For me, the hardest part of designing is the graphics. I am in no way an artist, however, it wasn't long before I discovered that there are a welath of graphics on the Internet, free for use on personal web pages. At the end of this lil tutorial, I will list some of them. It is also important to note that, you can right click on any UNCOPYRIGHTED image and save it to your hard drive for your own personal use! Be sure that the image is not copyrighted and that any guidelines for use posted by the original artist are followed.

Now for some basics of web images. First, the Internet allows two main types of images. These are JPG's and GIF's. I'll give a brief explanation of each of these formats to help you understand better how each is used.

JPG: JPG stands for Joint Photographic Expert Group......Sounds complicated, huh? It's not. This format should be chosen for web graphics that have a lot of intricate detail or for photographs. The quality of these types of images, when displayed as a JPG, is much better. JPG's can have up to 16.7 million colors in any one image. When JPG's are compressed, they do lose some image quality, but it's not really noticeable, unless you set the compression to high. An important note about JPG's: they cannot be transparent. This is a feature that GIF images allow, but is not allowed in a JPG format. Most of the time, an intricate image, with millions of colors are going to be a smaller file size than a GIF image. JPG's are not the choice for simple graphics, however. Often, simple, uncomplicated images are distorted and discolored, when saved in a JPG file format.

THE GIF: GIFs are the best choice for simple, uncomplicated graphics. They usually have a much smaller file size, with these type of graphics than a JPG does. GIFs can only detect 256 colors. That's all. No more. One color can be selected as the background color which lets the background image of your web page show through. This is known as transparency. A GIF image does not experience loss of quality when it is compressed. GIF images can be animated, as JPG's cannot. But animation is another story entirely. GIF images should be used when you need a nice, bold image, a simple graphic or icon, an animation or for a transparent background.

With all this in mind, I am going to say a little bit on Photo editing for your websites. Photos should always be saved in the JPG format. You've scanned or taken a picture with your digital and want to present it on your website.....but how? First, you need a nice photo editing program. Adobe Photo Shop is always a nice choice, but I prefer Microsoft Picture It! With Picture It! I can cut out individual images with ease, adjust tint and brightness and add many really nice effects to any image.

First of all, you need to understand that if you want to present a picture of an person, you should focus on that person. Your photo should be cut down so that the background is much smaller and the main portion of your picture consists of the person. This brings the viewers attention to the person, not what's going on in the background. These files should be saved in a "Portrait" position. An example of this is below:

Notice how the picture on the right cuts out the busy background and focuses your attention on the little girl? That is the purpose of editing a photo in this manner.

Action pictures are another favorite on the web. Action pictures, should be edited in the "Landscape" format. They should also bring attention to the action. Most of the time, in action photos, we are never close enough to the action. So, by cropping the picture, you can bring the action to the viewer, even if you did not get close enough yourself. You should crop the picture so that the main focus is set on the action and not on the surrounding scenery. An example of this is below:

Notice how the second picture brings your focus right into the action? This is the purpose of this type of photo editing.

OK, so now you've gotten your images onto your computer, edited them accordingly, saved them in a JPG format........How do you get them into your website for viewing? This is the simplest part. Open your HTML document, find the place you'd like to place your picture within the document and add your picture using the appropriate tags. You should always include the WIDTH and HEIGHT attributes to ensure the proper viewing of your photo on all browsers. Most HTML editors, allow you to do this with a few simple clicks. Be sure you've uploaded your images to your server and you're ready to go online and check out your accomplishments!