Images

There are many web sites that offer free images for use on your web pages. Be sure to read the web site's terms and conditions of use before downloading and using their images. Usually, you can just right-click on the image and click "Save Image As" (Firefox, Netscape) or "Save Picture As" (Internet Explorer) to save the image to your computer. Always read the web site's terms and conditions of use before downloading and using their images. At the bottom of this page, you will find a listing of links to free image sites, or you can use a search engine such as Google.com to search for terms such as "web graphics" or "free web images" or something more specific such as "web images cats". Make sure the graphics that you use from others' web sites are graphics that they are offering for use to the public. If you are not sure, email the owner of the site to request permission to use their graphics. If you plan to alter the image, you will want to also get permission to do that.

For information regarding the University of Arkansas logo guidelines, see University Relations' Logo & Stationery Guidelines. University Advancement's Design Services can help with use of the University logo.

If you have a printed photograph you would like to put on your web page, you can scan the photo in one of the IT Services General Access Computing Labs. A scanned photo (or a photo saved from a digital camera) will be very large when viewed on a computer screen (but would print normal size) so you will usually need to resize it before putting it on a web page. It's usually NOT a good idea to resize a photo using HTML so don't use the sizing function in the HTML editor; the quality of the photo will be diminished, and the file will still be very large, taking a long time to load in a browser before being shrunk. Use a graphics application such as Photoshop or Paintshop to resize the photo (you might want to also crop, etc.) before placing it on the web page. See more information on scanning images.

Remember that the images on your page are separate files from your HTML file and must be uploaded to the server before they can appear on your web page.

Copyright

An original expression is eligible for copyright protection as soon as it is fixed in a tangible form which means that most of the items that you encounter on the Internet are eligible for copyright protection, including the text of web pages, text documents, contents of email and newsgroup messages, sound files, graphic files, and executable computer programs. Items not eligible for copyright protection include ideas, facts, titles, names, short phrases, and blank forms. Works published after 1977 are copyrighted for the life of the author plus 70 years. All works published in the United States before 1923 are in the public domain. Works published after 1922, but before 1978 are protected for 95 years from the date of publication. For more information regarding copyright, see IT Services' Copyright Resources.

ADA Compliancy for Images

Every image must have a text equivalent, usually in the form of an alt tag (alternative text tag). Most HTML editors will have a field in which to type the alternative text for each image that you place on the page. The HTML will look something like this:

<IMG SRC="horse.gif" ALT="photo of a horse">

Images that contain text should have that same text as the alt value. For example, a button in a navigation bar that reads "Home" should have the alt value of "Home". It is important that the image not only have an alt tag, but a GOOD alt tag. It's a good idea to listen to some of your alt tags using a screen reader such as JAWS or, at least, read them aloud and imagine that you cannot see the image. Does the alt tag describe the image effectively? Keep in mind that abbreviations often will not be read in such a way as to make sense. If the image has lots of text, make sure all of the text is duplicated in the alt tag.

Use a long description for images if the ALT text is greater than 150 characters or the image needs to convey important information beyond what is in its alternative text. Most HTML editors do not make it very easy to insert a LONGDESC tag. The HTML will look something like this:

<IMG SRC="horse.gif" ALT="photo of a horse" LONGDESC="http://www.uark.edu/somewhere/horsedescription.html">

Some of the more difficult alt tags to write can be for maps (such as a campus map) or a screenshot used in directions. The alt tag for a map should contain sufficient directions and location names to be the equivalent of the map. A screenshot alt tag should contain the information that is being referenced in the screenshot.

Use an empty ALT tag (null alt) or a space for spacer images.

Flickering on the screen can cause seizures in users with photosensitive epilepsy, so web developers should avoid using images that flicker.

Troubleshooting - Images Don't Show Up on the Web Page

Some possibilities could be:

• The path to the image goes to the hard drive of the computer where the page was created or the path goes to the wrong directory on the account. This can happen if you create the page in a web editor, but do not upload using the editor, for instance, if you create the page in KompoZer, but upload using the My Documents directory in a lab. Copying and pasting a page from MS Word or similar can also cause the image paths to become broken.
• The image filename contains a space or special character.
• The image has not been uploaded to the server.
• The image filename does not match the filename referenced in the HTML.
• The image file is corrupt.
• The read permission is not set for the images and/or the image directory.

Image Links

The following sites have free images:

• IconBazaar
• Barry's Clipart Server
• The Free Graphics Store
• Graphic Map's Clip Art
• About.com's Clipart
• Yahoo Clip Art
• Web Clip Art
• Celeste's Holiday Graphic Collection
• Leo's Icon Archive
• Clip Art Warehouse
• Bells n' Whistles
• Animation Arthouse