The Graphics Challenge

ANNOUNCER: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to today's exciting Graphics Challenge! We have two very accomplished Web site artists here - ready to make their choice for the best graphic file type: .gif or .jpg! We've got Mr. Art Ist from Atlanta, Georgia, and Ms. Dee Zign from Seattle, Washington. The pair are ready to put their visual taste to the test today!

First, let me explain the rules. Each artist will put on our special earplugs and look at two graphics files - one .gif and one .jpg, of course. They will take a good, long look at the images, and will then choose which one they like best. You may have seen a similar game done with cola. With that game, however, players wear blindfolds. Obviously our players can't wear blindfolds - or they wouldn't be able to see the images! Hahahaha!

Okay, the first artist is walking in… Let's give a warm round of applause to Mr. Art Ist! Are you feeling ready to play our game, Mr. Ist?

ART: I'm always ready! I never know when I'm going to be asked to whip off a huge pile of artwork for my clients, so I've got to stay on the mark all the time. But that's okay because I drink a lot of cola…

ANNOUNCER: Glad to hear it Art - but in a moment, you won't hear anything because we're going to ask you to put on your earplugs… Okay, you seem to have them on. Great! Can you hear me Art?

ART: Huh?

ANNOUNCER: Good! Now let's unveil the images… there's the .gif on the left monitor… and there's the .jpg on the right. Of course, we don't have them labeled.

ART: Well, let's see… This one on the left first appears blurry on the screen - but now it's slowly coming into focus. A-ha! It's interlaced! Hmm… Interlacing is pretty good when an image is downloading. That way, the Web site visitor doesn't get too bored. The one on the right is coming onto the screen line-by-line - this can be too long a wait for the visitor. But oh! Look at the colors! They seem more vivid than the first image. Hey! I know the answer! The first one is a .gif and the second is a .jpg! I win!

ANNOUNCER: Well, Art, no, you don't. Not quite. Now that you've got your earplugs out, I can tell you that you have correctly identified the file types - but that's not the object of the game. You're supposed to say which you think is better.

ART: Oh, yes, well then, of course! Hmm… It's hard to say… The .gif can interlace, and that's interesting to watch. Then again, the .jpg has more colors… I can't decide which is better! It's so hard… This game is really stressing me out! Just forget it! I need a cola! I'm outta here!

ANNOUNCER: Well, ladies and gentlemen - there you go! These artists can be so temperamental! He appears to have run off the stage in a bit of a snit! Hmmm… Maybe we'll have more luck with our next guest, Ms. Dee Zign.

DEE: Hi, it's great to be here. Let's get right down to it, can we? Okay…my earplugs are in.

ANNOUNCER: You've got to like that! All right. Here's the gif. on the left monitor, and the .jpg on the right.

DEE: Let me see now… This one on the left has a transparent background - so it looks like it blends in with the Web page background. That's really cool. And this one on the right monitor looks good, too. The photo colors appear so realistic. Which one do I like the most? Hmmm… Well I know the transparent one is a .gif and the other one is a .jpg - but I just can't say which one I like the most. My honest answer is - I can't say which one is best. It depends what you want to use it for.