Best image software

[Joe Schallan]

Hello list,

What do you think is the best all-around software for
manipulating images for ultimate use on web pages?
By this I mean something oriented to producings gifs
and jpegs from all manner of source formats (TIFF,
PICT, EPS, etc etc) without great losses in quality,
something that lets you resize, crop, adjust contrast,
and so on without requiring you to have a master's
degree in graphic arts or optical sciences.

In a word, something that is both powerful and
easy to use (ya, ya, I know) and oriented toward
producing web-ready files.  What works best
for you?

Thanks in advance,

Joe Schallan
Glendale Public Library
jschall at glenpub.lib.az.us