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GIMP © R. Craig Collins, 2005/6

There is a wide array of digital image editing software that can deal with basic gif files, from Microsoft Paint to Paintshop Pro, from GIMP to Adobe Photoshop. But to deal with transparency, you need to go up a step from Microsoft Paint. While Photoshop is often considered the gold standard, GIMP is more than adequate for our tasks... and is an open source program (read: free; not only is the software free, but there is also a free on-line book you may use for reference: GIMP-Savvy).

If you don't already have it on your machine, you can Download GIMP free. About GIMP.
NOTE, GIMP LOADS VERY SLOWLY, NORMALLY PAUSING ON FONTS

Once started, GIMP opens in multiple windows (note: see below)
The Toolbox window, the GNU Image Manipulation Window, and the Layers window (more about that later).

Important: To close GIMP, click the [X] on the Toolbox Window, NOT the Layers Window.

Using Photoshop or GIMP, or a similar graphic editor, to adjust images for web pages requires you to use just a few menu items...typically:

Photoshop

File          Edit     Image           Select
Save          Copy     Adjustments     Deselect
Save As       Paste    >Auto...        All
                       >Brightness...

Save for Web           Crop
GIMP 
File          Edit     Select     Image          Tools
Save          Cut      All        Crop Image     Color tools ->color balance
Save As       Copy     None                                  ->brightness-contrast  
              Paste

Note: the text above was created using <pre></pre>

You can right click an image and copy it, open your graphics editor, then use Edit Paste.

GIMP is a free program that does many of the same tasks as Photoshop, or the less expensive, but still useful to web authors, Photoshop Elements. You may download GIMP here.

Basic image manipulation consists of