> -someone suggested that I optimize my graphics for faster 
> loading...unfortunately I have a budget of $0 to work on the site, and 
> it seems to cost lots of $$ to use Web Garage.  Does anyone know how I 
> can do this myself, or is there a free service?
1) The Webgarage used to give free trials - a month ago it worked.
2) You can do the same process manually; it can take a bit of time,
though. Basically, you want to keep the amount of colors in your picture
low, i.e. get rid of a number of very close shadows, if you don't need
them (you need them in photos, but not in simple logos and web graphics).
If you have PaintShop Pro, open the window with the color palette of your
image. If, for example, you find twelve shades of pale blue and you know
that you can get away with only two or three, replace the rest with the
nearest of these - by double-clicking on the respective color square and
replacing its RGB and $$$ (whatever is the other combination of
parameters, I don't have the program in front of me now) numbers by those 
of the color you want. Or, if you have large areas of that shade in your
image, you can do it directly in the image by 'Color Replacer' or 'Fill'
from the menu. I guess Photoshop and other image processing programs would
have similar procedures.
3) Optimization for the web may also mean using only the 216 'web-safe'
colors that would always display as a solid field without dithering. This
palette is available at various places on the net; there's a link to one
on my page http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/2165/useful.html
Hope this helps.
Jiri

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