Having learned of this I find myself having to try to do something about it. Maybe you just don't know about it. Maybe this will help someone. Please, please take a moment to read this page.

There are many graphic artists on the web. A lot of them have their pages totally devoted to graphics, many have these pages just to help you get a start with your home pages. Some get up to and over 10,000 hits a day all from people uploading free graphics from their web sites. Some lose their web sites due to people linking directly to their servers causing them to be billed extremely large sums of money and they have no alternative but to shut down.

Some people gathered free graphics from all over the Internet, they get a site and keep it organized and up-to-date. They even make custom graphics like I do. There are so many artists who give their graphics away for free, to people for their home pages it would take up all my web space to list them.

I got lots of stuff from people on the web for free. I think it is wonderful that there are graphic artists and other web masters who construct web sites to give people art and music files for free. I am still grateful to artists and musicians on the web for providing help to me and vast numbers of other people.

There is no reason to link directly to someone else's server when you are doing a web page to get graphics on to your site. It is wrong. If you do not know what I mean by linking to another persons server please read my help pages.

You can put a lot of graphics on a 1 or a 2 MB web site. Look, I had a 2 MB space once and had a lot of art on that web site and it was all in my space. You need content for a web site! Graphics are nice, but graphics alone do not make a good web page. What do you want your pages to say? Give the people good content and believe me they will visit your pages.

The only graphics on my pages which are free for you to use on your home pages are on this page they are the Web Prestige icons. I used to do holiday graphics for free but too many people just took everything on my pages without asking and without a link for credit so I have removed that section. I tried again and people were linking to my images directly. My design studio offered free backgrounds people really liked them but there has been over 6 gigs of bandwidth use due to someone linking directly to my background tiles. I have removed them and my bordersets. Why should other people suffer because some few take advantage? It is not fair to me or other artists on the net who give so much. I believe pages offering free graphics are doing a service for the whole Internet community. They make and/or provide the graphics for people for FREE and do not ask for much in return except for the following: that you DO NOT LINK DIRECTLY TO THESE GRAPHICS and PLEASE give us credit for our work!!!.

There are very important reasons why people should not link
to another person's server directly for files. They are:

1.  Some graphic artists get upwards of about 2,000 visitors a week their pages. If only 1/10 of them linked to the graphics, that would be about 200 people per week linking. If each of these 200 people linked to 5 graphics (an average amount) then that would be 1,000 links a week. So if your homepage is not on the artists server, then your homepage's server has to contact the artists server to get each graphic.This happens each time your homepage is loaded by anyone. These extra contacts put increasing demands on the artists server. Some graphics providers have had to shut down because they were billed thousands of dollars by their service provider because of the bandwidth use.

These graphic artists and designers do not deserve to lose their web pages because of this ever-increasing problem.

Please understand why it is so IMPORTANT NOT TO LINK. Think about it before you LINK, and then DON'T LINK! Because if you continue to link, then these graphics sites, my own included, might not be there in the future! There are some sites that say linking directly to their site for graphics is okay.....it's not okay here.

If you really don't know how to upload a graphic to your own site or what to use in your HTML document, ask me. I'm more than happy to help you with any of your homepage questions. But please read my HTML Help Pages before you write me an e-mail question your answer might just be there!

2.  On my home pages I change graphics, delete them and do what I like--just like you do. Instead of linking to my graphics, take and upload them to your own directory.

Please DO Not under any circumstances link to anyone else's web site for graphics OR MIDI files. Provide links there, upload their gifts of graphics files if they let you take them for free. BUT DO NOT LINK TO THE ARTISTS' SERVERS.

I know artists who have had numerous people send them E-Mail after taking some of their graphics off of their pages, telling them that they messed up their homepage! Of all the nerve!

If you link to something of mine and I delete it, then your home page will be without the graphic, background, or midi file.

It's like this. We do not tell you what you can put on your home page and you do not have the right to tell us what we can have on ours. You never know what might end up on your page or what might not end up on your home page if you link to the graphics.

How would you feel if you were forced to remove your site from the Internet because others are linking directly to your graphics? I say this not only for my site but for most all graphics sites on the Internet.

Please be kind enough to allow these wonderful graphic artists that give so freely of themselves to keep enjoying what they do.

Join us by taking one of these icons for Web Prestige, display it on your homepage use it to send people back here. Set up your icon with a hypertext link to this page

	Thanks to Doug Vess
	Thanks toSilver
	Thanks to Eugenia Thompson
	Thank you to Chapman Chan Chapman Chan
	Thank you to the Webmaster at Star Wars Search Network
	Thank you f u s i o n

Take any of these icons but remember to change the file name in the html code below to fit the name of the icon you pick. If you have any suggestions please e-mail me. The coding below uses the file name for the icon just pictured above the code. Remember to use the name of the icon you copy if it is different from the one below.

Sincerely,
Mary Broussard

Please read my HTML Help Pages before you write me an e-mail questions.
If you have WebTV you don't have to link anymore!!!
GO to Learn HOW to Make WebTV LINK-FREE!!





Graphics were pirated from Sharon of Ace of Space!
And put on a commercial CD-ROM without her permission.
Go to This URL for more information
These artists also had graphics stolen by the same company:
Andy's Art Attack, The Icon Bazaar,
Octagamm's Ball Boutique, and Media Link.

If you wish to have music please click on the G-Clef and Netscape will fetch it and open a small window so you can listen to Fantasy of Flowers which was composed for me by my wonderful DreamsharerTommy Williams, III who is very gifted composer. Please do not copy it.

Feel free to link to my web site using this logo.
BUT NOT TO THIS SERVER!
Please let me know, so I may visit you. Also please go see my main pages. There is a lot in this domain. *smiles*

Designed by Mary Broussard ©1996, 1997, 1998. All Images are copyright 1996, 1997, 1998. Pirate at your own risk!