Web Graphics

The design of web graphics encompasses a wide range of skills, from the artistic to technical competence in using the available tools. A lot of Web art is available for free use; in some cases the creators ask to be acknowledged by a link to their source site. The World Wide Web makes it easy to save images one finds in surfing and reuse them later. However, before reusing anything one finds, one needs to determine copyright ownership and request permission. Also, if you find it on the Web, chances are others will also see it, and your site will not appear to be original.

Creating Web Graphics

Many tools are available for creating or acquiring digital artwork, including drawing programs, scanners for scanning photographs, and digital cameras. I use Adobe Photoshop CS™, Macromedia Fireworks™, and Macromedia Flash™. I can also digitize video and audio clips from client supplied media to include on the web site if the client has permission from the copyright owner to use the material.

Web Graphic Formats

Two graphics formats are currently the standard for displaying web graphics: JPG images for photographs or other complex images in many colors, and GIFs for line drawings and logos (256 color maximum).

A variant of the GIF format, known as an animated GIF (or GIF 89a) can contain multiple images which display sequentially, giving an illusion of animation. (If the animation has stopped, reload the page in your browser.)