Greg --

Saving your images as JPEG ( Joint Photographic Experts Group ) will compress them as compared to TIFF images or BMP (Bitmap).

There are three things that determine the file size of JPEG images (and thus the time it takes to download or display them): the physical size of the image, the resolution, and the 'quality' level at which it is saved.

Keep in mind that some people will still view the Internet on a monitor that displays 640 x 480 pixels. Anything wider than 640 pixels and these people will not be able to view your image in full with a browser. I tend to design with the viewer who has a display resolution no smaller than 800x600.

My suggestions:

1. Set the image size of each picture to a maximum of 500 pixels in width or height (whichever is longer)

2. Set the resolution at 72 dpi. Anything higher and you are simply wasting bandwidth.

3. Set the quality at about 6-8. The scale can be from 1 to 12.

You can run a test by setting up one image saved at 72 dpi that is 500 pixels wide and then saving it at various quality levels. Put them all on the same page and mix them up. See if you can tell which is the higher quality image.

Another technique would be to make thumbnails of your images that are about 150 pixels in width and require the individual to click on the thumbnail to view the larger image. This saves those on dial-up connections a lot of waiting time and they will click on only the images they want to see in larger size.

You can view thumbnails at:

www.HarbourLights.com/catalog/2004/index.htm for example.