Image Output Format

[sunil.lukose]

Yahoo recently added functionality so that you can specify what image format the output of the image resized by RTML RENDER tags should be, this definitely helps to a certain level if all the image uploaded and the image that needs outputting uses the same format. The way its currently setup is you specify in global variable what is the type of uploaded image by using Uploaded-img-default-type variable and what should be the type of outputted image by using Generated-img-default-type variable. You can select from the followign three types "JPG", "GIF" and "PNG", it defaults to "GIF". If you wish to know more about image file formats here is a link that would explain you in detail. Image file formats - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

What would have been more effective is selectively allowing the RTML tag to choose the image type rather then globally setting it for all images in store. This is a step better then older setup but could have been more effective then the way it's currently setup. I tried it on one of our test store and was not able to see any changes as of yet. I am not sure if its fully rolled out yet.

Here is article you can read further on this topic Image Dimensions Variables - Yahoo! Small Business Help

[pixel]

Sunil,

Just a thought...

How will that affect a store that, say, has both gif and jpg images? If an image is a JPG because it contains a gradient, and gif is chosen in this new variable, would it affect the image quality?

[sunil.lukose]

As of my recent testing I wasn't able to change image formats using these variables so I am assuming Yahoo haven't deployed this functionality as of yet. I will update this post with all the cases once I am able to see this functionality implemented.

[sgusa]

Originally Posted by pixel

Sunil,

Just a thought...

How will that affect a store that, say, has both gif and jpg images? If an image is a JPG because it contains a gradient, and gif is chosen in this new variable, would it affect the image quality?

You bring up a very valid point. We have many glasses that have a mirror tint and look horrible in a reduced .gif.

[pixel]

I saw these variables on a store today, so now we can experiment and see how it will affect your images. If I hear or work on anything related to this, I will post what I find out. I'm sure Sunil is already working on it though :-P

[sunil.lukose]

As I told I will get back on this topic as soon as I hear more about these new operators. Here are all the details you need to know.

1. This feature will work with newly uploaded images

What does this mean to you? Once image is uploaded and rendered and you try to change the settings image will not change its properties. Make all the changes and settings before uploading the image. Any changes afterwards will not affect image settings

2. You will see "source-type" attribute for IMAGE operator and image-type for IMAGE-REF operator, this attributes will take following values: jpeg, :gif & ng (it is "png" ": p" turns to a smiley face)

This will help you selectively target where you wish to show different format of images and even with some custom programming provide merchants the ability to specify what format they wish to see on particular pages. Mike this should help with your concerns about some images not looking good when converted to gif. This would be helpful for merchants who need some of the images be shown as jpeg and rest as gif for page load performance. The above mentioned issue will still remain so merchants will have to re-upload the images after the programming is completed for newer settings to take effect.