Why Use Gifs vs. Text?! Dont get it!

Using words as gifs why when you can simply use text!

[Paul Woodley]

I find many sites that use .gifs to display words that could easily be done as text instead in html.

For example many site have a menu bar that says "HOME" but when I check to see if the word "HOME" is a pic it sometimes is.

I don'y get it why people would do this? The only thing I could possibly see them doing this fo is onMouseover and onMouseout image swapping..but mamy dont have this???!!!

So with that being said why do you guys think webmasters do this and if you do WHY?

-Curious
-PW

[theperlyking]

Perhaps they are using a particular font that they can't guarantee will be on the viewers system.

[FreeBee]

Sometimes it makes sense not to have repetitive navigational links ("Home" amongst others) near the top of pages - they tend to dilute valuable real estate better used for sensible keywords/phrases.

[rcjordan]

You can also add keywords in the "Alt" tag above and beyond contraints of placement and context.

Some items, a copyright notice for example, can be done in text but it leads to high maintenance. A single image can be updated once rather than finding and replacing all the occurrences of the text.

[mivox]

using a particular font

That's almost ALWAYS why I do it... If you're using plain text, you're limited to about 6 relatively universal fonts. Sometimes 6 fonts just don't offer the "look" you want.

The #2 reason is: You have a page with a light background... so you therefore want to specify a fairly dark link text color. However, for the main navigation bar, you want light-colored text on a dark background. A gif is FAR more cross-browser compatible than CSS for getting more than one link color on a single page.

[Paul Woodley]

Mivox..that seems to make the most sense. Heres another for you guys. In creating a website..what percentage of time do you guys think you spend in creating graphics? (Vs. Coding)

??

[knighty]

Mivox,

A GIF is more cross browser only if you are talking about generation 3 browsers and below.

Otherwise CSS is FAR better

[learning]

Can text as gif (instead of html) impact search rankings ... e.g. page content supporting meta keywords?

[GWJ]

Another reason why I use an image instead of words...Content. I do not want some random text to appear before the meat/content of the page.

Brian

[Brett_Tabke]

Stepping up into the strike zone, he says"

Pop Quiz: Which site performs better?

Site A [team-mp3.com] or Site B [showcase.netins.net]

Better click through rate?
Better conversion rate?
Better advertising rate?
Better per user click rate?
More hits over all?

Hint:
One site is currently doing 55k views a day while the other around 15.

Essay Extra Credit Question:
Why? (show your work ;-)

[grnidone]

Sometimes I use gifs instead of text to put statements that are very off-theme, but necessary.

The spiders don't see it, but humans do.

-G

[mivox]

A GIF is more cross browser only if you are talking about generation 3 browsers and below

Don't get me started on NN 4.X... ;)

The vast majority of Netscape users we get are using a version 4.X browser. I had to make a number of text-style related compromises in my design to ensure total compatibility for NN 4.X. GIFs were definitely the easier solution for our main navigation buttons/links.

[Drastic]

>Better click through rate?
B - right hand nav much more pronounced with gfx.

>Better conversion rate?
A - text nav more likely to draw more technical/mature audience=more likely to convert

>Better advertising rate?
B - BRB, I have a message waiting for me. ;)

>Better per user click rate?
A - stickier (looks like WebmasterWorld) :P

>More hits over all?
B - Seems more targeted to MP3 general audience (more gfx)

never did very well with pop quizzes

[knighty]

>Hint:
.One site is currently doing 55k views a day while the other around 15.

>Better click through rate?
>Better conversion rate?
>Better advertising rate?
>Better per user click rate?
>More hits over all? <----------Won't this determine all the above?

Surely the site with 55k hits will also get the rest, 10% of 55 vs 10% of 15.

It would be more interesting to see the click rate if both sites got the same amount of visitors

[Brett_Tabke]

The answer is B for all of them. The graphic version produces 3 times the conversion rate. It has also produced more targeted advertising. It just grabs their attention and they click. It is a pretty stark comparison.

[mivox]

The answer is B for all of them

NO WAY! Really? Wow... I wouldn't have thought so! When I looked at both, I thought the nav graphics in B looked so different/out-of-place compared to the rest of the page that it would certainly turn people off... I didn't even realize it was a nav menu for the actual site at first... and site A has the slick domain name too.