Importing of graphics in Dreamweaver MX

gif vs. png

[forti]

Hello,
I would be very thankful if you give me some advice how to overcome my problem.
I created a few graphics with Corel Draw 8. Now I want to use them in Dreamweaver MX. It's good, but when export them with extension GIF they are losing too much of their quality. The advantage is their transparency. So I've decided to use PNG format. The graphics are with much better quality, but I don't know how to make them transparent. And here comes the question is this a good enough idea since png transparency is not supported from older browsers and the last ones are important for me.
How to make the graphics transparent with acceptable quality?
Thanks

[kingkelly]

Screw the browser compatibility, it works fine.

It should let you choose a color to have transparent, or you'll have to actually erase everything you want transparent. You know in photoshop how it gets a checkered backgroud when its transparent? Thats what you want.

[davis]

"Screw the browser compatibility, it works fine."

Umm.... Not quite. For the ideal PNG (256 levels of transparency), IE for PC _does not_ work... only 1 level of transparency works, much like a gif.

However, on the macintosh (safari & ie for mac (i think)), does use all the transparency levels.

When PNG files do work fully on IE... say goodbye to gifs, more or less :)

[forti]

Thank you both:))
The operating system I'm interested in is Windows, mainly XP. About Photoshop, I'm studying it now and yes, I'm trying to make transparent my graphics there. But I don't know much about the checkered background or how exactly to implement some of the technics for creating transparency in an image.
Can you give me some good links where I can read how to do this or a path to follow:-))

[kingkelly]

Ya but he was switching from gif to png, so we're already talking about just 1 color for transparency. Although i did not know that Macs supposrted the whole entire alpha channel on pngs.

[kingkelly]

Well im more of a Paint Shop Pro kind of guy... They have an export feature in that, that will let you see what the exported image would look like as png or gif, and tell you the size before saving. Also, it will let you pick a color to make transparent.

But if youre limited to PhotoShop, i think the eraser or whatever will be able to erase right on to the transparent background of the image.

[davis]

in photoshop, what you need to do, is delete the background layer, in your layers tab.

generally, its white, and if you delete it, you should see a gray and white grid shown.

then, go "save for as web" and on the right side, theres a dropdown box (it either says JPG, GIF, or PNG), and select, PNG-24 from it.

That should make it transparent :) then just go save, and save it as a png :)

-davis

[forti]

There is only one layer in the layers tab (the background layer) and it doesn't allowed me to delete it. The mode of the colors is RGB and the background - white. I don't know how to make available this option (for deleting) in the menu, which shows when I click with the right button over the layer.

The rest of the scheme I've already tried it:)).

[davis]

What you have to do, is make a new layer. This will put a layer ontop of the background, and then you will be aloud to delete the background :)

[dragonlady7]

Making a new layer and deleting the background might not help, if the whole graphic is contained in the background.

What to do is to make a separate transparent layer to be the background, and then use the magic wand tool in the toolbar, and select all the white areas of the second layer, formerly the background but now the layer containing the graphic. (Hold down Shift to make multiple selections.) Then hit the backspace key and that should clear the areas contained by the selection, leaving behind the transparent background-- gray and white checkers.

[kingkelly]

dragonlady's right, but there still should be an option in exporting in Photoshop that lets you choose a color to make transparent.

[dragonlady7]

Oh, there is an option in Photoshop to make a color transparent.
File--> Save For Web --> brings up a whole separate screen with the original graphic and the optimized graphic. At the right, you choose settings. I think it's easily enough found in there, though it's not in front of me right at this moment. You can use the eyedropper to select a color to make transparent.
That's in photoshop 7.

In lower versions, you can export to .gif and I think the option's in there somewhere. I don't really know about pngs in earlier versions of photoshop.

If that's not clear enough I could go open up Photoshop and play around and tell you exactly what to so; that's just from memory, and I'm lazy. But I think that's what it is, in 7.0 anyway. I got rid of 5.5, so I couldn't say about that.

[forti]

O'K, I have opened one png file. Then choose File -> Save for Web.
After this with the pipette(I'm working with a german version of Photoshop 7.0.1) I choose the white background color.
On the right side the choice is PNG-24, the transparency is by default checked. I don't change other options. Then choose save and e.t.
But the result is always the same, an image with white background. I think I forget something or make a mistake somewhere.

[kingkelly]

Maybe theres an option between using just 1 color for transparency or all of the PNGs tranparency powers. Because browsers will only be able to see the transparency if you set it to 1 color.

Dude, use Paint Shop Pro. it lets you preview before saving and its easy.

[forti]

Thank you all for your good advices:-)),
I think your help was very useful for me and the rest is my job.