(2) Viewers, Browsers, and WWW Performance.

by Huntley, Bittorf, and Taragin

Dermatology Online Journal, July 1995
Volume 1, Number 1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

How fast you can open a WWW image depends, in part, on the specific browsing and viewing programs you are using, the speed of your processor, and the type of computer that you are using. We looked at the two major browsers (NCSA Mosaic and Netscape) and all the viewers we could access, and compared different types of computers to find the best combination in terms of speed of opening images that are part of the World Wide Web dermatology applications. Here is what we found:

Viewers: Selecting the fastest viewer can result in substantial performance gains:


Fig. 1: Macintosh Viewers and Time to Open GIF Files: GraphicConverter is clearly faster than the others.


Fig. 2: PC Platform Viewers and Time to Open GIF Files: PaintShop was fastest, however within the range of the usual GIF images, LView Pro was equivalent and was preferred because of additional features.


Fig. 3: UNIX (x windows) Platform Viewers and Time to Open JPEG Files: XV was the fastest viewing application tested and has additional features which made it our first choice.

Viewer/Browser Comparison: Browser speed may vary by platform and image type


Fig. 4: Opening Times and File Sizes for the Same Image Saved Both GIF and JPEG Formats. The GIF image file is larger but opens faster than JPEG image file.


Fig. 5: Browser/Viewer Opening Times for Linked JPEG/JFIF Images on a Macintosh 840/AV. NCSA Mosaic plus Graphic Converter appears to be the fastest combination of those tested here.

Platform Comprison: There is a significant difference in performance by differnt platforms.


Fig. 6: Platform Comparison with Best Viewers and JPEG/JFIF Images. Macintosh 8100/80 file opening times compare favorably with the 100MHz workstations tested. The PC platform was considerably slower.

Conclusions

  • Macintosh: use Mosaic and GraphicConverter.
  • Windows-PC: use Mosaic and LView Pro for files with GIF images. Use Netscape for files with small JPEG images, othewise use Mosaic with LView Pro.
  • X-Windows-Unix workstation: use the viewer xv.
  • If you are not committed to a platform, go with Macintosh. 
    All contents copyright (C), 1995.
Dermatology Online Journal
University of California Davis