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As essentail as good content is, your graphics matter just as much, if not more. Consider file type and size when uploading images in your online and print content.

Uploading Images in Your Online and Print Content

  • By D. Christensen
  • 2022-11-15

If a picture is worth a thousand words, our digital content's impact increases with each well-chosen photo or graphic. 

Adding well-chosen graphics has many benefits, including allowing you to illustrate a point, explain a complex idea, or summarize a statement. People enjoy looking at pictures, and they'll pause to view them. High-quality graphics placed throughout an article can help slow readers who want to scroll quickly through the content. 

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Most significantly, content with images is shared 1.5 times more often than writing without graphics.

Uploading the necessary images in your online content should be easy. However, you cannot upload just any image. Size matters greatly in the digital world.

4 Times When You Must Consider How to Use Available Space

You must have graphics in your digital content, but selecting the wrong image size can work against you. Ultimately, smaller photos load faster, but the goal is to preserve image clarity while maintaining loading speed. 

Online post image sizes depend on column width,which can vary immensely. In general, smaller images consisting of 640 px to 840 px load more quickly. Opt for the smallest size possible when uploading images to ensure you don't plug up your bandwidth.

Presentations like Microsoft Powerpoint and Apple's Keynote rely on two common image sizes. The first is the standard aspect ratio, also called the 4:3 size, because it lends itself to A4 paper, also known as letter size. It's been the standard nearly forever. 

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However, with the advent of widescreen displays and monitors, the new preferred image ratio is 16:9. This ratio provides viewers with increased visual clarity while filling the screen with exceptional visual acuity.

What about longer content, like books? Whether you're planning your book cover or an illustration between the front and back pieces, size still matters. For Kindle Direct Publishing, for example,our image must be:

  • a minimum of 1000 x 625 pixels. Anything smaller will be lost and undecipherable
  • no larger than 10,000 x 10,000 pixels for optimal clarity
  • less than 50MB for uploading

The type of image you select can also impact picture quality and loading speed. 

Tips for Uploading Images in Your Online and Print Content

You need to know that three file formats command most of the raster image formatting in the digital world: JPEG, PNG, and GIF. 

  • JPEGs have become industry workhorses, and they're often the default image file format for most cameras because photographers can download volumes of them. The compression in these pictures suffers in quality because of loss of clarity. These images are the go-to choice for sharing in emails.
  • PNG images are compressed files that retain image quality in smaller sizes. PNGs have earned favor for websites that must load quickly. They also serve as watermarks and logos, but you should avoid scale printing because the image quality lags when in print.
  • GIFs, the PNG's close cousin, have also found a home on the internet. As they compress, they maintain image fidelity, and because of this, animated GIFs abound. Although the GIF is limited in color palette, they've become a favorite because of their capacity for animation.

One of the newer image types available is the WebP format from Google. Like its predecessor, the JPEG, the WebP image format uses less bandwidth and loads faster. 

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WebPs can enhance user experience on a website. Still, many professionals find this file type cumbersome, especially when trying to save the image as a JPEG or PNG file. The conversion to another file type requires a few more steps than usual. 

Additionally, three specific vector files dominate print: PDF, EPS and SVG.

  • Most people are familiar with the common Portable Document Format (PDF) because the images are interactive and do not lose visual quality.
  • The Encapsulated PostScript File (EPS) is small, scalable, and print-ready, making it an excellent choice for photographers seeking to publish large prints.
  • And finally, the Scalable Vect Graph (SVG), can do double duty on the web and in print. 

If your images aren't in your desired format, don't give up. Instead, consider converting your images to a different file type, such as a JPG or PNG. You'll find many apps that allow you to alter your photos. An app like Image Splitter slices your images into two pieces. 

Graphic Reminders You Can't Ignore

Your online and print content will be richer when you include images that enhance your writing and reveal the emotions captured in your lens. Slow loading times and impossibly large files frustrate the reader and weaken image quality for the viewer

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Commit to inserting high-quality images in your digital and print work. Your audience will appreciate -- and more likely share -- your content.