Graphics often need a bit of
a tweak before you add them to
your pages. Cropping, making the background transparent,
resizing, or just finding that picture that you **know**
you've got somewhere on your hard drive! Irfan View can
carry out all these tasks, and includes a great browser
which loads at the click of a key, and displays thumbnails
for you to choose from. It will also do screen captures.
Available from many freeware sites (see below), you can
also
download from http://softwarecenter.net/irfanview/
GIF files can be "optimized"
- have all the unnecessary
information cut out of them. This makes them quicker to
load
on a web site, without affecting their quality. GifClean32
from http://members.tripod.com/~mharing/GifClean32.html
will
do this, and is very easy to use. JpgCleaner from
http://rnbw.tsx.org does the same for JPG files.
NOTE: Some clipart creators
ask you not to use these tools on their graphics, as the
programs can remove the copyright info from the file. So
check first!
Do you want an icon for your web
site? Having a "favicon" which displays
in Internet Explorer address bar and favorites list can
make your site stand out. GoldIcon will let you create 32x32
BMP icons. Get it from http://www.goldshell.com To find
out more about favicons and how to use them, go to http://www.favicon.com/
Harm's Tile from http://www.users.uswest.net/~sharman1/
will
allow you to create seamless tiles for backgrounds, buttons,
etc. It has several effects that can be used alone or
combined together, such as ripple, fish-eye, buttonise and
more. It's fun to use, too!
UFX (Ultimate Effects) - http://www.ultimatepaint.com/ufx/
can apply special effects to your pictures. It's prime
purpose is for scanning and manipulating photos, but it
can
be used on other graphics too. You can also use Adobe
Photoshop plug-ins with it. Use it for screen capture,
transparent gifs, special effects and other tasks too.
Some of my favourite freeware sites:
http://www.completelyfreesoftware.com/
http://www.webattack.com/
http://www.jumbo.com/
http://www.moochers.com/
Some of my favourite free graphics
sites:
http://www.iconarchive.com
http://www.clipartcastle.com
http://www.clipart.com
http://www.free-backgrounds.com/ |
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