While the use of graphics and backgrounds can have a
positive effect on the readability of your Web pages, I find that their use, more often
than not, have the opposite effect. Far too many pages seem to be more interested in
"showing off" their ability to create unusual background textures making the
reading of the text difficult, or are so overloaded with graphics that they take forever
to load.
In general, backgrounds should be subtle so as to enhance the readabilility of text. I
find most backgrounds with textures counterproductive to the this goal. Lighter
backgrounds work best for the presentation of text. Darker backgrounds often help set off
graphics. For an excellent discussion on the use of background colors and the presentation
of text, check out Net Tips for Writers
and Designers. This site offers the best discussion of this subject matter I've come
across.
For a good discussion on the use and presentation of graphics, check out this link : Graphics Techniques for Web
Page Images. LINKS TO OTHER GRAPHIC DISCUSSION SITES
WHERE TO GET FREE CLIPART, BACKGROUNDS, ETC..
The following list of sites provide an excellent source for free clip
art and graphics. Take note that some providers require recognition of the author in order
to use their creations. Most browsers provide for the ability to save any graphic
displayed as an option. For instance, in Netscape, placing the cursor arrow over the
graphic and using the right button of the mouse brings up a menu which includes the option
to save the graphic to a local directory.
- The Clipart Directory
This may be the most comprehensive list clipart sites on the Web.
- Texture Land
The best resource link I've seen for background colors and textures.
- AOLPress
Clip Art
Clipart, Icons, Dividers, Party Art, Backgrounds, and Arrows all free from AOLPress. If
you've got a browser that can save an image to file (most do), you can ignore the
instructions asking you to download AOLPress first.
- Bestclipart.com
Thousands of gif's, jpg's, backgrounds, buttons, bars, textures, clipart and photo's FREE
for you to download!Loaded with lots of public domain clipart, icons, bullets, bars, and
animation graphics.
GRAPHIC SOFTWARE
- Paint Shop Pro 4.1- JASC
This is the graphic editor I use. Photoshop has more features but at less than $70 you
get the most bang for the buck. Paint Shop Pro is the complete Windows graphics program
for image creation, viewing, and manipulation. Features include painting, photo
retouching, image enhancement and editing, color enhancement, image browsing, batch
conversion, and TWAIN scanner support. Included are 20 standard image processing filters
and 12 deformations. Supports Adobe style image processing plug-in filters. Over 30 file
formats are supported, including JPEG, Kodak Photo-CD, PBM, GIF. Winner of SIA &
ZiffNet awards.
- Microsoft Image Composer - Microsoft
Enables a broad base of business users and developers to dramatically improve the
graphical look of their Web sites and presentations by easily arranging, customizing, and
creating on-screen images. Users can quickly get professional-looking results by using the
500+ tools and effects provided by Microsoft Image Composer or by using existing images
from a variety of sources. With Microsoft® Image Composer™, you can simply drag and
drop images to arrange them together. You can also easily apply professional-looking
effects to customize your images. Now you can create images for your Web site without
having to learn about and use traditional image editing concepts such as layers, channels,
and masks.
- Microsoft GIF Animator- Microsoft
The fast and easy way to create and customize animation for the Web. Create, arrange and
customize images in Microsoft Image Composer using its wide variety of tools and effects.
Then, drag and drop them into GIF Animator to continue manipulating the sequence until you
get the look you want. Easy-to-use property sheets and built-in previewing capabilities
make animating images simple. With GIF Animator, there is no need to write code or use an
animation program to create GIF animations!
- GIF Construction Set -
Alchemy
GIF Construction Set can be used to create simple animations based on images created by a
paint package or graphics application. It can also generate a number of specific
animations and features internally. If you browse through the demonstrations at this page,
you'll be able to see some of its better tricks. However, GIF Construction Set is a tool
limited only by your imagination, inspiration and the size of your hard drive.
- ThumbsPlus - Cerious
Keeping track of graphics located on a hard drive can be difficult unless you've got a
program like this one. ThumbsPlus is a graphic file viewer, locator and organizer which
simplifies the process of finding and maintaining graphics, clip-art files, fonts and
animations. It displays a small image (thumbnail) of each file. You can use ThumbsPlus to
browse, view, edit, crop, launch external editors, and copy images to the clipboard. You
can use drag-and-drop to organize graphics files by moving them to appropriate
directories. ThumbsPlus will also create a slide show from selected graphics, and install
bitmap files as Windows wallpaper
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