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Using Images
Images can be very useful and informative when used properly on a website. They can reinforce a story, show someone the position of a person or object, build an atmosphere, and everyone has heard the phrase ‘a picture can paint a thousand words’! The chances are you are going to have to use some images on your website. With the power that images can have, you need to be able to use them properly, otherwise you could ruin a carefully designed website.
Here are some ideas that can help you make sure you are using images properly:
1) Make sure your images are appropriate. If you are selling something on your website, images are essential in order to promote customer interest and helps prove that you do actually have the item you are planning on selling. In-situ images are also better than a picture of the object on a blank surface as it gives your customer a ‘feel’ for the item, and gives them an idea of the size of the item, the fit if it is clothing etc. So if you are selling a picture, mount it on your wall before taking a photo, if it’s a necklace, have a picture of someone wearing it. On the other hand, be careful that you don’t let your item get ‘lost’ in its surroundings. If there are several saucepans in your picture, how is your customer going to know which one they are buying? Also, if you decide to use stock images, probably best not to use the free ones. You would hate to end up with the same image as another site similar to yours.
2) Effect images. Do not let yourself get carried away with these, impressing your visitor with lots of complicated, fancy images is not important. What is important is the content of your site. This should be your primary focus. If your potential customer is concentrating on lots of pictures that are unnecessary, they are not thinking about buying things on your site, so a background picture for effect is fine, just don’t get carried away.
3) Image Positioning. It is a good idea to keep your images as close as possible to the relevant text. This may not necessarily be the physical positioning, but somewhere near the relevant code for the accompanying text. So, if you are selling a decorative glass ballerina, if you have a picture of your item, make sure it is positioned near the paragraph or heading that discusses decorative glass ballerinas. Using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) may help with this.
4) Image Size and Resolution. First of all, when I mention image size, I am not referring to its size on the screen, but the size of the file in general. Smaller files load faster, reduce bandwidth and usually look just as good, so this is probably best. If you want, you can save your image at a higher resolution and force it to fit into a smaller space, but it seems pretty pointless as you will increase your load times and the image will look almost identical to a smaller size file.
5) Alt text and Titles. This provides screen readers and search engine robots with information about an image on your site, and let browser display a description of the image as a tooltip. Therefore, make sure they are descriptive. Better to put ‘Framed photograph of a ladybird’ than ‘Product 33455’ as your description.
So, all in all, make sure you use an appropriate, relevant image and use CSS to position it, make images as small as possible and give all images relevant Alt tags and titles and you are well on your way to using images successfully on your site!
Call our friendly team on 08450 533111 to discuss your particular requirements. E-mail info@ictinsite.com
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