WebTips2

Organizing the website - Optimizing Graphics - Names and Extensions - Links

**Optimizing Graphics ** Most cell phones and digital cameras take images that are WAY too large for a website. The memory used is often several megabytes and the size would fill the whole screen.

One mistake that is often made by new site creators is resizing the image on the html page instead of actually making it smaller with a graphics program. Yes, it "looks" small, but actually is still the same file size and additionally makes the computer work harder. How? First the computer has to download the entire image into memory, then it has to re-calculate to resize it visually on the html page.

The best way to reduce image size is with **Adobe Photoshop** or **Adobe Photoshop** **Elements**. Both have an option under File called Save for Web... Here you can make the image smaller and set low, medium or high for the resolution and get a preview of how it will look.

Don't have the program and can't afford to get it? Welcome to the world of FREE! **Gimp** is a free program for all platforms. It is an open source 'clone' of Photoshop. The learning curve is a little steep, but not bad. Download it from @http://www.gimp.org

Just want simple editing? **FotoFlexer** lets you crop, resize, and do lots of editing tasks. Registration is not required. Great for schools that don't have any other photo editing capability. Finished images can be saved to your local computer. Check it out here: @http://fotoflexer.com/