Chapter Bonus Chapter 1. Slicing Web Images

In This Chapter

  • Deciding to use slices

  • Defining slices

  • Selecting and modifying slices

  • Setting slice options

Are the images on your Web page an attraction or a distraction? Do they invite visitors to explore your page or send them fleeing to the Back button? Attractive images that load quickly are the key to captivating those who visit your site. Unfortunately, few (if any) visitors will stick around to see even the most gorgeous images if they take forever to download.

Slicing Web Images

Slicing images is a great tool for improving the download speed of your Web pages. Instead of loading up your page with huge pictures that download slowly, you can slice up your images into byte-sized pieces optimized for speed, appearance, and special functions, such as links. Photoshop creates the HTML (the language used to create Web pages) needed to reconstruct your images on your page.

This chapter introduces you to the Slice tool found in Photoshop. Photoshop's built-in slicer-dicer has everything you need to get started in segmenting your images.

Why Slice?

Although speedy broadband connections are becoming more common, some Internet cruisers are still using slow connections. For these users, nothing is more painful than clicking a link and watching a blank page laboriously download a few pixels at a time. When confronted with a page like this, users are likely to click their ...

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