The more pictures you have on a page the larger it will be. While Rob might
be correct about 40kb being a good goal for FP websites, that is probably
unrealistic for Publisher pages. FP produces more efficient code, than
Publisher. I think that if you can stay under 100kb for a Publisher page
with pictures, you are doing great. That page will load quickly enough to
keep the interest of the viewer. Publisher also tends to load text rather
quickly and before pictures, so I would feel good about 80kb, especially if
you originally had a 200kb image on that page. Just keep in mind the
principle that the smaller the file size, the faster the page will load. If
you have a lot of images, the page will take longer to load. Just avoid lots
of large pictures. This is what optimization is all about.

Part of the reason for larger file sizes is that as you discovered,
Publisher sometimes makes multiple copies of the inserted images with the
goal of providing the "best" image version for the browser used....with
mixed success. Unfortunately that can mean the low resolution gif copy is
loaded in FireFox. I have found that if you not only optimize the resolution
of the image but also resize the image before inserting it into the
Publisher page, such that the image is displayed at 100% scale, Publisher
usually will not make the lower resolution copy for FF...it will use the
better quality image for all browsers.

As an example, say you insert a full size, high resolution image taken
directly from your digital camera into a Publisher page. You then reduce the
image box to fit your page layout design. If you right click the image >
format picture > size tab, you will see the height and width of your image
box under "Size and rotate". If you look under "Scale" you will see what %
the image is at. Then go back to your original image and reduce the
resolution to 96dpi, and resize the dimensions of the image to agree with
the dimensions of your picture box. Then insert this new optimized and
resized image and set the scale at 100%. Publisher will then use the one
image for both FF and IE, you won't get the lower resolution copy and your
image will be at the best quality and smallest size...in other words, it
will be optimized for your Publisher built webpage.

If the extra step of resizing the dimensions of the image in the image
editor to fit the text box is more than you want to do, then at least reduce
the resolution of the image. That alone is most important for improving
loading speed. For the best quality, also resize the image such that you can
display it at 100% scale.

DavidF