Standards

1. Graphics should have an associated alternative text tag (ALT="picture description") to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, for text-only browsers, or for clients that have image loading turned off to read the page in a coherent manner.
    
2. Web pages should only link to graphics located on the web site server where their pages reside.
    
3. Images should be no wider than 535 pixels or higher than 295 pixels in order to display on the typical web browser’s  viewing window on a 640 by 480 monitor.

Guidelines

1. Use the browser-safe 216-color palette.
      
2. Graphics, icons, and images should be included for clarity, not for decoration.
    
3. Keep graphics small, either by reducing the physical size of the graphic or by reducing the number of colors in the graphic, to reduce file size and accommodate dial-up users.
    
4. Include height and width attributes in the "img src"; this will decrease download time. since the text can be printed on the screen leaving space for the image to follow.
    
5. Reuse graphics.
    
   1. Multiple use of the same graphic provides a consistent look throughout a web site.
       
   2. The browser only has to download a reused image once. Once the graphic is in memory, the browser can access it without going back to the server.
       
6. To use images found elsewhere on the web, ask permission to use them.
    
7. Reference the HHS World Wide Web Applications and the Internet Best Practices and Guidelines, http://www.hhs.gov/progorg/oirm/bestguid.html, Icons and Images section for additional information.