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I'VE BEEN INVOLVED with the creation of Web pages for more than three years, and I often get asked how to get text, video, and graphics into Web pages. Typically, people want to include baby or wedding pictures on their pages, mount images of items they're selling on EBay, or even send short videoclips from a party to a long-distance friend or family member.

Getting text into the computer seems easy at first, but what if you have dozens, or even hundreds of documents? Most scanners sold today come with optical character recognition software (OCR) that will convert scanned documents with a 99% effectiveness rate. If you plan on scanning a lot of documents on a regular basis you should consider purchasing the sheet-feed accessory for your scanner.

These days, the easiest way to get something you see into the computer is by using a digital camera. They used to cost a small fortune, but now you can get a great camera for less than $400. Look for a "megapixel" camera, which has high enough resolution (lots of pixels) to use for the Web or a color printer. The ease at which these new cameras work is amazing. You simply take a picture, and instead of taking the film out to develop it, you connect a cable to your computer and download the images directly.

If you already have a videocamera, you can use a Snappy or video capture card. Snappy has been around for a while, and can create great-looking captures using special software. It uses several frames in a row to create a better image than can be generated in a single frame. Snappy costs as little as $50, and you get some fun software with it.

If you are already going to upgrade your video card, spend the extra money and get a video capture board. I just bought an ATI All-In-Wonder Pro for about $130. It can capture single video frames, video, or even let you watch TV on your computer. It even comes with software to edit your videos, adding titles and transitions. Finally, you can use a scanner to get your regular photographs into the computer. Scanning for the Web is typically done at 75 to 150 dots per inch (dpi). You should then save the images in the JPEG format, which supports compression. If you compress a typical photo, you can save a lot of download time for your visitors.

Once you have your images in the computer, you can edit them with PhotoShop or PaintShop Pro, two great image-editing programs. You can download PaintShop Pro from http://www.jasc.com and try it for free for a limited time. PhotoShop comes bundled with some scanners, but you'll probably find Adobe's PhotoDeluxe instead. If you're serious about editing images, then you should consider the hefty investment for PhotoShop, which costs about $600 on the street.

If you want to create images that move on your Web page, the best route is to create animated GIF files. There are many tools available to help you do this, but I like Ulead's GIF Animator. The program creates very small animations, and has the ability to import and export a large umber of file types. You can download a free trial version from http://www.ulead.com. Ulead also has a great utility for creating animated titles and text for your Web site. Cool 3D is a slick program for creating the animated words. You simply type your text, and click to select a color, texture, or movement.

Once you have your images, you need to have a place on the Internet to put them. You can use Geocities, Tripod, Angelfire, or any other free hosting site on the Internet to hold your images, movies, or Web pages. They offer free space, up to 11 megabytes, in return for allowing advertising on your Web pages.

The final step is to move your images online. You'll need a file transfer program (FTP) program such as WS_FTP. You can download a trial version from http://www.shareware.com. This program works similar to the Windows Explorer, but you're moving files from your computer to another one on the Internet. Most hosting sites have instructions on how to transfer files, in case you get stuck.

Have fun adding some spice to your Web pages. It's a lot easier to add images, animations, and even video to your pages than it was three years ago. You don't even have to spend a lot of money to get professional-looking results.