GIF Image Page

• GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format.
• GIF images support a maximum of 256 colors.
• The GIF format uses a non-lossy compression to compress image size.
• There are two types: GIF87a and GIF89, named after their respective years of development. The primary difference you will find is that GIF89 images allow you to specify a color that appears "transparent" to the browser. This becomes apparent when you place the same image side by side, with one image saved in GIF89 format, and the other saved in GIF87a format, like so:

When To Use GIF?

• Use the GIF file format for images with only a few distinct colors, such as illustrations, cartoons, and images with blocks of color, such as icons, buttons, and horizontal rules.
• 8-bits/256 colors or less. Use 216-color Web Palette when creating images for the Web.
• As for the pronunciation of "GIF", some pronounce it with a soft G as in "giraffe", some with a hard G, as in the word "gift". For the record, the soft G is correct; it is how the author of the format pronounces it.
• The pictures below are examples of 'gifs', you can see that they are not clear as they would be if they were JPG.
  

• For more information click on the links below.