Preparing Images
For Internet and Email Use

When using images for the internet or to send as email attachments the size of the file has great impact on how long it will take to send via email or to load in a web browser. Basically, you want to make the file as small as possible whilst ensuring that the picture 'looks good' when viewed on a monitor screen.

A common problem encountered by many computer users is caused by people sending pictures as email attachments where the image file is much too large and can take a very long time to send and receive, possibly even causing an email service to reject it altogether

Pictures need to be saved as either .jpg (for photos) or .gif (for graphics) files and you will need a software programme which lets you resize and adjust the image to suit your purpose. Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard but there are many others such as Photoshop Elements (cut down version of the same programme) PaintshopPro and CorelPaint to name just three.

The main thing to remember when using images for viewing on screen is that the pixel dimensions are what matter. So a picture 600 x 400 will appear at that pixel size on screen.

A colour picture 600 x 400 saved as a reasonably good viewing quality .jpg file (like the one of Henley above) will probably have a file size of around 30 kilobytes and will take about 10 seconds or so to download with a 56k modem. The image quality is good on screen but would only give a print about 3" x 2"

 Many Forum and Bulletin Boards allow users to include a small 'thumbnail' picture as part of their profile like the one here. Usually the pixel dimensions are limited to say 65 x 75 or 100 x 100 and you need to resize your picture to these dimensions, in which case a jpg file will come down to just a few kilobytes in size and download very quickly.

Want to 'Park' a picture for others to see? You can use the arweb 'Picture Park'
HERE