I am just starting this thread so I don't know if this has been mentioned. However, first remember that the width of the average screen is less than 1024x768. Thus anything bigger makes your viewer have to scroll or pan and is largely lost. Further it isn't necessary for chips. Most chip pictures I see here are much smaller but one of my favorite composits that I often put onto my posts is this.

This is 350x and is pretty sufficient. It is also larger than most chip pics that I see here.

The image at the bottom of this page is a 650x panoramic image. That is about the largest that I would usually use on the net. There are a few reasons for this. First consideration for those who do not have broadband or maybe using old computers and may be inconvenienced by long download times or large files and memory problems. Second is the issue of bandwidth and the storage space that it costs me as well as people like Greg, when I store an image on his site. I have seen some serious problems on some Yahoo groups where their allotted memory space is used up too quickly by people storing images online. Lastly, to protect my work from innappropriate uses or copyright infringement. By not using the larger images the pictures have less value to others.

The other thing you could do is to compress your images more. If you are using .JPG images you have choices in how much quality to save them as. Using Adobe Photoshop as an example, when I save a .jpg image I am asked on a scale of 12 how much quality I want to save the image. For personal use etc. I will use 12 which is best quality and least compression. 3 or 5 is considered low quality and high compression. This will save you a lot of file size. A couple things about this. First, it further makes the images of less value to someone who might pilfer them from the net and use them in an ebay ad etc. When changed and resaved the images will deteriorate. The lesser quality to begin with the lesser quality to someone who would use the image without my permission. I can always give someone a better quality image if they ask for it. However, on line when viewed in original forms they are just fine. It is when they get stolen and changed and saved again that someone might have most of the problems. Also they will look like CRAP if someone tries to enlarge them.