Conclusion
There are several reasons why you might want to use .png files on your Web page. One important reason is to support open, patent-free standards on the Internet. Another is to get the best-looking images to your viewership and drive the adoption of new standards. However, because some Web browsers still have problems displaying all features of PNG files (in fact, the HTML editor that we're using to write this article doesn't display .png images at all), a safer place to begin is in utilizing PNG images when you would normally use TIFF images. Because PNG is lossless and compresses better than a TIFF image, there's no downside to using it like this.
If you are a software developer, it is in your best interests to look to patent-free, open standards when working with the Internet. Users and Internet watch groups are looking for and judging products not only on their usefulness and effectiveness, but also on their adoption of open Internet standards and drafts.
Many large-scale projects, such as the open-source GNOME and KDE UNIX Desktop systems, utilize PNG throughout their entire infrastructure and application base. PNG, while relatively new in the image format arena, has matured at a phenomenal rate.