Size of images. 150KB vs.512KB

[Catlegend]

Hi, I got a warning on my comic saying that I'm exceeding the 150KB file size.

Lately I've been coloring and added panelse to my usually black and white single paneled comic. catlegend.keenspace.com

When I'm finished in Photoshop my file size will be about 1000. I have to make it much smaller and much less crisp in order to get it down to about 300 KB.

Is there an easier way to have the KB less without losing the quality?

Also, on the title page of keenspace Kisai said we had 512KB to use, but my login site only has a 150KB. Is there a connection I'm missing?

thanks a LOT for the time

[Clawster]

i'd suggest rethinking both the layout and size of your comic.

firstly, i'm fairly sure i'm justified in saying that 531x2520 is WAY too big for a comic. the width is fine, the length isn't. same goes with 750x3488.

at a guess it looks like you're going straight from scanner to photoshop. working with it in a high res is okay, as long as you resize after you're done. the comic just doesn't need to be as big as you have it. scale it back under image>>image size. to do it properly, you might need to rethinx your comic layout, go partially horiztonal instead of straight down.

and to squeeze those extra kb's of space back, you can also adjust your jpg compression quality. but i wouldn't bother.

a little trick that i managed to work out (and i'm sure many comickers are using it) is to have a baseblock that you always work from. i use flash personally, and so i've got a file that's already pre-sized to 500x750 pixels, with a pre-drawn title bar on it - that's how i get them to all look and be the same size. after you scan, you just adjust your picture size and layout to fit the border, and whammo - you've got a well sized comic that shouldn't be too big on the kb arena...

sorry if it was a bit wordy - i've recently already given this speech to a friend of mine who's just starting up his keenspace a/c.

hope it helps! good luck.

[JexKerome]

What format are you using? try saving as PNG and use Photoshop's :save for web" dialogue to minimize the file size.

You can also try saving the individual panels as files, and then use CSS or tables to lay them out on-screen.

Finally, don't worry about space. If you need more, just ask for it. Space is given freely as long as you're not using it to store non-comic related stuff.

[YarpsDat]

Is there an easier way to have the KB less without losing the quality?

Yeah, what clawster said.
Your comic is huge, pixelwise, that's why it's so hard to make small KB wise.
And your lettering is also big, I think you could shrink it down by 50% without making it hard to read. Or maybe even making it easier to read.
(ie. I use 24pt fonts, and then I resize them to 33% of oryginal size and it's perfectly ok.)


Then you could stack the panels in two colums ie:
[1] [2]
[3] [4]
[5] [6]
...

instead of
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
.
.
.
That takes EFFORT to scroll through. I scroll and scroll and scroll, and finally there it ends.

And then there is that 90kb big image in a link to your journal.
That 90kb file adds to it, you know. The 150kb limit is for the sum of html file, and all the images on the page.


As for PNGs, well you could try them, but... you'd probably need to stop using the gradients to fill backgrounds first. Gradiends are bad for PNGs.
Personally, I think a couple (2 or 3) perspective lines make a better background than a gradient, but it might be just me. And yes, I agree a gradient is better than plain white, though not by much.

Also, on the title page of keenspace Kisai said we had 512KB to use, but my login site only has a 150KB. Is there a connection I'm missing?

The 512kb is a limit for the SignupSamples.
Basically it's a subtle way of saying: "if you can't fit your signup image in a HALF OF A FREAKIN' MEGABYTE, we suspect you'd be crossing the 150kb border on regular basis"