pageoneresults - 1:14 pm on Feb 17, 2009 (gmt 0)

The use of .png has wreaked havoc in this area. Images that usually would be .gif or .jpg and weighing in at 5-10-15k are now coming in at 10-20-30k because many are not optimizing their pngs. I don't think they really care or maybe they aren't sure how to do it. I know when I hit a site and my status bar is showing images downloading, there may be some challenges. I have a 6/1 connection so I have a little bit of power under the hood. Anytime I hit a site and see a status bar, I would be concerned.

Now, take that difference and multiply it by however many images fit this criteria and the numbers add up very quickly. You can severely hamper the visitor experience on various devices by using larger size images when they can easily be converted and made a fraction of their size.

I come from the camp that every byte should be optimized to the nth degree without any loss in quality. Yes, we are a high speed Internet for the most part but according to statistics, there are still some large numbers in the "less than satisfactory" speed category. Those could be dialup, mobile, etc.