What about Graphics?

Web Graphics

The majority of graphics that you see on the Internet are JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) or GIF (Graphics Interchange Format). These are graphic files that allow for compression so that they can be sent and received with greater speed on the Internet.

JPEG graphics have are variable compression rate and lend themselves well to photographic images where as GIf images are limited to a maximum of 256 colours but do an excellent job with illustrations and other similar graphics. GIF images also allow animation which is a useful feature, especially when creating fun sites.

How do I get images on to my Web Site?

There are various methods of getting images onto your web site, these include using devices such as digital cameras and scanners.

Digital Cameras

Digital cameras allow us to take photographs just like photographs and download them directly onto our computer. These pictures can then be place directly into our websites. Often these digital images can be resized and enhanced using software such as Adobe Photoshop. Adobe Photoshop is a very powerful digital image editing software which has many uses in web design and many other careers.

Photoshop can also be used to optimize an image so that the file size is as small as possible but also retains a good degree of quality.

Scanners

Digital scanners are useful for scanning in your existing photographs that were maybe taken with a photographic film camera. Scanners can also be used to scan in paper documents such as letters. Once scanned images are in a digital format just like those taken with a digital camera and can be manipulated with photoshop in the same way.

When scanning in documents, the detaillevel or dots per inch can be set depending of the requirement for the scanned image. Forthepurposed of web design a low dots per inch is usually acceptable because the final destination is a computer monitor as apposed to printed material, where a higher dots per inch is required.

Useful Links

http://www.adobe.com/ - Information about Adobe products including Photoshop

http://www.jpeg.org/ - Official site of the Joint Photographic Experts Group