The October2012 Guest Tutorial Discussion-Optimizing Images for the Web with Smush.i

[Barbara B]

Optimizing Images for the Web with Smush.it

In this month's Guest Tutorial, Barbara Bouton shows you how to use Yahoo's Smush.it and Xara Designer Pro or Xara Web Designer together to get the fastest loading graphics possible. Faster page loads mean happier customers.

[angelize]

That was really interesting. I have learned something new I already knew about optimising images but I never knew that smush it could optimise them even more. Thanks Barbara!

[scruffy.thedog]

Interesting article B but why doesn't xara do this instinctively as its sold as the bees knees in graphics?

Scruffy

[Barbara B]

Hi Scruffy,

That's a good question and one I probably should have mentioned in my article. Xara and other graphic programs that I know of including the Adobe Creative Suite's highly regarded Save for Web and Devices come awfully close to Yahoos' results but don't quite reach the level of compression that Yahoo folks have been able to achieve with their custom recipe of tools and processes. Additionally I believe that Smush.it's tools are server based and may not be practical to run on a desktop.

The folks at Yahoo make Smush.it available to the community as a service to individuals and do not offer it, to the best of my knowledge as something that companies like Xara or Photoshop can use. Smush.it's FAQ has the following Q&A:

"Is there a Smush.it API I can access so that my images are automatically smushed when they are published?
The API currently is not available for public use. We are working towards making this publicly accessible "

So in answer to your question, I don't think that Xara would allowed to automatically send files to Smushi.it when you publish a Xara site.

But it certainly wouldn't hurt to post to Dear Xara and let them know that small file sizes really concern you and that you hope that they will be able to push their own, very good, results, toward the bar that Yahoo has set.