In HTML tags, when resizing a picture, it's best to specify the HEIGHT or the WIDTH tag, but not both. With only one number, the browser will scale it automatically, with two numbers, stretching/distortion could happen (if the two numbers result in an aspect ratio that differs from the source pic).
On the other hand, if both HEIGHT and WIDTH are specified, the browser will draw the page faster, because it will set aside the right space even before the pic can be loaded. Without both HEIGHT and WIDTH, the browser will get to that point in the code, request the pic file from the server, and continue drawing the page...then, when the pic file arrives, the broswer will redraw the page to make space for the pic. That "redraw" does take time.
I hope I explained that clearly, and I hope it's correct. I invite corrections.
then again, I find it a lot easier to write my posts into an html editor like MS FrontPage and enjoy the spell checker etc., and at the last minute copy and paste just the html codes (without all the < body > stuff that the freeper machine spits out. That way if I need to I can drag and drop margins when needed --kind of puts and effortless GUI with my post.