Help with transparent gifs

[MindLab Designs]

Hi,

I've stumbled upon this website- Kwaku The picture of the dog and the wood at the top are so incredebly smooth and they also have drop shadows on them. Every gif I have ever done has been nothing close to this smooth. I'm using photoshop cs.

Any tips?

Thanks for your help.

[tamlin]

Probably something to do with the fact that it's a PNG, not a GIF. PNGs support truecolor and have an optional alpha channel for transparency.

[MindLab Designs]

I see. Thanks for the quick response. How do go about doing this?\

Thanks!

[tamlin]

Originally Posted by MindLab Designs

I see. Thanks for the quick response. How do go about doing this?

What, from Photoshop? You can use either File > Save As... and then select PNG from the File Type dropdown list, or (if you want to optimize it for use on the web) File > Save for Web... and select PNG as the file type.

[MoodsR4Cattle]

Keep in mind that .PNG files can be much larger than .Jpg or .gif files and aren't supported by all browsers.

[tamlin]

Originally Posted by MoodsR4Cattle

Keep in mind that .PNG files can be much larger than .Jpg or .gif files and aren't supported by all browsers.

A good point Moods, although I believe all the major browsers now support PNG to some degree. You can find a list of compatible browsers (with details of their level of support) here: PNG-supporting Browsers

[MindLab Designs]

Originally Posted by tamlin

What, from Photoshop? You can use either File > Save As... and then select PNG from the File Type dropdown list, or (if you want to optimize it for use on the web) File > Save for Web... and select PNG as the file type.

No, I understand that. You mentioned something about an alpha channel for the transparency. I tried saving it earlier with a transparent background and it didn't seem to work.

and thanks MoodsR4Cattle, i'll def. keep that in mind

[MoodsR4Cattle]

Originally Posted by tamlin

A good point Moods, although I believe all the major browsers now support PNG to some degree. You can find a list of compatible browsers (with details of their level of support) here: PNG-supporting Browsers

I stand corrected ....

[notjustgraphics]

If you use the Save For Web method... choose your PNG type and make sure the box for TRANSPARENCY is checked.... this will save your file with the transparencies intact.

If you use the File->Save As method i believe it autmoatically saves with the transparency intact.

Mike.

[jefe317]

Yes, if you create the image with transparency and you click the box for transparency while saving, it automatically does the transparency. My website jeff_green has a png image on the top. If they are supported in your browser, they are nice to work with and nice looking.