Working with Images

Lectora Online and Desktop: Superior SVG Image Support

Lectora supports SVG images, ensuring your content is professional, scalable, and high-quality for all devices and screen sizes. Enhance your eLearning projects with crisp, dynamic graphics that look perfect at any resolution.

Last update: July 2024

Lectora Online and Lectora Desktop support SVG images, allowing you to create content with crystal-clear, scalable graphics. Use the Insert Image tool to effortlessly add SVG files, ensuring your visuals remain sharp and professional at any size.

Here’s a comparison of SVG, JPG, and PNG images highlighting their strengths and weaknesses:

Overall Use Cases

  • SVG: Best for logos, icons, and illustrations where scalability and editability are crucial.
  • JPG: Best for detailed photographs and complex images where small file size is important.
  • PNG: Best for images requiring transparency, screenshots, and simple graphics with high quality.

Scalability

  • SVG:
    • Strengths: Infinitely scalable without loss of quality. Ideal for logos, icons, and graphics.
    • Weaknesses: Not suitable for complex images like photographs.
  • JPG:
    • Strengths: Can display complex images with high detail.
    • Weaknesses: Loses quality when scaled up, resulting in pixelation.
  • PNG:
    • Strengths: Better than JPG for maintaining quality at different sizes, especially for graphics.
    • Weaknesses: Larger file size when compared to JPGs for the same image resolution.

File Size

  • SVG:
    • Strengths: Typically small file size for simple graphics and icons.
    • Weaknesses: File size can grow with complex vector paths.
  • JPG:
    • Strengths: Smaller file size for complex, detailed images.
    • Weaknesses: Larger file size for images requiring high detail and quality.
  • PNG:
    • Strengths: Good for images with transparent backgrounds and simple graphics.
    • Weaknesses: Larger file size compared to JPGs, especially for high-resolution images.

Transparency

  • SVG:
    • Strengths: Supports transparency.
    • Weaknesses: None in terms of transparency.
  • JPG:
    • Strengths: None. Does not support transparency.
    • Weaknesses: Cannot have transparent backgrounds or elements.
  • PNG:
    • Strengths: Fully supports transparency, including alpha channels.
    • Weaknesses: None in terms of transparency.

Editability

  • SVG:
    • Strengths: Easily edited with text editors and vector graphic software.
    • Weaknesses: Requires understanding of vector graphic editing.
  • JPG:
    • Strengths: Can be edited with bitmap editing software.
    • Weaknesses: Loses quality with each edit due to compression.
  • PNG:
    • Strengths: Can be edited with bitmap editing software without losing quality.
    • Weaknesses: Larger file sizes can be cumbersome to handle.

Animation

  • SVG:
    • Strengths: Supports animation and interactivity via CSS and JavaScript.
    • Weaknesses: Requires knowledge of animation techniques and scripting.
  • JPG:
    • Strengths: None. Requires additional formats for animation.
    • Weaknesses: No inherent support for animation.
  • PNG:
    • Strengths: None. Requires additional formats for animation.
    • Weaknesses: No inherent support for animation.

Text Quality

  • SVG:
    • Strengths: Text remains vector data, crisp at any size.
    • Weaknesses: None.
  • JPG:
    • Strengths: Can include text in images.
    • Weaknesses: Text becomes rasterized and can blur when scaled.
  • PNG:
    • Strengths: Maintains text quality better than JPG when scaling.
    • Weaknesses: Text is rasterized, but quality loss is less severe compared to JPG.

SEO and Accessibility

  • SVG:
    • Strengths: XML-based, indexable by search engines, and readable by screen readers.
    • Weaknesses: None.
  • JPG:
    • Strengths: None. Treated as binary files by search engines.
    • Weaknesses: No inherent SEO or accessibility benefits.
  • PNG:
    • Strengths: None. Treated as binary files by search engines.
    • Weaknesses: No inherent SEO or accessibility benefits.

By understanding these strengths and weaknesses, you can choose the best image format for your specific needs.