Preparing Images for the Web

The preparation of graphics for use on a web site is a specialist skill that requires some expertise but is not beyond most people with a little guidance.

All graphic preparation has to be done outside of content management systems or web design programs, then the image added after it has been prepared.

Typically photos are far too large (in terms of height and width) and also too big (in terms of file sizes) to use directly on a website. So they need to be made physically smaller (or perhaps cropped) and then have the quality reduced (or optimised) so they are suitable for web use. So you might start with a 3000x2000 8mg photo that ends up at 300x200 and 40kb for use on the web.

I think the best software package for preparing images for use on websites is Adobe Fireworks. However this is quite an expensive piece of software outside the scope of many casual users who perhaps need some software for preparing graphics for adding to their website using their Content Management System (CMS) so here are a couple of FREE alternatives:

• Picasa (from Google)
  This is a simple photo managing and editing package for people who don't need anything too clever. Its export facility has some basic resizing and optimisation features.

• GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program)
  This is an open source program that is an alternative to Photoshop so it is a professional level program that is free. There are loads of plugins including a "Save for Web" one to make life easy for you.