Internet image quality

I don't know why but when I post an image on one of the forums here, on my home computer they don't look very sharp, or they look over sharpened. When I look at them on the computer where I work they look much better. I thought it might be the resolution settings, but my computer(a new E510 Dell)is actually set higher at 1024X768, verses the work computer set at 800x600. Is there a simple explaination for this?
Also, my scanned images from slides need to be lightened considerably before I can post them here. They are good scans, from a fairly good scanner (CanoScan FS4000). I've made 13X19 prints of them, but they just look darker on the forums. Any help on this would be appreciated.

Bryan - do you profile your monitor? Color management is one ofthe most difficult concepts in viewing and printing images in my opinion. The quality of the scanner is a factor, but how each input device and output device see a digital file is different. A good reference to understanding all of this is Tim Grey's book, "Color Confidence". There is also information in this site for color management as well. NPN digital phtography info

Anorher item - do you have any compression being done on the image to help it download faster? At least on Earthlink, there is an accelerator option which will help things, especially graphical files, download faster. It works great, at least until you want to look at photos. Truly evil things can result...

Bryan, If you are viewing images with a dial up connection you may want to look at your internet settings. It took me a while to figure it out, but AOL by default compresses you images even more than your setting in order for them to load faster. It makes a world of difference on my images.

I'll be moving in a few months and when I go I know AOL is going in the opposite direction. I've really started to hate it since I've been into photography.

I am on AOL so that makes sense, I'll play around with the settings and see what happens.

Bryan the AOL could be part of your problem. Up on your toolbar you'll see the <i> settings<i/> tab click on it and go the the letter i in the index then click on <i> interent web options<i/> you should then see a graphics setting box. I have mine set to Never Compress, but for dial up I get pretty fast downloads. This info is just in case you were unaware of where to change this setting.

Bryan,

Do you calibrate your monitor? If not, get one. I use a Pantone ColorPlus on my system and it has helped immensely. See link below…. Only $69.00 and a few pennies.

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=311689&pfp=search


Now as for preparing an images for the WEB… may I suggest that you start here…

http://www.radiantvista.com/video_tutorials/

pick the third lesson titled “Sizing Files for the Web”. It not only discusses resizing, but color space and sharpening.

And now a suggestion: once you have modified and saved the file for the web, prior to uploading it, open your browser and choose the “file open” option. Go to the folder where you stored the file and open it in your browser to see how it looks. If it’s too dark, adjust your levels.

Martin

Thanks everybody, you've all helped me understand, and work on the problems I've been having.
Bryan