First, let's straighten out a couple descriptions:

• Image size - the size of the image on the page - what it looks like
• File size - the size of the saved image file - how much space it takes on your computer or your webpage

The image size - how large your image is when seen on the page - can be as large or small as you like.  The problem, if there is one, is in your file size. 

Most recommendations say that to keep download time from being too long and visitors stopping it and moving on, your page (including the graphics) needs to download in 30-45 seconds.  The problem is - at what speed?  To make your page accessible for the most visitors, you need to design for the old 56K as many people do not yet have broadband.  At that speed, your webpage should be about 60-75K in total size - including the graphics.

Therefore, in order to have more than one or two graphics on a page, your target should be to make your graphics as small as possible-between 15K and 35K each for your largest graphics.  You can achieve this by creating smaller graphics in the first place and then using cropping, transparency, compression, and other modes with your graphic software to make the file size smaller.

FrontPage users:  Approximate download time for each page can be seen in the lower right-hand corner of the Normal view.