What are decorative images and why is it important to optimise them?
Decorative images are background images, slides, buttons and borders on your website. Although they are visually appealing, they can slow page load times without adding much value.
Here are some tips to optimise decorative image file size:
- Border images or images with simple patterns should be formatted as PNG.
- Compress large wallpaper/background images as much as possible without impacting image quality.
- Cut out the middle of a background image and make it transparent or replace it with a flat color. This will substantially decrease file size.
There are many free compression tools available, including compressjpeg.com, imageoptimizer.net, tinypng.com, and many more. You can also reduce image file size by using the “save for web” command in Adobe Photoshop and using built in settings to optimise your image.
When using WordPress, you can make life a little easier for yourself by using an image optimiser plugin like ewww or similar.