Put Your Photos on the Web

Your new digital camera has made you the hit of the holidays. At the office party, everyone cranes their necks to see your shots on the nifty little LCD screen. At the family gathering, everyone mugs for you, snubbing grandma and her ancient 35mm. You're a digital Herb Ritts, the Annie Leibovitz of bits.

So, where are your pictures, hot shot? Still on your hard drive? Still on your camera? Tsk, tsk. The whole point of digital photography is that it makes it simple to share your shots with friends and family, no matter how distant. Aunt Lizzie is just dying to see the pictures you snapped of your kid's fifth birthday party. So you need to figure out how to put those photos on the Web.

But wait, you say, doesn't that mean resizing and organizing them? Doesn't that mean creating a Web page on which to display them? And, if you're going to do the job right, doesn't it also mean creating "thumbnail" versions, so visitors can see what they're getting before they download the full-size images?

Well, the answer's yes on all counts. But don't worry, the process of creating an online photo album isn't so hard--if you can operate that camera, you can do this, too. With the help of the following tips and a couple free programs we'll tell you about, you'll have your shots up for the world to see in no time.