FAQs - Graphics - Answers

What format are images on the web?

Most images that you will find on the web are either in the GIF or JPG format. All the browsers that support images support these, and most image programs are able to save to that format.

Which is better GIF or JPG?

The format of your images depends on what the image is displaying. If the image is a logo or diagram with flat colour fields then you will want to use the GIF format, if the image is a photo or an image with complex colours and gradients then you will want to use JPG.

How do I animate images?

Images can only be animated if they are GIF files. You need a program to animate these files. One of the most basic image animators is the Microsoft GIF animator program, which is free.

What is the little red cross where my picture should be?

A little read cross, displayed in Microsoft Internet Explorer means that the browser could not find the image file specified in the code. Check your code to make sure that the image file you are pointing to is named correctly, and check you uploaded the image file.

What is the little box with the squares etc. where my picture should be?

The little box with the squares etc. is the Netscape way of telling you that the image file was not found. This means that the image file is named incorrectly either in the source code, or the file name itslef. Check that the image file is there and it is named correctly.

How can I preload a graphic for use on the rest of my site?

To preload a graphic you can make it have a height and width of just 1. This makes it virtually invisible to the user. The browser will (probably) place the image in the Cache (Temporary Internet Files) and load it automatically on any other page in your site that uses it without having to download it again. The code for this is:

How do I make some areas of an image clickable hyperlinks?

An image can be divided up into clickable areas by using an image map. An image map specifies shapes, such as circles and rectangles to be "masked" over the image. These areas can be clicked on by the mouse and used as hyperlinks. You can find more information on Image maps in the irt.org article "HTML#3 - Making your web pages more exciting".

How do I add Icons to the Favorites Menu?

Take a look at the article I have written: Adding Favorites Icons in Internet Explorer 5