use. :)

I save virtually all of my avatars as GIFs using Irfanview.
My bad, when people talk about .xxx I automatically switch into my signature maker mode, and I usually use .bmp for my signatures because I use transperancy. But for OoTs avatars I use .png.

[Elliot Kane]

As far as I'm concerned, GIFs are great because they allow you to do this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/ElliotKane/YanaSwordAnim.gif

My avatar is similar, if less complicated :)

[SteveMB]

I usually use .bmp for my signatures because I use transperancy.
Huh? Since when does BMP support transparency?

[Bryn]

I think he missed out the word "doesn't" :smallamused:

[Zakama]

How do you get transparency with gif though? for instance, I made a backup avatar, but just took a screeny of the sandy color around the avatar area and put that around the avatar. Why not just do that?

[Rex Idiotarum]

I prefer .Gifs for Animation, but .pngs when it comes to detail.

[henebry]

How do you get transparency with gif though? for instance, I made a backup avatar, but just took a screeny of the sandy color around the avatar area and put that around the avatar. Why not just do that?

You can do that, but if/when the boards change the background color (and on some boards users can dynamically alter the color and look of the boards), your avatar's background will need to be changed.

You set transparency using your graphics program. Different apps handle this differently. In Graphic Converter (a common Mac OSX app) you set one of the colors on the .gif's palate as "transparent". In Photoshop, you select a color field in the image using the wand and hit "delete" (you should then see that dim checkerboard that photoshop uses for transparent pixels).