Tricks for Manipulating Images

Use free software tools to achieve common interesting effects for Web images.

Size

One of the keys to successful integration of images is the ability
to keep them small. This can be done by saving the files through:
shrinking, cropping, or lowering levels of resolution and color.

Play with the image software on your computer.
Be sure to explore the menus and locate the commands to do critical tasks.

Advanced Image Attributes

Also, consider more advanced approaches to adding images to your pages:
Include two attributes in <IMG> tags to tell your browser the size of images.
The HEIGHT and WIDTH attributes let your browswer set aside the appropriate
space in pixels for the images as it downloads the rest of the file.
(You can get the pixel size from your image software.
Check your dimensions and use the correct ones.)

For example: <IMG SRC="your.gif" HEIGHT=100 WIDTH=65>

This controls the size of pictures displayed on screen.

What is the difference between changing the picture and
changing the image in the page display? Why does it matter?

See Adding Images Castro Ch. 5 pp. 77-90 (alt. pp. 82-95)

Transparency

You can easily create a transparent image using a graphic tool for "transparency".
No web designer should be without an application that sets the 'transparency' color
in any GIF file. This allows you to design better looking pages,
and have graphics that show the background through the middle!

Let's make a part of one of the graphics you have saved transparent.