If you want to create a website, you will need a website builder first, and here I am using a free program called Kompozer.

Inserting an image into Kompozer is very easy. Open the web page on which you want to place an image. I’m assuming you’ve used tables to create your website, so place your cursor in the cell where you want to insert the image.

Now click on the image icon on the toolbar. A dialog appears asking where the image is stored. Select an image and upload it. Remember that image files are. jpg or .gif files.

when you click okay an alert message will appear asking you to provide alternative text. Accessibility programs use it to describe images on the web; for example, a visually impaired person would hear “image of a clock”. Click the OK button on the alert and return to the open dialog. Insert alt text that describes the image, or click Don’t use alt text. then click okay. Your image will appear on your web page.

This sounds very simple, but be careful. Images take up a lot of bytes of computation and can slow down the time it takes for a web page to load. If that happens, people are likely to click away from your website before it loads properly. Therefore, as a general rule, your images should be less than 100 KB (kilobytes) each. People often think that it is a simple matter of clicking and dragging to resize an image, which is true. They then assume that a smaller image takes up fewer bytes. This is not true!

Here’s how to resize then correctly using another free program called IrfanView. Open the image you want to resize. Click on the image dropdownand select resize/resample. In the dialog, make sure “preserve aspect ratio” is selected, since you don’t want to create a short and thick or thin and tall image. Now set the new size in pixels, inches, or centimeters. As an example, choose 100 pixels wide and click okay. Your image will shrink before your very eyes, while retaining its features! Remember save money your image in its new size.

You can find many free images on the web, usually smaller in size and usually only requiring acknowledgment of the photographer or website – try http://www.freedigitalphotos.net. However, you can also buy photos quite cheaply: try http://www.istockphoto.com. If you are purchasing the image, make sure you choose the correct contract depending on how you intend to use it.

Remember that when uploading your website, you will need to upload a file containing the images used on the website to your hosting account. Without it, your images will not display on your website.

Creating a website with images creates many possibilities. You can even get animated gif files for added fun. Enjoy.