File Formats

 File Formats 

What to consider when saving a file

When saving a file it is always good practice to consider several things.  Firstly you must consider what format you want to save the file in.  This will usually depend on the purpose of the file and what the files contains, whether it contains hyperlinks or other special content that needs to be saved in the appropriate format in order for it to be readable/usable by anyone who might be accessing it at a later date.

You must also consider the size of the file, bearing in mind file size limits if you were to send the file via email for example.

Where to save your file?

When it comes to saving the file it is vital to first think about where you are going to save the file, and whether or not you will be backing it up on an external hard drive, or an online cloud service.

When saving to a hard drive, albeit a hard drive, local drive or external drive, this is the usual method of saving a file and allows easy access, without needing access to the internet, gives the file a physical home, and allows for easy organisation of files on your device.

Alternatively, saving your files to an online cloud service such as Google Drive, or OneDrive, allows you or others who may be working on the same file, to access it wherever so long as there is an internet connection available.  This method saves memory on your hard drive, creates a copy of the file that is essentially safe from any physical damage that your device may incur, giving it an extra level of protection.

In reality it is good practice to save your file using a combination of local, external and online methods.

Here is an example of how I have orgranised some of my files/folders.

Naming conventions

When it comes to naming your files there are some rules that are worth adhering to, if only for your own ease of access.  For example, if you are to include a date in your file name, it is best to format it ass such (YY/MM/DD) as opposed to the traditional (DD/MM/YY), this is because when it comes to searching for your file it will list them in the correct order.  

Also if stating what version of a particular file you are saving in its name, it is recommendable to use numbers, as opposed to words, for example, if you have 4 drafts of a CV, then having the files name CV1, CV2 etc instead of CVfirst draft, CV final draft.  This is so you don't end up with multiple files all with similar names, and again allows for easier organisation of your files and folders.

Always try and be as clear as possible with the naming of files, it can be counter productive if the name of the file has nothing to do with the content of the file.  This is pretty much common sense, but will definitely save you time in the long run.

Avoid the use of special characters if and when possible.  The computer will generally read this as code and you may encounter problems with the file in the future.  The only real exemption is the use of an underscore (_), this is a good substitue for a space between words, as no spaces are allowed when naming a file.  One other way to make it easy to define one word from another is to use something known as CamelCase, which is just using a Capital Letter For Each Word In The File Name, like such.

Here is an example of how I have chosen to name some files. 

File Formats

There are many different file formats that you will find associated with creative media, below I will run through a few of them.

.PNG stands for Portable Network Graphic Images and is associated with graphics.  It is a good format to work with anything based around graphics as it supports transparency in created images and also offers lossless data compression.  .PNG files were created as a replacement for the GIF format and is the now the universal/preferred file type that offers lossless image compression across the internet.

.JPG/.JPEG files are good for photographic images and is a widely used method of lossy compression for digital images.  You will find most photographers save their files in this format, one of the reasons being that you can control the degree of compression which allows you to decide the trade off ratio when it comes to file size and image quality.

.GIF, or Graphics Interchange Format files are now quite dated and have been superseded for most things by .PNG files.  It does however support animation, which is why we have now seen a new rise of the GIF as it is used on many social media platforms for creating and sending memes.

.SVG files allow the user to scale up or the down the size of the image without any loss of quality or definition, hence the name Scalable Vector Graphics.  This file type also supports interactivity and animation.

.PDF (Portable Document Format) is a widely used format when it comes to saving documents, which gives the creator the option to save them as read only or in an editable format.  It is one of the most widely used file formats due to the fact that it can be accessed independent of software, hardware or operating system.