Always use JPEGs with a .jpg extension for photographs. Some software may use .jpeg but it is necessary to rename to .jpg for wordserver.

As a general rule of thumb, use .gif for text, diagrams and logos where you want to retain sharpness of lines.

If in doubt, perhaps if you have an image with a mixture, you can always try both and pick the better looking image to suit your purpose. Sometimes, it is necessary to compromise.

There are other formats, PNG for example, but we recommend you steer clear of them for wordserver at the moment.  This is because the wordserver software checks the width of an image and warns you if it is too wide.  At present, wordserver can only do this for JPGs and GIFs.

You only need low resolution images for the web.  Some software such as Photoshop has a 'Save for web' option which will optimise images for that medium.  If your software requires you to select the resolution more specifically, then choose 72 dpi (dots per inch).  Saving images at a higher resolution will not greatly improve the quality on the web and will take longer to download – perhaps not a hue consideration with broadband but important for anyone still using dial-up access to the Internet.

With images, it is good practice to always include 'Alt' text and/or a title.  'Alt' is short for alternative. The alt text serves several purposes:

• It is helpful to poorly sighted people who may have to rely on Braille readers or voice synthesisers to read a website.
• It also helps the website to conform to accessibility guidelines.
• It assists with boosting website rank with search engines such as Google.

Click here for the How To guide on adding Alt text to an image