Choosing the Right Format For Your Web Images
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Published on: Sunday 21st June 1998 By: Gary Ransom
How much do you really need to know and need to do, just to create a Home Page? At its simplest level, not too much. However, there's the easy way and there's the hard way. A number of extra tools are available that can make the whole process easier and more "professional". On this page I've given details of a few key software tools and links to where to get them.
It doesn't matter what method you choose for writing HTML, mistakes will creep in and the code will contain errors. Different browsers behave in different ways to errors in HTML. Sometimes they are clever enough to compensate for the problems they find and are able to display the page or image as intended. Sometimes they can't. The upshot of this is that checking the HTML that you've produced, with the browser that you use, can only verify that that particular browser type (and that particular version), can read and interpret it correctly. Not everyone is going to be using the same browser as you.
There are good reasons for having more than one browser on your system. As I've said in an earlier section, there are fundamental differences in the way some browsers work and even perfect HTML can display differently on different browsers. Whilst it might be reasonable to have say Netscape and Internet Explorer available, who really can be bothered with the dozens of less popular browser types and all the versions? This is where software tools called HTML checkers come riding to the rescue. There are a number available and no doubt they've all got their plus and minus points. I use a product called Spy glass Validator, it's freeware and is fairly easy to use.
A similar problem is one that you often find when surfing the web. Broken links. It must have happened to you. Most commonly it is seen when you click on a link and your server returns a message saying that it can't find the address/site or whatever. On Home Pages it's often images which "get lost" and all that's displayed is an empty box where the image should be.
When you create your Home Page, you can laboriously check all links by hand but there is an easier way. There are software products called link checkers and these do exactly what the description says - check the links. Any problems found are reported in seconds enabling you to make the necessary repair. I use Infolink. I don't know how it compares with other products that are available but like most other products that I've recommended, it's free. (are you starting to get the impression that I'm a cheapskate?).
Graphics tend to be a very important element in web page production. This applies as much to Home Pages as commercial sites. For the Home Page creator, an absolute must is to get hold of Paint Shop Pro. This shareware package is the equal of many of the best graphics packages available but at a fraction of the cost (you will register and pay for it won't you!). Paint Shop Pro has too many features to list here, but apart from the more obvious features, such as being able to create good graphics, it has a number of excellent editing tools which enable you to adjust images and save to a wide range of formats.
Other tools you might try are Mapmaker with which you can make image maps, (make specific parts of images clickable) and BMPtoICO which, as the description suggests, will convert bit map images to icons (and vice versa).
On the Downloading article, I've talked about the risk of getting a computer virus from the internet. The risk is small but the consequences can be disastrous. Virus protection software is highly effective but there is one golden rule to remember: with few exceptions, the software can only protect against a virus that it knows about. If the virus was created after the virus protection software was written, then you're probably not protected. What can you do about this? Well, get yourself some good software, (Norton and McAfee are the market leaders) and keep it up to date by downloading the latest virus definition sets from the appropriate web site. If this sounds complicated, it's not. It takes just a few minutes and is very simple to do.
Products from either of these vendors are equally good. Personally, I use Norton but that's probably just habit. Alternatively, have a look on any CDs that you might have got from a PC magazine as they are often featured. Or you could buy current, enhanced versions of these in the shops (the enhancements tend not to be in the virus protection but in the less important "bells and whistles"). Virus definition updates are normally released each month and can either be downloaded from the product's web page or from one of the many software sites that are on the web. If you already have virus protection software on your system, visit the product's web page and update it. If this facility isn't available, dump it and get a product that can be updated.
You'll have heard this before but I can't stress enough the importance of backing up your key system files (especially in Windows 95). Sooner or later something will go wrong and you will have to do a restore. This happened to me a little while ago. Having taken a belt and braces approach, I happened to have two different types of backup software on my system and had recent backups available. One was Microsoft's own version and I tried a restore from this. It didn't work! In a panic I tried the other product and it worked a dream. I've since heard that the Microsoft backup can be unreliable and so my personal recommendation is for you to get a copy of Ers. It's easier to use than the Microsoft backup, and it works. The current version is shareware but the earlier version that I use is freeware. If the freeware version is still available and I can track it down, I'll put a link here.
Also on the Downloading article are details concerning Zip files which are widely seen and used on the web. A Zip file is one or more files compressed into one file to make it smaller and quicker to download. Once you've downloaded a Zip file it can't be used until it is "unzipped". By far the most popular Zip file manager is WinZip. This product is available as shareware and the author places you on trust to register and pay for it once you've decided that you want to keep it.
One of the great things about the web is the enormous range of software that's available for you to download and try. Much of it is free, or shareware which is low cost. There are far too many excellent sites for me to list here but the following links are amongst the most useful:
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