Controlling text appearance by converting text to a graphic image

1
Text may be converted to a graphic to insure that it will look the same on everyone’s browser, no matter how the browser is configured.

However, conversion is normally done only in certain situations, such as a company logo which must have the same appearance regardless of browser settings.

Conversion isn’t done for all text because a graphic is much larger than plain text and thus takes much longer to download— plus the search engines can’t read text in the form of a graphic.

2
All the text in section 1 above totals 2K. It would load on a slow modem (28.8) in one second or quicker.

However, as noted in the previous page, It could look like this or this or this on someone else’s computer, unless converted to a graphic, which is essentially a photograph of the text.

Text into a .GIF graphic
becomes five times larger— 10K
(border illustrates the GIF's boundaries)

Text into a .JPG graphic
becomes 14 times larger — 28K
(border illustrates the JPG's boundaries)

Considerations in deciding whether to use plain text, or a graphic of the text

Plain text is always a faster download, but you cannot control how it will look on someone else’s computer. Your page is likely to look very different to others. Plain text is good for the search engines.

A graphic will control the appearance of your site, but with a penalty of a much slower download.

I will not build a page that downloads real slowly.