College Sports Information Directors of America

Microsoft FrontPage
If you use Microsoft FrontPage, one your are probably a novice when it comes to HTML code, and two you are using the program because it is an easy way to create pages and update your web site. Nothing is wrong with this, especially in small shops where you have limited resources and time. There are some simple things to remember about FrontPage however. All pages on the World Wide Web are created using HTML code. This is the "language" of the internet. Whether you are using FrontPage, Dreamweaver or (God forbid) writing code in a simple text editor, HTML code is what your browser reads when it is opening a web page for viewing. It must read all the code before fully displaying the page.

As a result of this, the more code on your page, the longer it takes to display. So obviously pages that run on and on and on will take longer to open. Also pages that have a lot of extra HTML code will take longer. This is probably the most common complaint when people open a page created in FrontPage. The editor does not know your intentions and oftentimes creates a lot of unnecessary code (example: ending a font and/or font size at the end of a line, then using the same font and/or font size for the next line. This can even create a problem in terms of storage space. Most servers have nearly unlimited server space these days as the costs come down, but if you are not blessed with such an abundance of storage space, remember: the more code, the larger the file and the more space taken up on the server.

Photos on the Web
A very common mistake many people make when uploading photos to the internet is in the way that they format them. We work with jpeg formats as a matter of habit because of media guides and it's fine for them. But the average jpeg is much larger than it has to be for use in the internet, even if you size it down to 72 dpi and a small pixel size. Most photo editing programs have a way to compress photos for the internet, while still keeping them sharp to the eye.

Adobe Photoshop has a simple option for creating photos that will be internet friendly. First format your photo for the internet. Under "Image" click on "Image Size". The box that pops up will likely be familiar to you. For resolution put 72 dpi. Then under pixel dimensions put the size you want to display the photo on the internet. For head shots this is likely to be from 100 to 250 pixels in width and 100 to 300 pixels in length. For action shots the range is much greater, but 250 x 400 pixels is a normal size for an action photo. Use whatever size you want or whatever size works best for your web site layout.

Now that you have the size of the photo you want, go to "File", "Save for Web". This option allows you to save a photo that will display well on the internet, but takes up a fraction of the size of a photo saved traditionally in Photoshop using the normal "Save as" option. There are two major options you have to save your photo:
1 - jpeg or gif
2 - low to maximum photo quality

These determine the size and sharpness of the photo. Here is an example of the difference in the size of a photo saved traditionally in Photoshop versus with the "Save for Web" option. Size a photo to 300 by 400 pixels at 72 dpi. Use the standard "Save as" option. For the photo I used in this experiment, I saved it four times. At the "maximum" setting under "jpeg options", "image options" the photo was 156k. At the "high" setting the photo was 72k and at the "medium" option the photo was 56k.

When using "Save for web" with "jpeg" selected and "very high" for the quality of the photo, the file size was 56k. Using "high" produced a 32k file. Take a look at the photo for using the "high" setting with the maximum using the standard "Save as" option in Photoshop. You will see nearly no difference in the photos, but with the file is 1/5 the size. Using this option allows you another way to save space on your server, if you need it, and to help your pages load faster.