Hello again, weekend Webmasters. Last week's column had some tips about getting started on creating basic Internet pages using some free HTML editors without having to go through the hassle of learning HTML tags.

This week I discuss how to manage graphics and how to place them on your Internet page using free software tools. I will assume you either have a digital camera or have access to a scanner to get your photographs or other graphics loaded into your computer.

The two basic formats for graphics are gifs and jpegs. The rule of thumb is to use jpegs for photographic images and gifs for other graphics. The advice is based on the need to keep graphics as small as possible while maintaining quality, which is a difficult decision to make.

Remember you don't want your friends or family to give up on viewing your site because it takes a month for all your images to show up on their browsers.

Keep the Internet experience as simple and as quick as possible and all your work at the computer won't be wasted.

I happen to have Photoshop, the software that most professional graphic designers use in the media industry. But for the Internet I think some of the free programs beat Photoshop for ease of use. I tend to use Photoshop along with other free programs.

You may have received free graphics manipulation software, such as PhotoDeluxe, as part of the package with your scanner or digital camera. But I think PhotoDeluxe or EasyPhoto stinks, mainly because it's time consuming to go through each individual image to make it ready for the Internet. I also really dislike PhotoDeluxe because it's not user-friendly.

My favourite graphics program by far is IrfanView. In fact, it's fabulous, easier to use than Photoshop and automates the tasks of making thumbnails of your graphics for the Internet. Get it for free at http://www.irfanview.com.

IrfanView has all the usual features that you'll need to manipulate your images. Like PhotoShop, IrfanView has a batch processing feature. However I find IrfanView's batch processing feature much easier to use than the Photoshop method.

Using IrfanView you simply click on "Batch Conversion/Rename'' under the "File'' menu. Select the images you want to process, what you want to do to them (for example resize), and where you want the new images saved. You can also rename the images automatically by adding the word "thumb'' to the original name for example.

Photoshop has a similar batch processing feature (created through the "Actions'' pallet). The difference is Adobe Photoshop costs about US$600 while IrfanView is free. You make your choice.

IrfanView also supports animated gif files (those annoying graphics that distract you on the Internet by moving around). You can also play audio CDs, movie files, create a slide show (important for figuring out which photo to chose), capture a picture of your computer screen, and create a wide range of graphic effects.

Other free graphics programs include Easy Thumbnails, Digital Camera Enhance, Windows Scanner, ImageForge, Satori PhotoXL, PhotoRecall and 20/20. Satori PhotoXL allows advanced graphics users to work with layers. Using the layers feature you can manipulate a hat that you've placed on someone's head for example without worrying that your changes will affect the rest of the image.

You can get all the software mentioned above at www.zdnet.com, www.webware.com, and www.supershareware.com.

I advise you to never work or manipulate your original images. Store the original images in a different folder and work on copies of images. You'll save yourself a lot of heartbreak that way. To place your images on your page without it looking like a mess, learn how to create tables through your HTML editor. Then place individual images in the cells you've created so they look organised.

Don't worry if you miss the columns on tips about free software tools you can use to create your personal Web site. I'll place all the columns on my Internet site at www.ahmedelamin.com. At the end of this series of columns I'll also place all the links to the free tools and more at my site.

Next week: How to add free counters, news feeds and other features to your Internet page.

Tech Tattle deals with topics relating to technology. You can contact Ahmed at editor yoffshoreon.com or (33) 467901474.