Designing your web site

Graphics add a little spice to your site. But don't overdo it. Graphics will slow your site down, and people have very little patience.

Overview

You can get graphics from many sources.

1. Clip art collections on CD-ROM. These are available at any store that sells software.
2. Clip art collections online.
3. You can search for images using a Google Image search. http://images.google.com/images (be sure not to use any copyrighted images on your site)
4. From photos, either from a digital camera or a scan of a print.
5. From on-line photo collections.

Reading

What's the difference between jpg and gif?

is a gif file. It usually has only a few colors, like most logos or clipart.	is a jpg file. It is usually a photograph and has lots of colors.

Gif vs. jpg format Use gif for artwork like logos and Clip art use jpg files for photos. See http://www.wfu.edu/~matthews/misc/jpg_vs_gif/JpgVsGif.html for excellent examples.

Homework

Gather graphics that will be useful for your web site. Use any of the resources listed above. If you need graphics quick and easy for creating a rough layout, you can grab images off other web sites by right-clicking on the image and then select "Save Picture As..." Be sure to replace these images with ones you have rights to before "going live" with your web site. Save them to your "My Documents" folder in a subfolder such as "My Pictures." You should create yet another subfolder for web graphics. You do not want to co-mingle web graphics with family photos. (creating folders)

Be sure to get the following:

1. Product images.
2. A logo. If you need help with a logo, you can search the Internet for "logo" and find any number of companies such as www.thelogoloft.com. Or you can create a logo using www.gifworks.com.

Resources

Clip art

www.clipart.com is a subscription service, but it's a great resource, usually worth the price for the convenience.

www.istockphoto.com is a pay-as-you-go service, and a fantastic bargain.

The following are free.

		or search for "Clip Art" using your favorite search engine

Other Stock Photography Collections

Saving images from other web sites

Or right click on any image you see on any site and save to hard drive. (May violate Federal Copyright Laws if you do this for commercial purposes. But for a class exercise, I wouldn't worry about it.)