| Graphics - What
can I use? There are only two types of graphics
that seem to work in all browsers - .gif and .jpg
The PNG extension is fairly new and supported in many browsers,
and by RootsWeb, but it's recommended that you stick with the
two main kinds of graphics that are known to work on older
machines and browsers.
| JPG or
JPEG |
GIF |
- Better for graphics with more colors (like photos)
- Higher compression, so usually smaller file size
- Higher compression can result in slightly lower
image quality
|
- Use a smaller color palette
(256 colors or less)
- Decompress quicker than JPG
- Compressed, but lose less image quality
- Can be used for transparent backgrounds (allowing
the page background to show through)
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As shown above, there are differences between the two file
types. As a general rule, JPG are recommended for photos
and GIFs are recommended for everything else.
Finding Graphics for Your Website
There are many places to find the graphics to put on your
pages:
- Purchase clipart or photo CDs - there are a lot of CDs full of clipart
available at stores for low prices. Check carefully
about copyright and licensing issues first. You must get
permission before using copyrighted material on your site. If
you want to use clip art or photos from a clipart CD,
read the fine print first.
- Internet - you can search the internet for clipart sites.
However, you'll want to be sure that you ask these questions
first to make sure that you aren't violating privacy or
copyright.
- Is this site trustworthy? Do they have ownership
of the clipart to be able to offer it to you?
- Am I allowed to use the clipart? Does the site
specifically say that they are available for free use?
- Are there any requirements to use it? Some sites allow
you free use of their clipart as long as you put a link on
your site back to their site.
- Use your digital camera to take photos of people or things
and import them to your
computer for use on your pages
- Scan photos for use on your page - There are no limits to
using personal photos that you or your family have taken.
However, be careful when scanning professional photos taken of
your family that you don't violate the photographer's
copyright. See my
scanning page for more
information.
- Create or modify graphics yourself - see below.
Creating Graphics for Your Website If you can't find
anything elsewhere and feel adventurous, you can always create a
new graphic from scratch. Depending on how fancy you want
to get, you can use a program as simple as Microsoft Paint,
which comes with Windows, or get some good graphics software to
design something special. There are some that can be found
free on the internet and others from inexpensive to big bucks.
Several are listed at
Web Page Design - Graphics programs.
Modifying Graphics for Your Website Even when you do
find a graphic you might want on your website, it may not be
perfect for your purposes and you need to modify it. Modifying
graphics includes such things as cropping, resizing, adding
text, changing format (i.e. JPG to GIF), etc. Any method of
changing a graphic (clipart/photo) would fall in this category.
Such as:
- You've got a graphic, but you need to crop it down because
you want just a small part of it (i.e. a group of people and
you want only one person)
- You've got a graphic in an unusual format and need to save
it into GIF or JPG format for use on the internet
- You've got a graphic that you want to add some text to
(it's very common to add names or descriptions to photos)
- You've got a graphic that is way too large and you need to
re-size or compress it (it doesn't meet the
image or file
size specifications for webpages)
There are a lot of reasons why you may wan to modify a
graphic for your website. Any good graphics software
will help you modify graphics. Several are listed at
Web Page Design - Graphics programs.
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