GIF or JPEG-----------------------------?

gif = lower quality, most used for buttons, lines and other graphics that don`t require quality and most of them are very small size and can be used with transparent background.

jpeg = better quality for more complex pictures that require more colors. cannot use transparent background. the better the quality the larger is the size.

png = best in raport with quality and size and also can be used with transparent background but some browsers doesn`t support it.

 

For me
Photos: JPG
animation / color / flat image: GIF

 

webdesigners are tending more and more towards PNG these days and I think it will eventually become the standard format of choice, but I tend to use any of the three... as it depends on how I find the format as I'm not converting between GIFs and JPEGs and vis versa...

As for the time it takes to download, then that depends on the settings of you image editor... although PNG 24 and 32 bit are large files, but, oh baby, the quality can be sublime...

 

Same for me. I hope PNG becomes the standard its so crisp and clear.

In the main I use all 3 formats as each one has its place.

Lots of colors .jpeg and .png, few colors or large blocks of color .gif and .png as well as anything needing a transparent background.

I also try and keep files in the region of 25kb at most!!, though that can be hard sometimes. This is for dial up people as this limits the time it takes for pages to load.


If you want to test a page size for images or just to give you an idea on your total page size try http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/