The Perfect Web ImagerImage-editing packages around $ 100 offer a few more robust features to make some of the more repetitive tasks of creating brochures and flyers easier. The target for these is the small office/home office customer. At the high end, which can cost $ 500 and up, products such as Adobe Photoshop are meant for professional photographers or graphic artists. This is one of the hottest-selling software categories, thanks to the huge popularity of digital cameras, the Internet, scanners and desktop publishing. Points to Remember: - Basic image enhancement: Helps eliminate red-eye, sharpens colors, or adds text and special effects. Why It Matters: This helps turn bad pictures into good ones. It also helps enhance scanned logos and homemade clip art for use in newsletters and Web pages. - Web graphic optimization: Helps create graphics for best loading and visibility on the Internet. Why It Matters: This is an important feature for nearly everyone. Most businesses are now putting their sales and marketing materials on the Web. - OLE 2.0 support: Program supports Microsoft's Component Object Model, formerly known as Object Linking and Embedding. Why It Matters: This is a must-have feature for Windows 95 users. Graphics that are OLE-compliant can be opened in an OLE application, such as Microsoft Office applications, and edited immediately. - File Formats: The program is capable of reading, importing and exporting most image file formats. Why It Matters: Most image-editing programs can handle the common file formats. It is important to make sure you know the common formats used: TIF, JPEG and GIF. These formats can be read and edited by nearly every available package. |


