Graphics Tags

It goes without saying that, if you're going to work with graphics, you need to get have them available before you can use them. There are really four ways to do this.
 

• draw them yourself using a painting or drawing package
• use clipart
• scan them in using a scanner
• download them from a website - but see below
   

Be aware that copyright laws apply pretty well the same as they do to books, photographs and so on and you can't just use images and graphics without the permission of their owners. If you see graphics on other people's websites that you'd like to use then that's OK provided you check with them first. Some websites offer free graphics for you to use - look in the resources section for details.

Images must be in .GIF or .JPG format so not all clipart would be suitable unless it's in one of these formats already or unless it's possible to convert it into one or other of them.

It's possible to keep all your HTML document files, image files and so on in the same directory on your computer...but this isn't always the best idea unless you're only using a small number of files. It is common practice to keep all your HTML files in one directory with images in a subdirectory called, for example, images, and any photos in a subdirectory called photos and so on. It just makes it easier to organise and to see what is kept where. For the purpose of the following examples, we're going to assume that you will keep any image files in a directory called images so your system should be set up accordingly...