PNG images...

martinatkinson

martinatkinson

Registered
Hello!

Could someone explain to me PNG images? What do they do that regular GIFs or JPGs do not? Also, is there an advantage to using PNGs versus another format?

I saw somewhere on a website where they had an image and parts of the image were 50% transparent. I would like to do this but what format do you use?

Thanks!

Albert
 
That's a lot of questions, so I think the only way to answer it is to point you to the PNG website. Of particular interest would be "A Basic Introduction to PNG Features" and "Frequently Asked Questions".

While it's not like I run a major website, I find PNGs to be much better than static GIFs. If you convert a GIF to a PNG with the proper tools, you'll find the PNG to be much smaller. The worst problem with using PNGs right now is that Internet Explorer 6 for Windows can't handle the transparency (this, by the way, is one of many reasons why IE 6 for Windows sucks).
 
PNG files are your huckleberry.

http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/pngintro.html

Basically- very decent compression, 8 bit alpha channel, and good support whenever they're supported. IE supports them- you'd have to check other browsers.

I use them a lot when doing Director development- since their alpha channel carries through quite well and Directors transfer modes look like crap.
 
I know IE supports PNG... but it loads them with Quicktime... then crashes :(

at least it is that way for me anyway.
 
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