Saving and Exporting

When you've finalized your web graphics, you have several options available. You can choose File, Save to save your file for editing in ImageReady or Photoshop on a future date, or you can click on the Edit in Photoshop button in the toolbox to bring your image into Photoshop. If you're going to be placing your web images into a GoLive page layout, this is the preferred method to use, and it enables you to take advantage of GoLive's SmartObject feature. Any optimizations you've specified in ImageReady pass through to GoLive in the process. Additionally, you'll be working with a single editable file.

Alternatively, you can choose to export your optimized images as separate graphics files (in the formats you've specified for each slice in the Optimize palette). To do so, choose File, Save Optimized As; you can choose to export both HTML and images, images only, or HTML only (see Figure 6.36).

Figure 6.36. Choosing to save an optimized file as HTML and Images.

Macromedia Flash (.SWF)

You can export files in the Macromedia Flash format (.swf), and ImageReady will even export vector paths as vectors. Files with animation will also be exported as animated Flash files. To export a Flash file, choose File, Export, Macromedia Flash SWF. In the ensuing dialog box, you can choose from several options (see Figure 6.37).

Figure 6.37. The Macromedia Flash SWF Export dialog box.

The Preserve Appearance option flattens transparency where Flash won't support it and rasterizes the result to allow the image to export with the correct appearance. You can also choose a background color for the SWF file, as well as export the HTML code that's required to load the SWF file.

You can also export text as dynamic text and embed fonts into the SWF file, as well as specify how bitmap images are saved within the final SWF file.

Additional Export Options

ImageReady has the capability to export each layer of a file as a separate image, and also each animation frame as a separate file. Both of these options are available in the File, Export submenu. In either case, you can choose which layers or frames you want to export (see Figure 6.38), as well as choose an optimized image format for each of them.

Figure 6.38. The Export Layers as Files dialog box.