File size for jpegs?

[bigal7]

I'm using jpeg files for a large portion of my site as semi background - after testing the site now there was a 1-3 second delay as the page loaded.

Does anyone know what the optimal file size for a jpeg should be so that it loads straight away?

Thanks again!

[steve.ledger]

No such thing as 'loads straight away'

Everything has to travel from the host server to the local machine via the internet (unless the image is still cached on the local machine from an earlier visit.)
The time this takes is based on much more than just the resolution and byte size of the graphic in question.

However, an image which exceeds the size of the web page or the average size monitor at full screen is probably going to be a little tiresome for most visitors unless it's a photography site where the visitor expects full size images and knows there will be delay.

For the ordinary images you use to illustrate your pages, then simple commonsense sizes and roughly 25% compression (75% IQ) is considered optimal.
But even this is no exact science because the detail and colour data per JPG may differ so compression for one 800x600 jpg may be greater (or lesser) than another 800x600 jpg.

Of course if you have a dozen or more of these optimised images on one page, the display may still take a few seconds or more depending on the speed of the of the visitor's connection to the web via their ISP and how quickly their PC renders the page via the browser they use (based on their hardware and available system resources at that time). You have no direct control over this.

Large complex highly detailed JPG images for a website background are generally not suggested.

[bigal7]

Great, thanks for the info & will recheck all jpegs! Cheers!

[gwpriester]

The smaller the physical size of the tiling background bitmap, the faster it will load.

Also, if the pattern is only a few colors, see if PNG 16 colors produces a smaller file size.