JPG vs GIF: What’s the Dif?

Q:  What’s the difference between a GIF and a JPG file format?

A:  Besides the spelling (sorry, I couldn’t resist), graphics in their natural state are often too large to be quickly displayed on the Web, so they need to be compressed (reduced) in size. The most popular compression formats are GIF and JPG. Compressing graphics with either format does not reduce the physical dimensions of a given image, it just reduces the overall size, in kilobytes or megabytes, of a graphics data file.

GIF (correctly pronounced with a hard “g”), stands for Graphics Interchange Format. Most people pronounce it with a soft “g” as in “jiffy.” Historical Minutia: Years ago, when the GIF format made its debut and people started pronouncing it with a soft “g,” the Jif Peanut Butter folks took exception to the pronunciation. Their nutty protests notwithstanding, most people still refer to items in the GIF file format as “jiff” files. 

JPG or JPEG (pronounced JAY-peg) stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. The JPG format reduces files to approximately five percent of their uncompressed size. Photographs and graphics with lots of colors that blend and fade into one another are best served by the JPG format. This format enables users to save images with millions of colors, while the GIF format is limited to 256 colors.

If given the choice between the two formats, you can’t go wrong if you select JPG.  It’s evolved into an industry standard and today is far more prevalent than its GIF counterpart.

Q.  I have 10 or 11 icons in the lower right-hand corner of my screen which makes it cluttered. Is there any way I can get rid of some of them, Mr. M?

A.  Icons in your System Tray (the area in the lower right-hand corner of your screen) represent some of the programs that are running in the background and thus consuming memory (RAM) and other system resources. It’s best to only have programs running in this manner that you really need to have functioning all the time, such as your anti-virus program, your anti-spyware program, and any other system monitoring applications you’re using. If you right-click an icon in your System Tray, you’ll usually find a Close or Exit option that will disable the program for the current session.

To permanently disable a program that is running in the background requires the use of MSCONFIG to remove it from your system’s startup sequence. For a detailed description and step-by-step instructions how to use MSCONFIG to improve your system’s performance, help yourself to my free, cleverly named “MSCONFIG” article located at http://tinyurl.com/6oqxuy.

Mr. Modem’s Sites of the Week:
Celebrate Everyday
Get the most out of each day with this comprehensive online calendar of international holidays and celebrations. Search for holidays by religion, country and date, or just click “Today” to see which cultures you’re offending by not honoring their special day. As I write this, I see that today is Unduvap Poya Day in Sri Lanka. (Tell me about it; I almost forgot, too.)
www.earthcalendar.net

Flickr: Explore
The cream of the photographic crop that features some of the finest visuals that have ever graced the Web. You can browse by calendar date, topic or group to locate the best images within the Flickr archives. Photos include pictures of animals, landscapes and urban cityscapes throughout the world.
www.flickr.com/explore

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