alpha transparency

[raulwg]

Hi there,

Does somebody know if it's possible to export a .png file (from fireworks) to a .gif without losing alpha-transparency?
(For example to cast a shadow of an object I used for the shadow the same object colouring it gray with an alpha of 60%. In this way you can see the background slightly through the shadow which gives it a nicer effect.)

Greetz Raul

[Miraenda]

I use Fireworks for web graphics, and you can use the export wizard to do this. Select File-->Export Wizard. When the wizard opens, follow the steps until you reach the Export Preview dialog box. At the bottom left, there is a drop down menu with "No Transparency", "Alpha Transparency" and "Index Transparency" as options (if you selected gif format). Simply pick the one you want, preview it, and export it. Hope this helps.

Mira

[raulwg]

Thanx for your quick response, Mira, but I was already trying to do it in this way but I can't get it done....But I think it must be in this direction.....Thanks for your time anyway!

Greetz Raul

[TGecho]

Last I checked gif didn't have support for alpha transparency. That's one of its biggest problems and the main reason for MS to let us use png's alpha transparency support.

[raulwg]

I was affraid of that.....guess I have to use .png then!

Thanx for the support!

[TGecho]

Be careful, Internet Explorer doesn't support PNGs alpha transparency. That's one of the thorns in our sides at the moment.

[Miraenda]

I didn't realize that gifs don't support alpha transparency, but have you tried index transparency? I really don't know what the difference is between the two, but I used index transparency to have a transparent background on a JavaScript rollover image that I exported as a gif. This worked on my site, but it might not work with shadow effects, etc.

Thanks to TGecho, I know understand why the alpha transparency didn't work on the gif and why I couldn't just export the png with the transparent background and have IE render it correctly (both of which I tried before using index transparency).

[kingkelly]

PNGs allow for transparency of 1 color or 256 levels of transparency. The 1 color transparency is the only PNG format that is viewable in a browser (windows).

Gifs can only handle 1 color of transparency.
But PNGs look so much nicer!