So you want to create some web graphics? You've been surfing around the web or you've created a home page and now you want to spruce things up a bit. You've seen the cool graphics on other pages, and you just know you want to do some of that yourself.
Generally the first thing that all new webmasters do is create horrendous web pages with every color under the rainbow, animations, background sound (ugh!) and pictures. To make it even worse, they will do it all on a single 500kb page!
There are many things that you can do to make a web site look good, and graphics are part of the picture. Used correctly, graphics can seamlessly work with your whole design to create a superb place to visit. Used incorrectly and you will have a laughable mess only showing your ignorance and lack of good taste.
The first rule to remember is to keep your pages small and manageable. Remember this is the web, which means you've got hyperlinks. Use them. By this I mean you don't need to put your entire comic book collection (scans and all) on a single 20mb page! In fact, you can put it on as many pages as makes sense.
A good rule of thumb is to keep the entire page under 50kb. Smaller is better. There are exceptions - a photo album, for example, but those are clearly understood.
Connect with me
Unless otherwise noted, all photos and text is Copyright © Richard G Lowe, Jr.