There are times you'll want to locate and retrieve online images. You can use these images in multi-media presentations
or in classroom assignments, or lesson handouts. Eventually, you'll be interested in scanning, converting, and mounting images
on your own Web pages as well.
Obtaining images
Most Internet newcomers are interested in obtaining two types of images: 1) free online art, and 2) scanned images of original
material.
The Web is home to dozens of sites containing free images, from banners to bullets to high-quality photographs and graphics.
The images stored in the sites below are available free of charge and are royalty-free. Feel free to retrieve them and use
them as you see fit.
The Clip Art Universe
ClipArt Connection
Barry's Clip Art Server
Education Clip Art
Media Builder Images
You can save these images to your hard drive in a few easy steps.
First, access the Web page that contains the image you want to retrieve.
Second, place your mouse arrow anywhere on top of the image you want. If you're a Macintosh user, click and hold down
your mouse button. If you're a Windows user, click and hold down your right mouse button. A small menu will appear. Scroll
down to the Save this Image as...item, and let up on your mouse button.
You'll then be able to save the image from the Web directly onto your hard drive.
Collecting original images or photographs usually requires the use of a scanner. Scanners allow you to "copy" an original
image directly into your computer. The scanned image can then be saved to your hard drive and used in your classroom or on
your Web pages.
Converting images
Once you've scanned in an image for use on a Web page, you'll need to covert it into a format suitable for online publishing.
This involves four steps.
1) Use your scanner software to reduce the amount of colors present in the image. The more colors, the more space the image
will take up on your hard drive, and the longer it will take to download. A good rule of thumb is to reduce your scanned images
to either 16 or 256 colors. Choose which ever will make the image look best.
2) Be sure that you don't compress the image in any way. If you compress it, it may not be viewable by at all.
3) Save the image in either GIF or JPG format. These are the two formats which all Internet browsers can display. Be sure
to name the file in standard Windows style, such as graphic.gif or image.jpg. Be sure to use the proper suffix (.gif
or .jpg) and no more than eight characters as the filename itself.
4) Once you've collected some free and original images, it's time to publish them on your Web page.
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