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Free Service Optimizes Web Graphics
06/15/98 -- HUNTSVILLE, AL-- Large, bloated graphics are a
leading cause of slow-loading Web pages. Now a free online
service offers a solution to the problem. Monte Sano Software,
LLC, announced the launch of GIFBot, an image optimization
robot that can reduce the size of Web graphics by up to 90%
without loss of image quality. GIFBot is part of the popular
NetMechanic Web site. GIFBot joins NetMechanic's existing Link
Check, HTML Check, and Server Check online services.
"We think GIFBot is going to be a big hit," says Mike Churchill,
the lead engineer for the new software, "We've gotten many
requests for this kind of tool."
GIFBot is a special purpose Internet robot run from a Web page
interface. Users visit GIFBot at the NetMechanic site and enter
the URL of their image. The robot then downloads the image
onto NetMechanic's server and generates different versions of
the graphic at different levels of optimization. When finished
the robot creates a Web page on the NetMechanic server to
display the reduced images. The entire process is completed
within 30 seconds. Users can then access this Web page, pick
the image they like best, and save it to their computer. GIFBot
can be used in conjunction with NetMechanic's Link Check service
to index and optimize all the images in a Web site.
The GIFBot is located at: http://www.netmechanic.com.
GIFBot works by reducing the number of colors in the target
image. Excess colors are the main cause of bloated Web
graphics. "A lot of people don't realize that even if you only
use two colors in a GIF, the image's color pallet acts as if
you're using 256 colors," Churchill says. "It takes disk space
to store that information, even though you never use it! And
that extra disk space leads to longer download times."
The service will optimize both GIF and JPEG image formats. It
also supports transparent colors and GIF89 animation. "A lot
of comparable products don't do that," says Churchill.
GIFBot is similar to other commercial graphics optimization
packages, such as SmartSaver and GIFWizard. But unlike those
products, GIFBot is free. "And we intend to keep it that way,"
says Churchill, "We use free services like GIFBot to build
traffic to the NetMechanic site. If we get people coming to
us for our free services, some percentage of those users will
sign up for our subscription service. That's our strategy."
NetMechanic's subscription service, Server Check Pro, offers
continuous server monitoring. The service monitors the
performance of clients' Web servers 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week. The service sends alerts via email or pager when it
detects server problems.
NetMechanic also offers two other services for webmasters:
Link Check, a link testing service, and HMTL Check, which
provides HTML validation. Both of these services are free
and will check sites of up to 200 pages.
Since it's inception last year NetMechanic has proven to be
a very popular Web site. Its robots have tuned over 4,000,000
Web pages, and currently tune over 600,000 pages a month.
Yahoo Internet Life called NetMechanic, "Insanely great...
Possibly the best value on the Web."
Monte Sano Software, LLC, is an Internet software development
firm based in Huntsville, Alabama. For more information contact
Cindy O'Gorman at (256) 533-0076 ext. 116, pr@netmechanic.com, or visit the
company's Web site at http://www.netmechanic.com.
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