Creating a Website: The Missing Manual, 3rd Edition

Finding Free Art

The Web is awash in graphics. In fact, finding a web page that isn’t chock full of images is about as unusual as spotting Bill Gates in a dollar store. But how do you generate all the pictures you need for a graphically rich site? Do you really need to spend hours in a drawing program fine-tuning every picture you want? The answer depends on exactly what type of pictures you need, of course, but you’ll be happy to hear that the Web is a great resource for ready-to-use pictures.

It’s not hard to locate pictures on the Web. In fact, you can even use a handy Google tool to search for graphics on a specific subject (type http://images.google.com into your browser and search away). Unfortunately, finding an image usually isn’t good enough. To use it without worrying about a nefarious lawyer tracking you down, you also need the rights to use the picture. If you get lucky, a website owner might grant you permission to use a graphic after you send a quick email. But that’s the exception rather than the rule.

Fortunately, photo enthusiasts have set up community sites where they post their pictures for the world to see—and on some of these sites, you can search for and reuse anything you want, for free. One of the best is Stock.XCHNG (pronounced “stock exchange,” after stock photography, the name for the vast catalogues of reusable pictures that graphic designers collect). To visit Stock.XCHNG, go to http://sxc.hu. Figure 7-17 shows a Stock.XCHNG search in progress.

Figure 7-17. Stock.XCHNG ...