Images Description: What is it?
Isaiah Thomas’s 1810 classic book, The History of Printing in America, briefly discusses the appeal of using images in newspapers, and both publishers and advertisers took notice. Nothing has changed much since then, and advances in printing technology allowed the inclusion of more detailed images, eventually culminating in the ability of newspapers to print the full-color images we are accustomed to today.
It wasn’t long after the internet’s birth that the ability to upload and include images with text arrived, and today you must hunt to find a page that doesn’t contain an image of some kind. The reason is clear – images break up the monotony of text and enhance the message an author wants to convey in ways that are impossible with pure, plain text.
Images attract the reader’s attention and draw them in. If you think about how many articles you read, either online or in newspapers, odds are you read the article because the image included with the text drew your attention first.
Without the image you may have not read it at all.
That’s how images enhance your text, and without them a lot of your potential customers/readers/visitors will click right through your page in search of something more appealing. This fact is even more apropos with the Gen X & Y marketing segment, and if your goal is to reach this younger block of customers the inclusion of images into your page is mandatory.
Ironically, Isaiah Thomas had it figured out 200 years ago.
Images Users: Who needs it?
Everyone who has a web presence and wants the visitor to slow-down and read what your text says needs the ability to include images into their articles. Even a website entirely devoted to literature will benefit from the inclusion of images – if nothing more than a picture of the author under discussion.
Car dealers with photo galleries, artists, those who have a product to display, blogs, community sites and forums, etc, all benefit from including images on their pages.
If your site or articles doesn’t/don’t have a way to include images it is going to be perceived as stale, old fashioned, and boring. That’s why everyone needs it.
Images Features: What does it do?
[I am going to use bullets so I can list the concepts I have chosen. My choices may be poor. I also think listing the options/offering allows the reader to find a tag word he is looking for. Tag word = feature.]
Another testament to the value of images in your website/articles is the plethora of modules designed to facilitate the process. There are so many modules designed to make the inclusion of images into articles/websites painless, it is impossible to discuss the merits of each one individually. Nevertheless, they all share certain similarities between them – each one just does a little bit differently.
Most of the modules allow you to store your images in one centralized location, and most accommodate linking into the largest and most photo storing services available online, especially the free ones. [Emphasize low cost, etc.] Other features include:
- Slideshow
- Gallery
- Random display
- Playlists
- photos for classified adds
- community builders with avatars
- full-size or thumbnails
- lightbox, slimbox or thickbox
- Portfolios
- 3d photos
- product displays
- Panoramic capabilities
Images Benefits: What is achieved?
The most important benefit image components/modules provide are more attractive pages. Eye appeal is a proven technique to draw customers into your establishment and many entrepreneurs/site owners either forget, or fail to perceive – your website is a real store/office/something and it is the only way your online customers can interact with your business. If it doesn’t look nice, why bother at all? At least that’s what I do when I’m looking around. At least that’s what I do when I’m surfing/stumbling/shopping online.