It is unlikely that you will do any damage but we recommend you should have some experince with graphics to use this feature. We will shortly be able to offer a gallery of specially chosen royalty free graphics and pictures for you to choose from is you do not wish to upload your own picture(s). Here's what you need to do....

PREPARE YOUR PICTURE

• Transfer your picture to your computer. You can do this using a digital camera or scanner. You should consult your device manual for instructions on this.
• Open it in your favourite graphics or paint edit. Suggested applications are:
  • Adobe Photoshop or Image Ready
  • Adobe Photdeluxe or Photoshop Elements
  • Paintshop Pro
• Resize or crop your picture. If you want your image to be tiled (in the case of backgrounds) a good size is about 200 pixels by 200 pixels. If you want your image to cover the entire screen you will need to make it 1024 x 768 or bigger to support most modern monitors. (NB. It wil be hard to keep the file size down at this scale)
• If you know how, change your picture's resolution to 72 dpi (dots per inch). This is the resolutions used on the web and in most monitors in use today. It will also help you keep the file size down.
• If you have advanced optomizing options in your image editing software set these to bring the file size as low as possible while maintaining good quality. Most applications that provide this function also offer a preview so you can judge the best quality vs. file size.
• Save your picture. Usually: File -> Save As (Some applications may require you to 'Export' instead of 'Save'. More advanced applications such an Adobe Image Ready have a special 'Save optomized' option.)
  • For your picture to be displayed correctly you will need to save it in a specific web compatible format. These are usually JPEG or GIF. We suggest jpeg where photographs are concerned.
  • In your Save As dialogue box you should be able to select the File Type. Select 'JPG' or 'JPEG' for jpeg format.
  • Give your picture a name and make sure the extension '.jpg' or '.gif' is appended.
  • Select a conveinient location to save it., e.g. the Desktop or My Documents folder, as you will need to access it quickly when uploading it for use in your site.
  • Click SAVE.
  • NB: SOME APPLICATION WILL OFFER YOU THE OPTION TO SELECT THE QUALITY OF YOUR PICTURE. THIS EFFECTS THE FILE SIZE. WE HAVE ONLY ALLOWED PICTURES OF 25KILOBYTES (25K) OR LESS SO YOU SHOULD CHOOSE A FAIRLY LOW QUALITY TO ACHIEVE THIS FILE SIZE.
• Now your image is ready to be uploaded to your site.