Introduction to Web Design - 8. HTML - Images | ||
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8.1 Adding a Background Image | 8.2 Adding an Image to a Page | 8.3 Images That Are Links | 8.4 Image Properties | 8.5 Image Maps | ||
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There are two image formats that are recognized by the two most popular browsers
(Internet Explorer and Netscape). These two image formats are GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)
and JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group). A third format, PNG, is beginning to be used, but
be aware that users with older browsers will not be able to access these images.
See the section 8.4 on Image Properties for
more information about the differences between these formats.
There are two primary means of displaying images on webpages. One means is to use an image as the background of a page. The other is to use an image on a page as an illustration, for interest or as a link. To display an image as the background of a page, an attribute is added to the beginning BODY tag. To display an image on a page, the IMG tag is used. Consideration must be exercised when using images on a webpage and a number of different issues should be taken into account. First, one must bear in mind that a user might have set their browser to not display images in order that the pages download faster or the user is using a text-only browser such as lynx. Or, it may be that the user has a visual handicap and is using a text reader to interpret your page. In order to handle those cases, the alternate text attribute for the IMG tag should be used. Alternate text will be displayed when the image is not displayed and will be discussed below. This is particularly important when an image also contains information or directions to the user. For example, a graphic image depicting a button that is labeled “Click here for more information” might be used. If the user cannot see the image, the direction on the button is non-existent. Other issues to be considered when using image are the size of the image files and the number of images used on a page. Large image files, or the use of a large number of files on one page can cause the page to load very slowly. A user may not wait for the page to load and go to another site instead. Ways to reduce the size of image files is discussed further under image properties. In addition, the use of too many disparate images on a page can result in a page that not only has a disorganized appearance but is also disorienting to the user. When adding images to a web site, make sure that you are not violating copyright laws by using an image that you yourself did not create. Many web sites contain images that you are free to download. Other sites ask that you give them credit when you use one of their images. 8.1 Adding a Background ImageWhen an image is used as the background for a page, if the image is not large enough to cover the entire browser window, the image will be repeated over and over in the background of the page. If you carefully examine a webpage that has clouds as a background, you can often find the “seams” of the background and then see the single image that is repeated. It is more difficult to find the seams of smaller background image patterns, such as raindrops or granite.Since the content of the webpage will be displayed over the background graphic, a graphic should be selected that is not too distracting and does not interfere with the content of the page. For example, if an image with very dark areas is used on a page which uses black text, the text may not be readable over the dark areas of the background image.
8.2 Adding an Image to a PageAnother way to add an image to a webpage is to use the image tag <IMG>. When using this tag, the image will not be repeated across the webpage as background images are and text will not overlay the image. Images added with the IMG tags can add interest to a page, illustrate a point, display a chart, or serve as active links to other pages.The beginning IMG tag can take several attributes. The most important of these is the source, SRC, attribute. The value for this attribute is the filename of an image. Other attributes are ALT for alternate text to be displayed if the image is not displayed, ALIGN which will place the image on the right or left side of a page with text along side, and BORDER which takes a number indicating the number of pixels to be used for a border around the image. By default, images which are not links have a BORDER value of 0. Images that are links, will be given a border of 1 that is the color of the text links on the page by default. You can remove the default link border by specifying BORDER = 0.
8.3 Images That are LinksImages can serve as links to pages rather just as text can be a link. To make an image “clickable”, surround the image tag with anchor tags with a reference to another page.
8.4 Image PropertiesThe format, size and properties of the images on a webpage can influence the effectiveness of a webpage. Therefore, in order to design effective webpages, it is necessary to understand the format, size and properties of images.The two most popular browsers, Internet Explorer and Netscape use two image file formats: GIF and JPEG. A third format, PNG (Portable Network Graphics), i s not yet commonly used and is just beginning to be recognized by the most current versions of the two major browsers, but may be in the near future. Depending upon other properties of the images you are using, you may want to choose one or the other format for the images on your webpages. The size of the image files you use on your webpage influences how quickly the page loads into a browser. If a page is loading too slowly, the user will often not wait and simply go to another page and a company may loose a customer, or a non-profit organization may loose a donor, etc. Interlacing is a property of some image formats. Interlaced images are displayed in browsers in stages in which each stage gradually sharpens the image. Interlacing can be used with large image files so that the user gradually gets the final image. Interlacing lets the user know that an image is being loaded. The thought behind interlacing is that gradual image development is better than waiting in front of a blank screen while an entire image downloads. The hope is that by giving the user the image in stages, the user will wait for the final image. Aliasing refers to the jagged look that you may find, for example, when you draw a line that is not perfectly horizontal or vertical on a computer screen. Using anti-aliasing in an image refers to a process that smooths the jagged edges by blending the color of the edge pixels with the color of the background. Resolution is a measure of image clarity and is measured in pixels per unit. Web-safe colors are cross-platform colors that should display consistently in the two major browsers across different platforms such as IBM, Macintosh and UNIX systems. In the RGB color scheme, which uses 2 characters to represent the amount of red, green and blue, web-safe colors can be recognized because they contain only the digits 00, 33, 66, 99, CC and FF for each red, green and blue value. A raster image is composed of pixels organized on a grid. Each pixel in a raster image is stored as a combination of colors. If the dimensions of a raster image are increased, pixels are added by interpolation, which lowers the image quality. Therefore, raster images are resolution-dependent. Raster images are good for photographs which may have continuously varying colors. A vector graphic is stored in a mathematical construct called a vector. Vector information is stored as a set of instructions, instead of groups of pixels. This makes vector graphics resolution independent. Vector graphics are suitable for images which consist of solid color areas of shapes or text, but not for photographic quality images. 8.4.1 GIF formatGIF stands for Graphic Interchange Format. GIF files use LZW compression which is a proprietary compression method for which there has been talk of charging a fee for usage. LZW stands for Lempel-Ziv-Welsh and is a lossless compression method. Lossless compression means that no information in the original file is lost due to the compression method. Lossy compression used in other compression methods, means that some information in the file may be lost due to compression and uncompression processes.GIF files use one byte to store a color. One byte can represent 28 or 256 different colors. However, you should keep in mind that not all 256 colors in the RGB color scheme are browser safe colors. That is, not all 256 colors are guaranteed to be interpreted and displayed correctly in a browser. When an image file is converted to GIF format, if a color is encountered that cannot be represented within the RGB format, a process called dithering is employed. In dithering, the colors of adjacent pixels are adjusted to blend into an approximation of the original color. GIF files can also use a transparent background color. This property of GIF files makes them suitable for images whose background should disappear against the background of the webpage. The GIF format is suitable for images that contain line drawings or fancy text, but is not always suitable for photographs which often require a larger color palette than can be represented in one byte. 8.4.2 JPEG formatJPEG (pronounced JAY-PEG) stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. The JPEG format uses a lossy compression method which means that some information in the original image may be lost during the compression/uncompression processes. When saving a JPEG file in image processing application, the user can usually set the level of compression to be used. The higher the level of compression that is chosen, the more information may be lost. However, the more compression used, the smaller the file is and smaller files will load into a browser faster. This means there is a trade-off between image size and image clarity.JPEG files use 24 bits to store color information. This means that 224 or 16,777,216 colors (sometime referred to as “Millions of Colors” in image processing software) can be represented in JPEG files. Transparent background colors are not supported in JPEG images. JPEG files do not support animation. 8.4.3 PNG formatPNG (pronounced “ping”) stands for Portable Network Graphics. PNG-8 files use 8 bits (1 byte) to store color information and PNG-24 files use 24 bits to store color information. PNG files use a non-proprietary compression method that preserves the sharpness of the original image and PNG supports transparency, interlacing and animation. However, PNG files tend to be very large. Currently, only the most current versions of the browser support the PNG format. Otherwise, Quicktime Pro® is required for displaying PNG files in a browser.8.5 Image MapsImage maps create clickable areas within an image. When the user passes the mouse cursor over clickable area of an image which has an image map, the cursor changes shape, indicating that this area represents a link. Image maps are tedious to create by hand and are usually done using a software application. However, we do a simple image map by hand so that you understand the components of an image map.
References
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Cynthia J. Martincic
cynthia.martincic@email.stvincent.edu
CIS Department
Saint Vincent College
Latrobe, PA 15650