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Image-Conscious What, you mean
you don't have a full staff of designers churning out buttons, arrows and other images for your Web site? Of course you don't. And with these Web sites and their software packages, you won't have to, either.
Another bigwig in the stock imagery world, Artville sells images individually over the Web, or on CD-ROMs. All are royalty-free, and you can select from three resolutions. Pricing runs similar to PhotoDisc. I like their search function, which allows you to find images by subject, concept and metaphor. Very human-friendly. Editor's note:
Eyewire.com's name is new but they're actually one of the oldest digital graphics companies with a "everything you need for great design." Their site delivers a huge range of graphics, from black and white illustrations (great for icons and buttons) to rich color illustrations, photos and fonts. They're part of the GettyImages that also include the famous Hulton Getty Collection, and the respected Tony Stone images.
Corbis is an industry leader for providing high-quality, high-resolution photographic images for personal and
professional use. Images can be licensed traditionally, or you can opt for royalty-free images with fewer restrictions and lower cost. Whether you use the service, it's just nice to browse the image galleries. Highly diversionary.
PhotoDisc is perhaps the most ubiquitous source of stock imagery used on the Web. If you are a heavy image user, you
may want to buy the topically organized CDs, but for lighter usage, or for more flexibility in topics, you can license the images from Web. Moreover, the Web site offers significantly
more images to choose from, some 75,000 in all. Prices range from free for 150K images to $129.95 for 28MB images.
The name says it all. This is a straightforward, royalty-free (hence the name) stock photography service with a simple, two-tiered pricing structure: $69.95 for 10MB images and
$19.95 for 60K images. Registered users also have access to a collection of free comp images.
WebSpice is another stock image service, focused more on
Web-specific graphics, like buttons, rules and animations. Like other stock image services, WebSpice sells images via a subscription service on the Web as well as on CD-ROM.
Varying subscription levels afford you varying levels of access to the WebSpice collection. Be sure to check out http://www.webspice.com/wsss.html Web Spice SiteStyles, developed especially for NetObjects Fusion users.
If you're on a strict budget, take a virtual stroll over to AndyArt and peruse the galleries of free art for your site. Select from a broad collection of professional-quality buttons, rules, arrows, letters and more. If you've got some cash to spare, you can pick up the CD-ROM for a scant $35.
Nova Development: Art Explosion Sounds messy, doesn't it? Nova Development publishes a broad spectrum of graphics packages, from straightforward
Web graphics to animation and many, many more flavors. Sign up to receive free samples!
Imagine tapping into a vast database of background images for
your Web site (or desktop). Scroll through page after page of patterns, from figurative to abstract, or filter by color, theme, brightness or rating (rated by other users). Some of the
patterns do not seam up well when tiled, but there are a number of gems here.
I love this site, part of their http://www.zeldman.com/steal.html Steal
These Graphics pages. PMI delivers dozens of little, square icons. Ranging from retro to raunchy, kitschy to creepy, browsing these icons is like taking a test in pop culture. Great
for buttons, or just handy for spiffing up your site.
Sometimes you gotta make it yourself. Aside from the obligatory free artwork galleries, MediaBuilder presents a set
of tools to help you create custom graphics of your own. Convert text into animated banners or make it 3-D; turn images into buttons by adding a border. Additionally interesting are their free fonts and FontMapper service, for
you typeheads out there.
Not just another image repository. The Developer.com graphics downloads (cryptically lumped with DHTML Behavior, ontologically) takes a wizard-like approach, letting you select the style, color and size for your desired elements.
If you want to turn some blah old text into a snazzy graphical display, check out Graphic Maker. Just enter the text, select
the typeface and voila! Not a ton of choices here, but the ones provided are fairly versatile and fun.
Hulton Getty is one of the largest privately owned collections of archival photography in the world, consisting of an estimated 300 separate collections totaling an estimated 18 million still images. The imagery has been collected from all over the world and consists of significant events, people and places from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. You cannot license these classic images online, but you can find what you want, then call to arrange licensing. |
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