Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Bitmap shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Bitmap offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Bitmap at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Bitmap? Wrong! If the Bitmap is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Bitmap then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Bitmap? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Bitmap and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Bitmap wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Bitmap then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Bitmap site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Bitmap, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Bitmap, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
In
computer graphics, a
bitmap or
pixmap is a type of
computer storage organization or
image file format used to store digital images. The term
bitmap comes from the
computer programming terminology, meaning just a
map of bits, a spatially mapped
bit array. Now, along with
pixmap, it commonly refers to the similar concept of a spatially mapped array of pixels. Raster graphics images in general may be referred to as bitmaps or pixmaps, whether synthetic or photographic, in files or in memory.
In some contexts, the term bitmap implies one bit per pixel, while pixmap is used for images with multiple bits per pixel.
Many graphical user interfaces use bitmaps in their built-in graphics subsystems; for example, the
Microsoft Windows and
OS/2 platforms' Graphics Device Interface subsystem, where the specific format used is the
Windows and OS/2 bitmap file format, usually named with the
file extension of .BMP (or .DIB for
device-independent bitmap). Besides BMP, other file formats that store literal bitmaps include
ILBM,
Portable pixmap, X BitMap, and
Wireless Application Protocol Bitmap Format. Most other image file formats, such as
JPEG, TIFF,
PNG, and
GIF, to name just a few, store bitmap images (as opposed to vector images), but they are not usually referred to as
bitmaps, since they use Image compression formats internally.
Pixel storage
In typical image compression bitmaps, image
pixels are generally stored with a
color depth of 1, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32, 48, or 64 bits per pixel. Pixels of 8 bits and fewer can represent either
grayscale or indexed color. An
alpha channel (for
transparency (graphic)) may be stored in a separate bitmap, where it is similar to a greyscale bitmap, or in a fourth channel that, for example, converts 24-bit images to 32 bits per pixel.
The bits representing the bitmap pixels may be
packed or unpacked (spaced out to byte or word boundaries), depending on the format or device requirements. Depending on the color depth, a pixel in the picture will occupy at least
n/8 bytes (n is the bit depth, since 1 byte equals 8 bits).
For an uncompressed, packed within rows, bitmap, such as is stored in Microsoft DIB or BMP file format, or in uncompressed
TIFF format, the approximate size for a n-bit-per-pixel (2n colors) bitmap, in bytes, can be calculated as:
size \approx width \cdot height \cdot n/8, where height and width are given in
pixels.
In the formula above, header size and color palette size, if any, are not included. Due to effects of row padding to align each row start to a storage unit boundary such as a
word, additional bytes may be needed.
Device-independent bitmaps and BMP file format
Microsoft has defined a particular representation of color bitmaps of different color depths, as an aid to exchanging bitmaps between devices and applications with a variety of internal representations. They called these device-independent bitmaps or DIBs, and the file format for them is called DIB file format or
BMP file format. According to Microsoft support:
A device-independent bitmap (DIB) is a format used to define device-independent bitmaps in various color resolutions. The main purpose of DIBs is to allow bitmaps to be moved from one device to another (hence, the device-independent part of the name). A DIB is an external format, in contrast to a device-dependent bitmap, which appears in the system as a bitmap object (created by an application...). A DIB is normally transported in metafiles (usually using the StretchDIBits() function), BMP files, and the Clipboard (CF_DIB data format).
Here, "device independent" refers to the format, or storage arrangement, and should not be confused with
color management.
Other bitmap file formats
The
X Window System uses a similar X Bitmap format for
black-and-white images, and X PixMap (
pixelmap) for
color images. Numerous other uncompressed bitmap file formats are in use, though most not widely.{{cite web , [PNG, [TIFF, and [JPEG.{{cite book compressed like [GIF. PNG uses [deflate lossless compression, another [Lempel-Ziv variant.
There are also a variety of "raw" image files, which store raw bitmaps with no other information; such raw files are just bitmaps in files, often with no header or size information, and should not be confused with photographic raw image formats, which store raw unprocessed sensor data in a structured container such as TIFF format along with extensive image metadata.
See also
References
In computer graphics, a
bitmap or
pixmap is a type of
computer storage organization or image file format used to store
digital images. The term
bitmap comes from the computer programming terminology, meaning just a
map of bits, a spatially mapped
bit array. Now, along with
pixmap, it commonly refers to the similar concept of a spatially mapped array of pixels. Raster graphics images in general may be referred to as bitmaps or pixmaps, whether synthetic or photographic, in files or in memory.
In some contexts, the term bitmap implies one bit per pixel, while pixmap is used for images with multiple bits per pixel.
Many
graphical user interfaces use bitmaps in their built-in graphics subsystems; for example, the Microsoft Windows and
OS/2 platforms'
Graphics Device Interface subsystem, where the specific format used is the
Windows and OS/2 bitmap file format, usually named with the file extension of .BMP (or .DIB for
device-independent bitmap). Besides BMP, other file formats that store literal bitmaps include ILBM,
Portable pixmap,
X BitMap, and
Wireless Application Protocol Bitmap Format. Most other image file formats, such as
JPEG,
TIFF,
PNG, and
GIF, to name just a few, store bitmap images (as opposed to vector images), but they are not usually referred to as
bitmaps, since they use Image compression formats internally.
Pixel storage
In typical
image compression bitmaps, image
pixels are generally stored with a color depth of 1, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32, 48, or 64 bits per pixel. Pixels of 8 bits and fewer can represent either
grayscale or indexed color. An
alpha channel (for
transparency (graphic)) may be stored in a separate bitmap, where it is similar to a
greyscale bitmap, or in a fourth channel that, for example, converts 24-bit images to 32 bits per pixel.
The bits representing the bitmap pixels may be
packed or unpacked (spaced out to byte or word boundaries), depending on the format or device requirements. Depending on the color depth, a pixel in the picture will occupy at least
n/8 bytes (n is the bit depth, since 1 byte equals 8 bits).
For an uncompressed, packed within rows, bitmap, such as is stored in Microsoft DIB or
BMP file format, or in uncompressed
TIFF format, the approximate size for a n-bit-per-pixel (2n colors) bitmap, in
bytes, can be calculated as:
size \approx width \cdot height \cdot n/8, where height and width are given in pixels.
In the formula above, header size and color palette size, if any, are not included. Due to effects of row padding to align each row start to a storage unit boundary such as a word, additional bytes may be needed.
Device-independent bitmaps and BMP file format
Microsoft has defined a particular representation of color bitmaps of different color depths, as an aid to exchanging bitmaps between devices and applications with a variety of internal representations. They called these device-independent bitmaps or DIBs, and the file format for them is called DIB file format or
BMP file format. According to Microsoft support:
A device-independent bitmap (DIB) is a format used to define device-independent bitmaps in various color resolutions. The main purpose of DIBs is to allow bitmaps to be moved from one device to another (hence, the device-independent part of the name). A DIB is an external format, in contrast to a device-dependent bitmap, which appears in the system as a bitmap object (created by an application...). A DIB is normally transported in metafiles (usually using the StretchDIBits() function), BMP files, and the Clipboard (CF_DIB data format).
Here, "device independent" refers to the format, or storage arrangement, and should not be confused with
color management.
Other bitmap file formats
The X Window System uses a similar X Bitmap format for black-and-white images, and
X PixMap (
pixelmap) for color images. Numerous other uncompressed bitmap file formats are in use, though most not widely.{{cite web , [PNG, [TIFF, and [JPEG.{{cite book compressed like [GIF. PNG uses [deflate lossless compression, another [Lempel-Ziv variant.
There are also a variety of "raw" image files, which store raw bitmaps with no other information; such raw files are just bitmaps in files, often with no header or size information, and should not be confused with photographic raw image formats, which store raw unprocessed sensor data in a structured container such as
TIFF format along with extensive image metadata.
See also
References
bitmap from FOLDOC
bitmap < graphics, file format > A data file or structure which corresponds bit for bit with an image displayed on a screen, probably in the same format as it would be stored in ...
bitmap font from FOLDOC
bitmap font < text > A font where each character is stored as an array of pixels (a bitmap). Such fonts are not easily scalable, in contrast to vectored fonts (like those used in ...
Bitmap
Bitmap - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In computer graphics, a bitmap or pixmap is a type of memory organization or image file format used to store digital images. The term bitmap comes from the computer programming ...
BITMAP-----©
All site content is copyright ©2007 BITMAP. This site was designed by Banana Hand.
The Bitmap Brothers - Games
Game developer of titles such as Speedball Arena, Z: Steel Soldiers, Speedball 2100, Cadaver, Chaos Engine, Chaos Engine 2, Gods, Magic Pockets, Xenon, Xenon 2: Megablast and ...
The Bitmap Brothers - Our Games
Game developer of titles such as Speedball Arena, Z: Steel Soldiers, Speedball 2100, Cadaver, Chaos Engine, Chaos Engine 2, Gods, Magic Pockets, Xenon, Xenon 2: Megablast and ... Z ...
B I T M A P:: - moved to www.bananahand.co.uk -
If you don't see the Flash menu above or you just don't like Flash - CLICK HERE - for the Bitmap text only site```` ````Otherwise - CLICK HERE ...
AskOxford: bitmap
bitmap • noun a representation in which each item corresponds to one or more bits of information, especially the information used to control the display of a computer screen.
BBC - GCSE Bitesize - ICT | Software | Painting packages
Images produced with painting packages are made up of tiny dots called pixels. They are stored as bitmap images. These images use a lot of memory and lose their quality when re ...
