Image problems? Click on the questions below for some answers!

My image shows in Internet Explorer, but not Netscape - what's up?

The image shows on my computer but no-one else's - how come?

Why is my picture taking so long to appear?

1. Images showing in Internet Explorer but not in Netscape...

Browsers are strange beasties... what works in one, isn't guaranteed to work in another - and one of those problem areas is for image files. Here's an example off the web design tips page...

Bitmaps - files that end ".bmp" will not show up in Netscape Navigator in versions up to and including 4.7. Netscape 6 is a bit more forgiving, but a general rule of thumb is to use the two main web formats - GIF and JPEG. Another format that can be used is "PNG"... but for older browser compliance - i.e. making allowances for old wonky kit, stick to the old favourites! Check what you've used if you get someone saying they can't see your piccie in Netscape - if it ends with ".bmp" - then you need to convert it using your graphics package into either a GIF or JPEG!

Here's a tip: for simple graphics - use GIF, for photos - use JPEG. Doing that'll not only be using the appropriate format, but you'll get the smaller file sizes! Honest!

An odd problem - that seems to be a bit of a Netscape thing is that of GIFs not showing up. The reason? GIFs (this is going to be a tiny bit techie - sorry) are 8-bit - in other words, they can only have a limited number of colours. If you've saved a bitmap or JPEG as a GIF, then you must make sure that is 8-bit. Anything greater than that - i.e. 24-bit which is typically used for JPEGs - and the image will not show in Netscape.

How does this happen? One way - you save a picture from the Web and it's a JPEG. You decide that you want it as a GIF - you simply change the bit that says ".jpg" to saying ".gif". The problem is that the image will most likely NOT be 8-bit. So it's not really a valid GIF. Another way - you open a bitmap or jpeg on a package like MS Paint (the free graphics editor that comes with Windows). You save it as a GIF - the package DOES NOT convert it to being 8-bit... you may well have problems with it not displaying.

It's one of those "sounds like it couldn't happen to you" sorta things... but when you're trying to get an assignment in and your images just won't display - then this is something to check!

If you wanted to see the image in point 6 on the web design tips page, you'd have a job! Take a look...

Yup - no image! I've used an ABSOLUTE rather than a RELATIVE link - for a more stuff about this, click here. In my example, the HTML for the link reads:

<img src="c:\sites\kindahelpful\trouble\yuck.gif">

... which, though it is the place the image is stored on my hard disk - it isn't on anyone else's. What I should have done is to use a RELATIVE link, for example, <img src="yuck.gif">

Some general rules: using an image called "working.gif" as an example...

If the image is stored in the same folder as the web page it's in you would type:
<img src="working.gif">

If the image is stored in a subfolder below the folder your web page is in, you'd type:
<img src="subfolder/working.gif">

If the image is stored in folder above the folder your web page is in, you'd type:
<img src="../working.gif">

Did you wait ages for the web design tips page to appear? Part of the reason was because of points 9 and 12... Here's point 9 as a reminder...

Animated graphics... big images... they all take time to download. And when you're waiting for a page to appear - it can seem like ages! Try to keep image sizes small - or if you want to include a big graphic, do a link from a smaller version that people can click on if they want to.

You'll often notice that images on the Web are not that good quality if you look at them closely... that's because there is a trade-off between image quality and file size. The better the quality - the larger the file size. Bear in mind that people are (generally) only going to be looking at your page on screen, not that closely - so you can afford to lower the quality if it'll make your page appear quicker!

Get into the habit of using graphics when they will add something to the page - not just because you can... And as for animated graphics - use them with care and use 'em sparingly! After all, you don't want to annoy your audience... not much anyway!!