Reducing size of images

There are a few ways how to acomplish this. First one is that you save
your images in indexed mode when saving in gif format. For Jpeg format
you can play around with settings for quality. The best way is to save them
3-4 times,each image with different quality. Don't go under medium quality.
Than choose the best one looking with smallest quality. Of course there are
some programs that can help you to further reduce size.
One of the best is SmartSaver.
It works fine with gif and jpg format and is easy to learn.

Summary gif format has lower quality but images are smaller in size then jpegs.

Transparent images. (even more reducing size)

These are tougher to make, but hey all you need is to practice a few times.
Look at the example below how I made a transaprent gif using Photoshop with gif89 export plugin.

Open image in new window to see transparent areas.
This way you can even more reduce size of an image and you can paste in on almost every backround.
Transparent area is part of an image that we can compare to window, because you can see backround through it.
How to make them?
Well as I said before this tip requires Photoshop and gif89 plugin.
Create your image. Keep the size small.
Background color must be different from any colour in image.
For this image I used green color as backround. Convert Image to Indexed mode
(ALT+I+M+I) choosing Image>Mode>Indexed in Photoshop.
This will flatten your layers and convert image. Its wise to save your image now  (gif format).
Now open  File>Export>gif 89a  Youl'll see your image in export window with pallette below.
Use color picker and pick the bacground color out,so none is left. If you mess something hold ALT and click on Reset.
Now your backround color (green) is picked out and pale gray resambles it.
This color is showing your transparent area.If any green dots are left in image just pick 'em out.
When done click O.k. and thats it. You'll  have to paractice it a of couple times to get it right.
There's magnifier icon in window,use it to enlarge pic and pick the green slime out.
You can preview your work in any browser.
Just load your image in it.