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.

Fonts for Websites

Fonts used for web sites are limited to a small number of common fonts found on the majority of computers - fonts are not downloaded with a web pages, web pages use fonts on the visitors computer.

While a specific font is not necessarily installed on every computer, even those using the same operating system, some fonts are so common that they are safer to use than others. The most common serif typefaces are Times and Times New Roman. The most common sans serif typefaces are Arial, Helvetica, and Verdana. A variety of size parameters, letters spacing and line spacing can be adjusted and colour can be specified.

Web Safe Colours

There is a very limited range of colours considered to be web safe - this doesn't mean these are the only colours you can use but it does mean these are more reliably produced across the technologies used and safest where text and images are used together. Here is a web safe colour chart.