How to be a Good Graphics Consumer - Proper Web Graphic Use

1. Know the difference between web graphics and the role traditional clip art has played over the years. I think this is one of the biggest problems where so much contention over graphics use and abuse stems. On one hand those of us who have used clip art and graphics for years have always obtained and purchased graphics and clip art to be used as exactly that, "Clip". The type we use is made to be cut, clipped, re sized, added to and taken away. Those of us that work with layout and design work in things such as brochures and flyers, etc. use that type of clip art and graphics as our tools to be creative in what we do. Since I've always done this type of work, I can attest that I've paid many a high price for clip art graphic books and computer graphics that are made and sold specifically to be used that way. Those artists who sell their work for that type of medium know that is what it will be used for and no copyright violations are made by altering it and using it for layout and design work.

On the other hand, those who make web graphics want their work to remain "pretty", not to be altered in any way. I don't condemn that. I want my web graphics to remain "pretty" too. However, we do need to realize that people are going to come to the web with that traditional thinking of graphics in mind. Unless they are educated about it, people will not automatically know that the use of web graphics and traditional clip art and graphics use is completely opposite. Clip art and graphics that you do have the right to alter does exist legally. It is just a different form of medium to work with than what has become known as web graphics that we use to decorate our web site pages.

There are probably a lot of "should of's" here. Maybe when web graphic makers came on the scene they should have called their work "art" or "artwork" not "graphics" or "clip art". I'm sure there would be a lot of things that those who paved the way in web graphic making would have done differently. As it is, all we can do is educate people that web graphics or "web art" is not the same as traditional clip art and graphics that most are used to. If you bear in mind that there is a difference, and view web graphics as "art" that we hang on our webhome walls, I don't think you'll have any problem following the guidelines and terms that web graphic makers apply to their graphics or that "art".

2. Acknowledge that as a rule, graphics that you download from the web are the work and copyright of that graphic maker from which you acquire them. If you acknowledge the fact of copyright ownership from the web graphic makers you use, you won't be so tempted to take it and change it or use it as your own. You can find more about copyright laws at the US Copyright Office official web site.

3.   Be aware of the existence of noncredible graphic maker sites.     You have to realize that not all websites that have graphics to offer are credible. Here are some signs to look for:

-If they offer well known character graphics.   If you see cartoon characters such as Precious Moments, Tweety Bird, and Disney characters, be aware. These images are trademarked and copyrighted to their respective companies. Websites have no right to offer these images (no matter how cute we think they are!).

-If they display these disclaimer catch phrases...

         "I've gathered these graphics from all over the web".     In reality they are saying "I've stolen these from all over the web".

         "As far as I know these graphics are all public domain."    They are really saying, "I'm not responsible enough to check and these graphics have been passed around so much and changed so much nobody knows their origin anyway".

         "I've really tried to find out where these came from but if you see graphics here that are your copyright or don't belong here, let me know."     That's just saying "I'm not responsible so just dare me to take some of these down."

-If their work closely resembles another artist's work.    Let me interject here that some artists do draw with some similarities so you can't always jump to conclusions. Sometimes many of us do like to work with the same drawing styles, work in the same color families, and many of the country objects are going to look almost the same no matter who draws them. After awhile you'll be able to discern if something is identical to another artist's work.

Please note that I don't subscribe to the idea as some that if a person starts a graphic site and starts out with a lot of graphics that they didn't make them themselves. They may have waited until they had plenty to offer so I don't think we need to jump to conclusions on that score. Or they may draw at a quicker speed.

I also don't agree with some that artists that have graphics of a variety of styles and graphic scale have stolen them or not made them themselves either. Personally I draw in whatever mood I'm in. Sometimes I draw at large scales, sometimes I do the daintier thing. Sometimes I like country colors, sometimes light and pastel, sometimes dark. That is the joy of working in the PSP paint program. You can try everything and use your creativity. All of your work doesn't necessarily have to have the same form or even look like it was drawn by the same artist.

After you've made your rounds around the graphic makers, you will begin to recognize what's on the up and up after a while. Don't let a few bad seeds discourage you. There are lots of great graphic sites that do great work and that you don't have to worry about their credibility.

4. Don't think that just because you have read one or a few graphic terms you know all the lingo for all web graphic makers. Each graphic artist's rules, terms, and guidelines are different. They may have a lot of the same terms but there are things each one places in theirs that they want you to read. For example, some allow commercial users and some don't. Some require specific things that you need to be aware of to be a good graphic consumer. Also it is a good idea to go back from time to time to see if those terms have been changed and updated.

5. Do not alter any web graphics that you download. The majority of graphics offered on the web are not meant to be altered. The graphic maker that made it did it with a vision in mind and they want it to remain that way as a piece of art.

You probably have realized by now that not all graphic makers draw graphics the same as others. They are all at different levels both in talent and in the learning level of the paint programs they use. Some have more web knowledge in how they draw their graphics such as to know to keep the KB size of graphics down so your pages load correctly. Some can draw beautifully but don't have a knowledge of web layout and design so they may make their graphics at a large unusable scale. With all this considered I can see why sometimes it is tempting...oh so tempting to want to improve upon their work. You say to yourself, "Oh that would be so cute if it didn't have this" or "That would be adorable if I changed this or that" or "Oh, that would be so darling if it just wasn't so big!" and you want to scale it down to a usable size. ...Ahhh...just push that temptation aside. If you run into graphics that have so much potential, just resist the urge to alter it and move on. You wouldn't see a picture in an art gallery and think it had a few flaws in your perspective or not exactly what you want, and then purchase it and bring it home, try to repaint it and hang it on your wall. No, you would wait until you found what you wanted and then hang it on your wall. It's the same with web graphics, eventually you'll find what you are looking for. Don't worry, there are lots of graphic makers out there and you'll probably find something better to suit your needs up the road anyway.

There are those who want to take others graphics and alter them and claim them as their own. That is downright theft which I'm not going to go into here.

Adding text to graphics is another way that some are altering graphics. If there is text you really want added to a graphic, just email the artist to request that they add it for you. Some will not consider it but many are willing to accomodate you depending upon the situation. They may have a small fee for customizing text.

Changing the dimensions of a graphic within your html is also altering a graphic even if you didn't actually work on the graphic itself and change it. It still results in the same thing. It causes a distortion of actually what that graphic should look like.

6. Be aware of what direct linking is. When I was starting out with my own website I kept seeing signs and rules about not direct linking but no one seemed to want to share what exactly "direct linking" was. I kept searching everywhere for the answer. I kept thinking maybe I was doing this awful deed of "direct linking" as I didn't know what in the world it meant. Finally after learning html and with a little help from a friend I *finally* figured it out. Hopefully, I have explained it here in simple terms for you so you won't be in the dark as much as I was.

In basic terms "direct linking" is theft of bandwidth or transfer load resulting from placing the filepath of a graphic from someone else's site into your webpage or html. It is kind of like splicing into your neighbor's cable.

Let's start at the beginning...

Each graphic found on the web is located in someone's website files where they maintain their website. Every graphic you find has a file path or address leading to that file cabinet where they are stored. To find that filepath you can click right on any graphic and find their address or filepath which is called the "URL" (Uniform Resource Locater).

Click on the graphic below and a new window with an unprotected page will open up for you. Now click right on the graphic and locate "Properties" and click on that. You will see that all the information about that particular graphic comes up. Among that info is the "web address" or "URL" (Uniform Resource Locator)

http://www.creativeladiesministry.com/graphics1/bluebdhousest.gif

That URL is where that particular graphic is located on the web in my website files.

Direct Linking is taking that URL and placing it in your webpage or html for your website. Yes. The graphic will show up on your page but you are taking it directly from someone else's website which is called "bandwidth theft".

Each website owner is given so much bandwidth or transfer load and website space with their websites from their hosts. This is the case with free websites just as well as paid websites. Bandwidth is the width of a band of electromagnetic frequencies or amount of data transmitted or received. Each time a page on a website is viewed by a visitor bandwidth is used up by how much data is transmitted and received for the page to come up. When there are graphics on the page viewed then more bandwidth is used up for each viewing. Also the larger in KB size the graphic, the more the bandwith required. Bandwidth is used up for each and every view of the page so if your website has lots of visitors or hits to your pages then in turn you will use more bandwidth.

Those of us who have lots of graphics on our pages are using up a great amount of bandwidth so when you direct link to our images you are draining even more on that bandwidth limit that we are allowed. In my case, my website is a package that I've paid for. When you direct link to mine, you are using up something for yourself that I have paid for so you can see why it is considered theft but even if you "direct link" to a free website, you are still stealing their bandwith.

When those of us go over our limit of bandwidth the penalty can be very high. Large fees can be incurred on the owner of the website and the site can be closed down for indefinite periods of time.

As you can see, direct linking can cause a lot of trouble for a graphic maker when they have a huge amount of graphics on their website and several people are direct linking to their graphics at once. It causes a great drain on their resources and bandwidth. This is one of the major reasons you are seeing more and more registered and paid graphic sites. Many graphic artists I know have to change their file names or the URL's of graphics on a regular basis to prevent bandwidth theft. If the file names or URL is changed on a graphic, the people that have direct linked will just have broken links (empty squares in place of the graphics) on their pages. What a waste of time and headache for the graphic maker to have to be changing file names constantly. Of course my graphics on my site are an "extra" so if I find people direct linking to my graphics, I will just delete them and not offer them or put them into the paid VIP section. I do not have the time to invest into changing file names constantly so if you find a page of graphics missing from my graphics section you will know why.

It is amazing that most people would never think of entering a neighbors home and running up their phone bill with long distance calls but they would try to steal bandwidth.

7. Save and download your graphics correctly. When you find a graphic that you want to download just follow these instructions.

Hold your mouse over the graphic you want. Right click on the graphic and a menu will come up. Choose "save picture as" or "save image as". If you click on a background that is in use it will give you the choice of "save background as".

As soon as you click on that option a window will come up that has your computer files on it. Find the drive and folder where you want to save your graphics. I have Windows ME so in the "C" drive under "My Documents" there is a folder that says "My Pictures". This is where I store mine but you can place them anywhere in your computer files where you can find them again.

Make sure when you save them that you don't change the file format they are in which is usually "gif" or "jpeg" for web gaphics. If your computer will not let you save your graphic correctly such as only giving you a "bmp" or another format option to save it when you try to save the graphic, it is usually because you have too much "cache" on your computer. "Cache" is the temporary internet files stored on your computer. You will have to go into your computer "control panel" and find your "internet options" and delete the temporary internet files to clear that cache.

If you are a WEB TV user, click here for a site with information for downloading graphic files.

Make folders for each graphic maker that you download from and you will be organized when you go to work on your website or need the graphics. Within each of those files I always have made a folder for each page set that I downloaded because that way everything that goes together is in one place when you need them.

It is also good to save a notepad or word file with the web address of that graphic maker typed out and put that in your file as well. That way if you work offline to build your pages, you'll have the web urls handy to link to the graphic site that you have chosen.

When you need your graphic for your website you will then need to upload it from your computer to your website files.

8. Watch out for distortions. Sometimes when you are working on your pages with html editors or page editors, distortions of graphics will occur. It is kind of a fluke error that happens from time to time. What happens is the dimensions of the graphic either don't show up or are changed in your html. If a graphic looks distorted to you, chances are it isn't reflecting the right dimensions of height and width. Go check the dimensions from what it actually is and what your html says.

9. Add text to blank buttons and banners correctly. Many graphic artists offer blank buttons with their page sets and some offer blank banners that you can add your own text to. When you do add this text you must remember to do it without changing the graphic itself. If you are having white lines around the buttons and banners you add text to or if they are distorted in coloring or dithering (small hole looking marks on them) then you are not adding text correctly. Remember that you can add text in your regular Windows paint program but it is not compatable to all graphics. It all depends on the format and colors used in that graphic. The color will sometimes change when you go to save it. A warning should come up that tells you that saving that way will change it. Don't ignore this warning. It means you can not add text to that particular graphic in that program. Sometimes the warning doesn't come up and it still changes it. After you've added text, compare it to the original to doublecheck.

10. Do what you can to protect the graphics on your own website. Most of the original graphic makers require a "no right click script" on the pages of those that use their graphics. For the graphics I offer in my Graphics Section, I leave that up to you because I know that it can be annoying for your visitors who like to click right to open links in new windows. If you choose to use a no right click script on your site, just make your outside links open in new windows and this will help keep your site user friendly. There is also a script that you can have a No Right Click on Images Only. The only problem with this script is that is will not work on those images that you also have a link on so if you link a lot of images then it is probably not the best way to go. You can pick up a No Right Click Script at Dynamic Drive. I suggest the "Silent" no right click as the pop up windows that come with the regular No Right Click Scripts can be very annoying to your visitors.

Instead of a No Right Click Script you can also use the "oncontextmenu="return false" tag in your html. This tag prevents right clicking and yet does not use Javascript to do it. You just add it to your body tags along with your body background, etc.

Because of updated Internet Explorer browsers, having the following code also helps. It prevents the IE browser users from just mousing over an image and retrieving it through their handy toolbar that is provided them.

Just put between head tags in your html. (adding angle brackets)
META HTTP-EQUIV="imagetoolbar" CONTENT="no"

Because of other ways of retrieving graphics, the following codes are also recommended to deter people from selecting and dragging the images and saving them that way.

Just put in your body tag right along with your body info such as background, etc.
onselectstart="return false"
ondragstart="return false"

Just remember that there is not a foolproof way to protect all your content and images so don't lull yourself into a sense of security with a no right click script or any deterant method. The thieves all know the way around no right scripts and other tags so don't ever think that no one can take your graphics and images. That is why if you want your family and children's photos on your site, you should probably password protect them and not think they are protected with just a mere no right click script. Adding the script does help slow down those who are new to the internet or who just don't know not to take graphics from people's pages so it is just one preventative measure we can take.

Another way to protect your images is to password protect your site. This makes your site not very user friendly so it is a big decision you have to consider. If you want your site just basically as a personal homepage for your family and friends to share photos and things of that nature then password protecting to keep your children's photos safe may be the way to go. On the other hand if you want your site to grow, and you are shooting for lots of visitors to your site then password protecting it is not the most feasible thing.

11. Give credit Correctly. Make sure you have used the logo provided by the graphic maker or make a text link if that is acceptable to their terms, but make sure you have it linked correctly. I've seen so many times where people will put the logo on but not link it it, so watch out for that. I don't think it's done intentionally but it is something to be aware of.

If you use more than a couple graphic maker's work on a particular page and you have several graphic logos on your page it is next to impossible for your visitors to figure out who made what unless the logos closely resemble each graphic on the page from them. For example if you have lots of fall graphics on a page with lots of fall logos, your visitors will likely not realize who made what. You may have to give some definitions on your page. One way is just to put in a small font by the logos a description such as birdhouse, dividers, wagon from: beside the pertaining logo or at the bottom of the page somewhere.

Another way is to put the graphic makers name in the mouseover of the graphics. Hold your mouse over the image below and see the text.
©Home Tweet Home

You do this by adding an "alt" tag to your image as below

If you choose to discriminate the graphics through mouse overs, your visitors probably will realize it as they scroll down your page and the mouse hits the images, but if you want to make a notation in text somewhere that that's what you've done, that's great too.

Bye the way, the html code for the copyright symbol is as follows. Just take out the spaces between the letters and symbols:

& c o p y ;

Remember, defining which graphics belong to which artist on a particular page is not usually required by the graphic makers, but it is just an extra step you can take to distinquish where credit is due.

12. Only pick up your graphics at sites that offer them. Just because you "can" right click on any graphic (that is not right click protected) and save it to your files doesn't mean it is right or the proper thing to do. That is stealing from someone's website. Do you go into your neighbor's yard and take their paper home with you just because you "can"? After all it's just laying there. It is not any different from going to your neighbor's website and stealing something from their pages. There are just dozens and dozens of web graphic sites on the internet where you can properly pick up your graphics. All kinds, from Victorian, Country, Business, etc. There is no excuse to grab something from someone else's web site.

13 Don't offer someone else's graphics to others.

Don't offer graphics made by others from your site or send them to friends to use via email (unless you have permission to send an adoption as a gift). Each person needs to go to the graphic site, read the terms, and pick the graphics up themselves. Also don't try to profit from the graphics you acquire at the graphic sites (either paid or free) by using them in your own website design and html services. Most graphic artists either have their own web design business or grant permission only to those they authorize to do this usually along with a licensing fee. This includes those with free linkware such as I have on my site. It isn't ethical to pick up free graphics and then charge a web design fee and use those free graphics to carry out your own web design business. (On my site I now allow my graphics used in web design if you pay a liscensing fee.) Most artists want anyone that uses their graphics to come to the site, read through the guidelines themselves and be responsible for what they put on their website.

14. Above all, respect the Graphic Maker from which you acquire your graphics. Take a little time to stop and consider that the graphic maker had to take the time, effort, and creativity to make the graphics that they offer. For some it is very time consuming to draw. For others it comes more naturally and they can finish their graphics in a short time. Both still need to be respected for their work. For me, since I have small children, I have to specifically do any work in my psp usually in the wee hours of the morning, as it gets too busy in my house to spend much time on the computer during normal daytime hours. I have to go with a lack of sleep to accomplish my web work. I am not telling you this for you to feel sorry for me. I draw because I enjoy it but you need to realize that all the graphic makers usually end up sacrificing something in order to do what they do. Most have families, jobs, and other priorities so their time and effort into helping beautify our pages is a great gift, whether they are paid graphic sites or whether they offer free linkware. They are still providing a great resource to those of us with webpages so in return we need to respect them and their creativity, time, and talents.

Sorry this was such a long page but there were things I wanted to know when I first got started with building a website too and knowing how to properly use graphics is a big part of website building so I hope this has been helpful to you. Julia

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