Chapter 10. Sharing and Archiving Files with Color Management

In this chapter, you'll learn to soft proof and color manage images for the Web, share color data with color management, and manage and organize images with color management.

Download Chapter 10 files from www.peachpit.com/xpcolor.

This chapter takes approximately 1 hour to complete.

Throughout this book, we've concentrated on print as our destination media. However, much of the content created today is destined for the Web. Color management for the Web is just as critical as it is for print. It's also just as easy, because the majority of design and imaging applications support Internet formats.

The Web does present some significant challenges, however. As with print, you can still communicate your intent for the Web, but there is no guarantee that a viewer's computer display or television set will be able to decipher it. A Web surfer's display represents the vast unknown: Outside of the computer displays used by imaging and publishing professionals and advanced hobbyists, very few displays are calibrated, and even fewer are configured for color management. So individual viewers will likely see different colors on the display or screen than you intended them to see.

Applying the color management techniques you've learned throughout this book, such as soft proofing and embedding ICC profiles into images to the Web, will greatly minimize color unpredictability. In addition, if your color data will be shared with others, such as a designer or printer who needs to view, edit, or print your images and documents, you should prepare the color data so that it can be properly interpreted. The same is true if you plan to archive your work you'll want to prepare the color data so that you can be sure that it will look good years from now.