Compress PNGs

[Q-Nova]

I think it'd be nice if MFGG's images (like the banner) had their file size reduced with no quality lost via some program (like PNGGauntlet). We could even courage users to do this with their submission thumbnails and game screenshots on the main site (we can even do the sprite sheets themselves, although it seems that doing so will make them not allow any more colors to be added), like what I did with my recent Luma and Goonie sprite sheets. I just think having smaller files that load faster will make MFGG more usable, especially for people with slow computers.

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[Mario]

Great suggestion, I agree completely. While there are plenty of great build tools for this out there, one easy suggestion I have is TinyPNG- it's web-based, you just drop the images you want compressed in there and it'll do its magic for you. Even supports jpegs.

Personally I make use of OptiPNG for PNGs and jpegoptim and jpegtran for jpeg files; though I'm sure there's some even better tools out there nowadays.

I'm not sure if smaller is always going to equal faster on slower computers; you might save bandwidth (which is important, of course) but some forms of compression are more difficult to decompress, which is more noticeable on slower computers- I'm not sure how much that applies to image formats, but there's definitely some trade-offs you make with compression formats.

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[VinnyVideo]

It wouldn't be a bad idea to make sure that all of MFGG's images, especially commonly-used images like banners, are well-optimized. However, as @Mario noted, there could be a tradeoff between bandwidth and user performance. Also, because MFGG hosts thousands of images, there's no way this is going to happen unless we find a way to automate the process (or focus on compressing large, commonly-used images).

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[Q-Nova]

Uh, what do you guys mean by the trade-offs? Are you saying that the PNGs are decompressed while being loaded by our browsers and compressing PNGs could possibly make decompression slower? If so, then that's something I've never heard of before.

@VinnyVideo Yeah, it'd take a while to compress all the PNGs used in this site, even if we didn't do any user content. It'd be a good idea to take care of the large, commonly-used images first.

Quillax Ship - Where you can download all of my cool, keen mods and super-marvelous fangames!

[Mario]

When it comes to PNGs, no I don't think there's any disadvantage to comprssing them better. Just in general, better compression doesn't necessarily mean faster for slower computers

and I agree with focusing on widely used images- it shouldn't be a difficult undertaking to shrink down theme assets and the like. Other stuff we can get to when we get to I suppose.

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Interested in web development? Check out Super Mario Web Development. Wahoo!

 

""We choose to go to the [Suggestions board] not because it's easy, but because it's hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win."
- John F. Kennedy"
- gothgirlgangblastermaster