By: Suzanne NashWhere To Find Great Graphics
You don’t have to be a Michelangelo to spice up your site with graphics. Of course, there is a big market on the Internet for expert designers and web developers. But as a web hobbyist you can benefit from a stock of ready made, professionally formatted images. They include clip art and true-to-life pictures, or photographs. Just remember to bear copyright and security issues in mind!
Online
Communities
If you're just about to dip your toes in
web design, try one of the online publishing communities. They provide tools to
help you construct your personal web site. And yes, they often include free
access to a range clip art and pictures. Try browsing their
galleries for your favorite backgrounds, banners and buttons. You’ll often
find lots of online support too. Sites such as these are called ‘communities’
because they encourage their members to swap notes and tips. The overall site
owners may provide additional, fool-proof guides. It’s in their interests to
retain customer loyalty and keep you coming back.
“So, where do I go?”
There are hundreds of online publishing communities to choose from. The best cater for a variety of needs. They offer a series of visually exciting templates that you can add to and publish in minutes. As you gain in confidence and expertise, look out for their more advanced tools.
As a starting point, visit:
www.geocities.com
owned by Yahoo. This is one of the most popular publishing communities.http://hometown.aol.com
owned by America Online Inc (AOL). Another highly popular choice.Editors Note: We also recommend DITTO.COM
Your internet service provider (ISP) may also be worth looking at. When you connect to the Internet and access the ISP home page, you’re likely to find news, advertisements and possibly web design tools.
Traveling
Further Up field?
We've all heard of the travel
bug. When you start experimenting with basic images, be prepared for the
"graphics bug". The more creative you become, the more you'll chase
after "that graphic". In the following sections, we'll look at the
pros and cons of searching for visual material beyond the online community.
Before you embark upon your trip, equip yourself with
some knowledge about the relevant IT jargon. This will make for much smoother
sailing.
In brief, graphics that you wish to
publish on the web come in 2 main file formats. These are known as GIF
and JPEG (sometimes written as JPG) formats.
In more detail:
GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. Don't lose sleep about the meaning of the acronym! More important are its properties and uses. GIF images are ideal for icons and other blocks of straightforward color.
You may come across the term transparent GIF. This is an image without a colored background or boarder. When you publish it on your web page it doesn't have a frame and appears to hover.
An interlaced GIF initially appears as a faint image on the web page. It gradually increases in crispness as the page loads. You can use it for visual stunts, such as an attention-grabbing "Hello" or "Welcome". Just don't overdo it, or you'll annoy your audience!
JPEG (or JPG) refers to Joint Photographic Experts Group. The key word here is Photographic, since JPEGS are ideal formats for saving true-to-life pictures and photographs. JPEGS contain a more sophisticated range of colors than GIFS, but this also means that they tend to require more memory on your hard drive or disc.
Graphics Tips
Here are some options:
1 try scanning images onto your PC and then saving them as GIF (graphics) and JPEG (photo) files.
2 if you have access to a digital camera, follow the instructions on how to connect it to your PC then save your picture as a JPEG
3 visit your local computing store for a CD-ROM of graphics
use the graphics within web authoring software packages like
http://www.microsoft.com/office/)Microsoft's FrontPage (
Macromedia's Dreamweaver (
http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver).However it's worth noting that these packages are far more than a collection of graphics. They are advanced tools for creating and maintaining polished web sites. We recommend using clip art CDs
you can generally find some very good art contained in them.
Alternatively, you can surf
the web for great graphics. Perhaps you intend to collect a graphics
gallery? Or perhaps you just need a single image for your existing web site?
Whatever your reasons, you can have great fun. You could literally spend hours
browsing through the plethora of ready-made clip art and pictures on the Net.
WORD OF WARNING. It's very easy to get lost amidst the millions of graphics
sites. Sometimes fun gives way to feeling that you’re wading around in kilos
of spaghetti! Here are a couple of quality sites you might want to use as a
base:
http://www.arttoday.com
ArtToday offers a free-trial of its content which lasts for 3 days after initial registration. It also offers access to Standard and Professional subscription services.http://animfactory.com
The Animation Factory contains hundreds of motion graphics which can you can alter the look of via access to GIFWorks, an online image editor. The Animation Factory also provides a Premium subscription service.
Staying
Healthy
When you DOWNLOAD graphics, pictures or any file from the Internet, you are
effectively transferring a copy of the file to your hard drive or disc. This is
a very easy process to carry out. Just follow the on screen instructions. It
generally takes a matter of seconds, providing the image is not too large.
However, you need to take precautions against viruses.
The hardest part is remembering where you downloaded your graphic files, we
suggest
that you always use the same folder, that way you always know where they went.
Try downloading to either My Documents or the My Pictures folder
to avoid this problem.
Editors Note:
Although there are no known graphics embedded viruses, it may be possible in the
future.
There is a virus that uses the .PIF file extension, so be careful out
there.
Law Abiding Netizens
You must respect copyright law when you surf the Internet for professionally
designed images. As we've seen above, there are lots of sites that provide you
with specific samples for downloading. Some sites may be free, some may charge.
Others (corporate or entertainment sites, for example) may not necessarily to
invite you to download their graphics. If you wish to do this, be sure to
respect copyright law and intellectual property rights. Contravening the
law could entail heavy fines or imprisonment.
You can check out the web site's stance on downloading graphics by visiting its Terms
and Conditions page. Otherwise, drop the webmaster an e-mail. You'll might
be surprised by the positive response, especially if your site is not a
commercial one.
The Grand
Finale
Launch your web site get with a bang, not a
whimper! Whilst graphics add extra fizz to the site, remember that people also
want good text and useful hyperlinks. A friend of mine once referred to graphics
as "the backdrop to a great stage performance". Imagine not being able
to see the actors on a stage because they were blocked by the backdrop! The same
principle applies to your site.
Aim to use lots of smaller graphics on your site, rather than huge, single blocks. The larger the image, the longer it will take to appear on your page. This can be very tedious and off-putting for your audience, especially if some have slower modem connections. You could lose their interest immediately.
When downloading and using graphics files, it helps to know how large they are. Experiment with different sizes, and you'll soon get an idea of what works. A 35k image will download so much faster than a 100k alternative.
You'll have a head start if you understand the jargon associated with file sizes:
1 byte = approximately the same amount of data as a single character of text
1 kilobyte (KB) = approximately 1,000 bytes. Documents are usually measured in KB
1 megabyte (MB) = approximately 1,000 KB. Computer memory is usually measured in MB, or in gigabytes (GB), which are roughly 1,000MB.