Making Your Own Home Page

Adding a Graphic 

Graphics are one of the easiest ways to make your web page look really good.  The problem is finding them.  If you're really ambitious, you could spend a few hundred dollars on a graphics design program such as Adobe Photoshop or CorelDraw.  These programs come with clip art and the ability to create stunning graphics (if you work hard to learn the program).

For most people, that's not the way to go.  It's possible to save any file you want off the Internet, but copyright issues then come into play.  The best advice is to write the site's creator for permission before you use any of their graphics.  Most web site designers don't care one way or the other for non-profit/private web pages.  Some web sites are there for the sole purpose of giving you a place from which to download graphics for free.  Usually these sites only ask you to put a link to them on your page - a quite reasonable expectation.

For those who want to put up photos of family and friends, your best option is to use a developer such as Seattle Filmworks, who will put a copy of your pictures on diskette for use with your computer, in addition to sending you regular prints.  This service does cost extra, but the alternative is to buy several hundred dollars worth of scanning equipment and spend time trying to figure out how to operate it.  Few people could justify this cost.

Now, to get down to business.

  1. First of all, you must have a graphic file in the .gif or .jpg format.  The filename should end in .gif or .jpg, even if you are using a Macintosh.  These are both highly compressed graphics formats, which allows them to travel as fast as possible over the Internet.  Which format is better depends on the picture.  Gif files are good if there are only a few colors, while jpg is better for photographic images.  If you got your graphic off the web, it's probably already in the best format.  In particular, it is not possible to use images from Paint or Paintbrush, unless you can first convert them.
  2. Put the cursor where you want the graphic, and then click Image  A window like this will open:
 
  1. You should click Choose file and open the graphic file that you want to use.
  2. Most of the other options are not needed, but feel free to experiment.  You have to be online to use it, but clicking the help button will open a page that describes each option in fairly good detail.
  3. Click OK, and the graphic you chose should display on your page.
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