Try building your signature in Thunderbird as if it was a message. You should be able to copy and paste your HTML in using "insert code" and then attach the image. (Is jpeg a good choice for what you're embedding? I'm constantly made to wince by good graphics being spoilt by jpeg artefacts.)

Images need to be encoded into email, unless they are served by an Internet facing server, and Web creation tools don't know what you're going to do with your creation. So use the Insert|Image tool to embed your picture.

Bear in mind that your sig will be seen in email clients, not necessarily in fully - fledged Web browsers, and so may not enjoy a full set of rendering features. Scripting, in particular, is likely to fall in email.

1. 1 - I don't know what you mean by "building a signature in TBird as if it were a message. I can create the message, type the 4 signature items, and paste a photo above it and save as a template; but a template is not a Signature.
2. 2 - I am also clueless as to what you mean by "inserting code" - can you trace this down thru the menu items and tell/show me how to accomplish this?
3. 3 - The entire operation worked well, until I decided to change my photo and it all went to ashes. I know a simple way must exist to accomplish this because I have done this in the past and I am not an email signature expert.
4. 4 - I don't want to Insert/Image tool for every single email I write. I know I can do this via a template, and as I said previously I don't want to use an email template, I want a signature.
5. 5 - I don't care if my signature is seen in full-fledged web browsers; I am sending email to email clients.

So, clearly I still need some step-by-step help to accomplish my signature goal.

1. Open the Compose window, and create the Signature as if you were writing an email message. Save it as an HTML file and nominate that file in your account settings. For myself, I'd find one signature too confining, so I have multiple HTML signature files and use the Signature Switch add-on.

Users of dream weaver, front page etc usually get into trouble because they think they know all about html but often understand too little about email. Email is not html, though to some extent you can use HTML markup in email. One major difference is that a web page is a suite of files, being the html core and a folder of ancillary stuff. You cannot have the folder in email. So you encode the picture and embed its coded representation into your message.

2 if you're composing your messages in HTML in Thunderbird, then you should have, and need, the formatting toolbar and the corresponding menu items for inserting images, links and chunks of html code. It's all under Insert on the menu in the Write window. Press your alt key if you don't have a menu.

4 once you have built a signature file, incorporating your text and images, it is automatically attached each time you create a message, and optionally when you Reply or Forward.

5 but you are using a tool designed for the creation of webpages, or dtp, and it is probably not well suited to email. And look at the code it produces, critically. Don't you think there's an awful lot of bloat? My own work signature is about 1/5 the size of my colleagues' signatures, which were created in Word (spit!). Mine was composed within Thunderbird, using its Compose window, uses text, images for logos, two of which are also links to social media sites. I've made the company logo a link to our website, and have included mailto and callto links where appropriate. And it behaves much better on all the different sized displays it can be seen on (computers, tablets, phones) than the company's official Word-generated effort.

Go back and read that article that you have dismissed. It won't help you much with using your pre-baked signature, but it outlines the process for creating and using standalone html signatures containing text, images and also links if you want them.

In your position, you'd probably also benefit from having a means to view and edit the HTML source of a message in your email client. This would allow you to paste in what you have made elsewhere. I use the HTML editor bundled in with the Stationery addon.

Thanks for all the critique of what I should use vs what I shouldn't use although I didn't ask for a bit of that. Rather than attempt to show that you know all about webpages, html editors, photo programs, bloat, signature sizes and the like; why don't you focus on just trying to help someone solve their problem? I continued to search the forums for an answer, and believe it or not, you had offered it a couple of months ago.

Here's the solution. Tools-Account Settings: Remove all options of a signature, uncheck all boxes and remove all code and file paths. Close tools.

Go to "write" and open a new email to construct, which will be completely blank. Write the lines of text desired in the signature. Go to menu INSERT-Image and select the desired photo. Be sure to include an alternative text. Hit OK.

Next, select FILE-SAVE AS- and save as a file; not a template or draft.

Next, go to TOOLS - ACCOUNT SETTINGS, select "Attach the signature from a file" box, and go find the file you just saved and use this file. Hit OK.

Problem solved!

This is a direct, non-judgmental, solution to my problem. When I need ADVICE I will ask for it; when I explicitly ask for a SOLUTION, that's what I want.

Well I was concerned that you might be determined to use Frontpage, and doing so would make life harder. You have found for yourself that it is easier to do it from scratch within Thunderbird, and I wanted to point out the advantages of doing so; smaller code and the ability to put in exactly what you want.

Note that any time you want to change your signature, you just start a new message, edit the automatically provided signature in-situ, and save it as an HTML file again. Changing your picture should be easier next time.