With the increasing popularity of digital art and Web-based graphics, it is useful to understand the advantages and disadvantages of the many graphics formats, such as TIFF, GIF, JPEG, BMP, and PCX. A good source of links to pages and FAQs about graphics formats is the Graphics File Formats Page at www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/~mxr/gfx/utils-hi.html. Bryan Chamberlain has written an excellent article, "Understanding Image File Formats" at www.zdjournals.com/tma/9508/tma95801.htm. Chamberlain's article is packed with practical advice, comparative tables, and descriptions of the most popular graphics formats. Check your library for the definitive reference on file formats, Encyclopedia of Graphics File Formats, second edition. by James Murray and William VanRyper (O'Reilly, 1996).

The Wide Area Communications Web site, located at www.widearea.co.uk/designer/compress.html contains an excellent basic introduction to Web graphics. The Bandwidth Conservation Society page, www.infohiway.com/way/faster, provides links to useful information on graphics formats, such as the tutorial titled "GIF Tips and Tricks," which includes a quick guide to color palettes. PC Magazine has a great article about Web graphics at www.zdnet.com/pcmag/issues/1512/pcmg0015.htm. The Web version of the Louvre Art Museum is so popular that special Internet sites called "mirror sites" have been set up all over the world to accommodate the more than 200,000 weekly cybervisitors. Check out this site for art of all types at www.sunsite.unc.edu/wm.