Computers are graphical by nature. The explosion in the popularity of the world wide web only occurred after the web went to a mostly graphical interface. With the creation of universally readable graphical files, such as Compuserve's GIF format and the JPG format, graphics have become more easily accessible by all.
Graphical Elements on the Computer Screen
Backgrounds can set the tone for a window, with a particular color or pattern. What is most important is that the background not interfere with the readability of the text or conflict with graphical elements in the window.
Windows on a computer screen radically change the "surface" of a writing or reading space. Because a window can be resized, reduced to an icon and re-enlarged to a full size window, the concept of multi-tasking becomes a reality. A working space (reading or writing) can be shaped to any size necessary depending upon its immediate importance to the current task at hand. Being able to have numerous working windows open and side-by-side or overlapping at the same time increases control and productivity between various tasks and various programs.
The most common graphical element within a window is a textual field, though we rarely think of text as a graphical element. However, on the computer screen text is easily manipulated in a graphical sense. It can be placed in a particular font, in a particular point size, in a particular color, with particular attributes, such as being bolded, italicized, or underlined. It can also be linked or anchored to another textual field--thereby making it hypertextual.
Beyond that, graphics may include photos, icons, illustrations, maps, lines, boxes or tables, among other elements.
On the world wide web, and on computers themselves, many graphics are saved and stored as files, just as text is. The two most popular types of graphical files on the internet are GIFs and JPGs. Here is a comparison of these two file formats.
GIFs |
JPGs |
icons |
photos |
simple lines and objects |
textures |
few colors |
more colors |
smaller sized files |
large: need for compression |
Generally, if you create graphics for use on the internet, using a scanner, there are some rules-of-thumb to follow. Scanned images rarely need to have more than 72 dots or pixels per inch, as most computer screens will not "see" beyond this. You should tend toward 24 bits for color images and 8 bits for black and white photos. But experimentation with different settings is the best solution to getting good graphics. Also, remember that different software, and different monitors will display graphics quite differently. Test your graphics with a number of programs and in different platforms.
See Neil Wilson's presentation on Graphics on the Web