Graphics Guide

The look and feel of your web site will give an immediate impression to the visitor, but the layout and contents of your articles will also contribute to the appearance and usefulness of each page. As an editor, the page graphics are your responsibility. 

Web Graphics

Quality images make a huge difference to the appearance and usability of a web site. A bland page of text will put users off. On the other hand, well selected images will help to break up the text, making it more readable and adding visual interest.

Remember that each image means the page takes longer to dowload, so too many images should be avoided. Resizing an image to the desired size and proportions, and making sure you use the correct graphics format (jpeg for photos, gifs for logos) will also make sure the page is not slower than is necessary. It will also ensure that the graphics are of a good quality. For more information on preparing images for the web see our White Paper on preparing images.

Images should relate to and support the message of the body text.

Graphic Resources

Building up a library of quality photographs may take some time, so it is useful to be able to draw upon stock images to enhance the interest of your pages. Royalty free images can be expensive - however there are several sources on the web that provide cheap or even free images, often of a good standard. For example www.istockphoto.com has a large selection of  images uploaded by freelance and amateur photographers, available at minimal cost.

You can encourage members with photographic skills to develop a gallery of pictures of activities, so that over time you will develop an image library that reflects your community well. You may know people who already have a selection of photographs that you could use on the web site, so ask around for available images of people and activities.