Chapter 23: Slicing and Optimizing

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Overview

This chapter explores how to slice (divide) your designs and apply optimization settings. Slicing an image or document is one of the most important things you will do in Fireworks. The decisions about whether to slice your document, where to slice your document, and how to slice your document all contribute to how, and sometimes whether, users view your Web pages. Slicing when needed allows for better and specialized optimization to decrease file size. Using slicing techniques, which ultimately reduce the file size, is vital to the final display of your project if you have an image that fits the profile of images needing slicing.

After your slices are defined, you learn how to optimize them. Optimization, or getting your image to the smallest possible size while retaining an acceptable quality, is one of the most important factors in determining how fast your Web page loads. Not only can you export with GIF and JPEG images in the same document, but you can actually apply different settings to specific areas of a JPEG image.

After the images are sliced and optimized, you will discover the many methods and options available in Fireworks for exporting your images or entire Web pages.

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