Thread: Quick question about BlueVoda's 'shape' feature

Hi there, just a quick question this time.

In my website design I am using quite a few small 'shapes' with gradient using BV's 'shape' feature. Now I know these are stored and displayed as images, but do they consume the same amount of bandwidth and loading time as an image of the same size?

I am only asking as I was just looking through other members' websites and saw that the 'shapes' they have used seem to load faster that their other images on my (very slow) dialup connection.

Thanks.

These shapes are taking up very little space - they don't have the pixels that your images do.

Thanks for the quick reply. Does this mean I can use quite large 'shapes' on a page without this greatly effecting (or affecting?) the dowload speed and bandwidth too too much?

Bandwidth is a VH issue only with regard to access/page views for your website (even BV Previews count).
Bandwidth in your dialup enviornment can be an issue, but should be seen as a personal one, not a developmental parameter. Focus on reducing pix file size, video & stream files, etc. Minimizing load speed time is the hurdle, not really a "bandwidth" benchmark....

BV previews do not count in the bandwidth. They only take place on local computer level. However, if during preview, you click on a link that links to one of your published pages, then the page will be downloaded from your site and ofcourse it counts as bandwidth.

Gradients are indeed saved and uploaded on the server as GIFs. And ofcourse, a gradient contains much less information than a same size picture. So it takes a much smaller size and less download time than a same size pic. However, you can "push" the size to very low numbers.
Have a look at post Nr 8 in thread http://www.vodahost.com/vodatalk/gen...light=gradient

I am also using the shapes as a backdrop for my left margin nav bar/titles to offset the page and complement background colors. I haven't noticed any decrease in page load. Glad to read they are low in pixel size. This has been one great option of BV among others.

Just wish there was an anti alias option for some things. And yes, I know that's a 'wish list' item...lol