If you wish to display your images on a web site, you will need to export to an image such as JPEG, which has limited dynamic range. In such a case, it is necessary to stretch the image so that it will appear correctly when output in that format and later loaded into another application.
The Process menu Stretch command allows you to perform such a stretch by defining the desired output range. For most formats, the 8-bit setting is appropriate. Normally the Input Range is set to Screen Stretch, the Output Range is set to 8-bit (0-255), and the Permanent Stretch Type is set to Linear Only.
Setting the Input Range to Screen Stretch tells MaxIm DL to use the values from the Screen Stretch window for the stretch. When OK is clicked, the image buffer will look exactly the same, but the pixel values will now range from 0 to 255. The image can now be saved as a TIFF, JPEG, or BMP image; and it will be stretched properly when loaded into another application.
Adobe® Photoshop® is commonly used for post-processing images captured and processed with MaxIm DL. The newer releases can handle 16-bit data. You can save images into the 16-bit TIFF format, or you can use FITS Liberator http://hubblesource.stsci.edu/sources/toolbox/entry/fits_liberator/ to import the FITS files directly. Other FITS utilities are also available online.