First Steps  Templates  Images      Hints      Banners      Backgrounds  User Permissions  Websites  Tools  Resources  Legals	Images - Hints & Tips Why use Images? The adage "an image speaks a thousand words" is a great principle when applied to website design. Many people find reading great blocks of text on screen very tiring. By breaking up - and even replacing - your text with images, you are making your website more accessible to your audience. People tend to scan a page briefly before deciding whether to read it. Relevant images will assist this process and help people decide which pages they wish to read. As ever, there is a balance to be had, too many large images can make your page slower to load, especially where people are are not using broadband or other speedy connection. Image size is also crucial. Very large images can push the content of your page to the right, or too far down the page, causing excessive scrolling. Also showing lots of images of different sizes can make a page look untidy. Images of Children For schools using take2theweb, publishing images of children can greatly enhance the experience of the visitor to your website. For schools wishing to use images of children, there are some general safety guidelines to be followed. These have been created by Intuitive Media in consultation with Government and other child safety bodies including ChildLine, and are built on a long track record of child safety online: Always obtain permission from parents to publish images of their chilren. This can be done as a blanket permission from all parents when they join the school. Avoid including the child's full name alongside their picture, as this will enable outsiders to identify children as individuals. If in doubt, use a group photograph, rather than images of individual children. Avoid publishing images of children in their homes or bedrooms. Avoid publishing images of children in swimwear or underwear. Following these simple guidelines will protect your children from unwanted attention by outsiders. More Information on Child Safety