Lot vs few Slices from Photoshop is better?

[.:: 1337_$ki11z]

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Hey, does anyone have any info on advantage / disadvantage of using a lot of slices vs minimal slices (eg, full page design header to footer, 9 slices vs 30 slices?)

I just did a design that is pretty intricate and after slicing top to bottom realized I made 30 slices.. Will this affect loading time or any other relevant user issue that would be worth going back and trying to alter the design to be more like a normal simpler page design, like around 9 (3 in the header, 3 in the footer, 3 in the body stretching vertically)?

Im seems like it should load just as fast, if not faster since the colors in smaller jpegs are from a tighter spectrum for the compression especially for selective palette.. and if browsers can load multiple jpegs at a time speed up the download time by having multiple jpegs loading simultaneously.. or is this just a crapload of pictures and im off on my diagnoses??

thanks

sean

[joemailey]

Just my opinion.

I would prefer the 30 Images as it splits your connection more instead of the users internet focus'n on one image to get. it be split going for different parts of the page.

Logical sense of downloading stuff. you focus of 1 resource won't be as fast focus on different sections seems to be faster.

Just my opinion maybe someone else can provide better information.

[oatesj77]

If you are woried about speed, designing in photoshop might not be the best. Try working out designs that have repeating backgrounds like 1px by 80px, then us css to stack images on your background, there are few site that load up quickly and have great quality that are grphically intensive. Also look for areas that can be solid color and use html or css to set the background. also reducing headline graphics and using css headlines will also help. You can also optimize your images from photoshop, try dropping them down to 80, 70 or 60, (use the 4 up to see them side by side) see how they look and how much smaller they are, you'll be able to find a happy medium.

as far as slicing, few v.s. lots, the fewer slices, the less the chance of a browser error and the red X.

[.:: 1337_$ki11z]

what about packet size?

[mjp]

You might notice that image slicing isn't done as much these days, and that's for a couple of reasons; First, the performance advantages were always negligible. 150k of images loads in generally the same amount of time whether it's 30 images or one image. Second, the average user's internet speed has increased tremendously. There aren't many 28.8 modem users out there anymore.

It's like any other design issue, you can code to accommodate the lowest common denominator, or you can move with the times and let the stragglers catch up to you. Is anyone here still losing sleep trying to work around Netscape 4.7 bugs, 8 bit color or 640x480 resolution? I didn't think so. ;)

Of course if you write for government or certain private sector sites you have to take accessibility issues into consideration.