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Web Style Guide

Images on the screen

The primary challenge in creating images for Web pages is the relatively low resolution of the computer screen. But today's computer screens can display thousands or millions of colors, and this wealth of color minimizes the limitations of screen resolution. Complex graphics or color photographs often look surprisingly good on Web pages for two reasons:

  • True-color (24-bit) or high-color (16-bit) displays show enough colors to reproduce photographs and complex art accurately
  • The light transmitted from display monitors shows more dynamic range and color intensity than light reflected from printed pages

Digital publishing is color publishing: on the Web there is no economic penalty for publishing in color. Web pages may in fact be the best current means of distributing color photography — it's a lot cheaper than color printing, and it's also more consistent and reliable than all but the most expert (and costly) color printing.

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