PNG files in a website

[Randy Morgan]

I'm interested in opinions as to whether PNG files are adequately
supported in today's primary browsers. (This isn't a programming
question -- yet.)

I (my wife, actually) is having a heck of a time getting good image
quality for the banner graphic in either JPG or GIF format. She's using
MS PhotoDraw 2000, and while it looks great as a MIX file a digital
photo within the graphic degrades (gets fuzzy) when she saves to one of
the other two formats.

When, however, she saves to PNG it looks great. In researching the
compatibility of PNG files and web browers I find that most of the
information I find is at least a year old.

So, while I realize this is not a graphics forum, it IS packed with
webmasters, so I'm looking for opinions: Would you be comfortable using
PNG files on your pages?

If the concensus is "no", then I'm on to my programming question: How
would I set up the pages to detect whether their browswer will handle
PNGs well and then download the JPG or GIF if it doesn't? I have the
banner in its own page, which I put into a layout cell at the top of
each page on the site using Insert - Web Component - Included Content -
Page.

If it's possible to detect using JavaScript whether the browser will
work with PNGs, I guess I could have a duplicate of each page with the
JPG included instead of the PNG for those that don't, but that would be
a pain. I'd rather swap the image, if that's possible. And, I realize
that not everybody has JavaScript enabled on their brower, but if they
don't they've got bigger problems on my site than fuzzy graphics.

Or, am I nuts and it's not that fuzzy? If you like, go to
www.leonardforiowa.com and tell me if I'm worrying about nothing.

Thanks,

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash Gordon®\)]

You mean the guy in the upper right hand corner?...yep fuzzy. Use a JPG.

PNGs never really caught on I guess. The few times I've tried them I wasn't happy with results.

I stick to jpgs for photo images, gifs for graphics...mainly although I've crossed the line many times, just depends on situ.


| I'm interested in opinions as to whether PNG files are adequately
| supported in today's primary browsers. (This isn't a programming
| question -- yet.)
|
| I (my wife, actually) is having a heck of a time getting good image
| quality for the banner graphic in either JPG or GIF format. She's using
| MS PhotoDraw 2000, and while it looks great as a MIX file a digital
| photo within the graphic degrades (gets fuzzy) when she saves to one of
| the other two formats.
|
| When, however, she saves to PNG it looks great. In researching the
| compatibility of PNG files and web browers I find that most of the
| information I find is at least a year old.
|
| So, while I realize this is not a graphics forum, it IS packed with
| webmasters, so I'm looking for opinions: Would you be comfortable using
| PNG files on your pages?
|
| If the concensus is "no", then I'm on to my programming question: How
| would I set up the pages to detect whether their browswer will handle
| PNGs well and then download the JPG or GIF if it doesn't? I have the
| banner in its own page, which I put into a layout cell at the top of
| each page on the site using Insert - Web Component - Included Content -
| Page.
|
| If it's possible to detect using JavaScript whether the browser will
| work with PNGs, I guess I could have a duplicate of each page with the
| JPG included instead of the PNG for those that don't, but that would be
| a pain. I'd rather swap the image, if that's possible. And, I realize
| that not everybody has JavaScript enabled on their brower, but if they
| don't they've got bigger problems on my site than fuzzy graphics.
|
| Or, am I nuts and it's not that fuzzy? If you like, go to
| www.leonardforiowa.com and tell me if I'm worrying about nothing.
|
| Thanks,
|
| --
| Randy Morgan

 

[Randy Morgan]

Actually, that was a JPG. I've been messing around some more and found
somebody who said you're using PhotoDraw you need to save to a BMP and
then "manually" convert to JPG (whatever that means). I saved from MIX
to BMP and used IrfanView to convert to JPG and it looks substantially
better, I think.

It might be time to wean my wife from PhotoDraw to Photoshop.

I appreciate you taking a look at it. Thanks!

Randy Morgan

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash Gordon®\)]

looks a better than before but still fuzzy.

try to keep your conversions/changes to a minimum...work in a non-lossy format until you're happy with the image, then the last thing you do is optimize and save it as a jpg

I don't use PhotoDraw so can't help you with that.


| Actually, that was a JPG. I've been messing around some more and found
| somebody who said you're using PhotoDraw you need to save to a BMP and
| then "manually" convert to JPG (whatever that means). I saved from MIX
| to BMP and used IrfanView to convert to JPG and it looks substantially
| better, I think.
|
| It might be time to wean my wife from PhotoDraw to Photoshop.
|
| I appreciate you taking a look at it. Thanks!
|
| Randy Morgan
|
| Rob Giordano (Crash Gordon®) wrote:
| > You mean the guy in the upper right hand corner?...yep fuzzy. Use a JPG.
| >
| > PNGs never really caught on I guess. The few times I've tried them I wasn't happy with results.
| >
| > I stick to jpgs for photo images, gifs for graphics...mainly although I've crossed the line many times, just depends on situ.
| >
| >
| > | I'm interested in opinions as to whether PNG files are adequately
| > | supported in today's primary browsers. (This isn't a programming
| > | question -- yet.)
| > |
| > | I (my wife, actually) is having a heck of a time getting good image
| > | quality for the banner graphic in either JPG or GIF format. She's using
| > | MS PhotoDraw 2000, and while it looks great as a MIX file a digital
| > | photo within the graphic degrades (gets fuzzy) when she saves to one of
| > | the other two formats.
| > |
| > | When, however, she saves to PNG it looks great. In researching the
| > | compatibility of PNG files and web browers I find that most of the
| > | information I find is at least a year old.
| > |
| > | So, while I realize this is not a graphics forum, it IS packed with
| > | webmasters, so I'm looking for opinions: Would you be comfortable using
| > | PNG files on your pages?
| > |
| > | If the concensus is "no", then I'm on to my programming question: How
| > | would I set up the pages to detect whether their browswer will handle
| > | PNGs well and then download the JPG or GIF if it doesn't? I have the
| > | banner in its own page, which I put into a layout cell at the top of
| > | each page on the site using Insert - Web Component - Included Content -
| > | Page.
| > |
| > | If it's possible to detect using JavaScript whether the browser will
| > | work with PNGs, I guess I could have a duplicate of each page with the
| > | JPG included instead of the PNG for those that don't, but that would be
| > | a pain. I'd rather swap the image, if that's possible. And, I realize
| > | that not everybody has JavaScript enabled on their brower, but if they
| > | don't they've got bigger problems on my site than fuzzy graphics.
| > |
| > | Or, am I nuts and it's not that fuzzy? If you like, go to
| > | www.leonardforiowa.com and tell me if I'm worrying about nothing.
| > |
| > | Thanks,
| > |
| > | --
| > | Randy Morgan

 

[Ronx]

I have never been happy using PhotoDraw for web images.
PNG images are well supported in most browsers, the notable exceptions
are Netscape 4xx, and Internet Explorer (all current versions). IE5
and later (not sure about earlier) will display PNG images provided
they do not have any transparency.

PNG images are often significantly larger in filesize than .gif or
..jpg for the same quality.

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash Gordon®\)]

If you have PS use that!

I refuse to teach my wife PS...too much yelling would be involved.


| Actually, that was a JPG. I've been messing around some more and found
| somebody who said you're using PhotoDraw you need to save to a BMP and
| then "manually" convert to JPG (whatever that means). I saved from MIX
| to BMP and used IrfanView to convert to JPG and it looks substantially
| better, I think.
|
| It might be time to wean my wife from PhotoDraw to Photoshop.
|
| I appreciate you taking a look at it. Thanks!
|
| Randy Morgan
|
| Rob Giordano (Crash Gordon®) wrote:
| > You mean the guy in the upper right hand corner?...yep fuzzy. Use a JPG.
| >
| > PNGs never really caught on I guess. The few times I've tried them I wasn't happy with results.
| >
| > I stick to jpgs for photo images, gifs for graphics...mainly although I've crossed the line many times, just depends on situ.
| >
| >
| > | I'm interested in opinions as to whether PNG files are adequately
| > | supported in today's primary browsers. (This isn't a programming
| > | question -- yet.)
| > |
| > | I (my wife, actually) is having a heck of a time getting good image
| > | quality for the banner graphic in either JPG or GIF format. She's using
| > | MS PhotoDraw 2000, and while it looks great as a MIX file a digital
| > | photo within the graphic degrades (gets fuzzy) when she saves to one of
| > | the other two formats.
| > |
| > | When, however, she saves to PNG it looks great. In researching the
| > | compatibility of PNG files and web browers I find that most of the
| > | information I find is at least a year old.
| > |
| > | So, while I realize this is not a graphics forum, it IS packed with
| > | webmasters, so I'm looking for opinions: Would you be comfortable using
| > | PNG files on your pages?
| > |
| > | If the concensus is "no", then I'm on to my programming question: How
| > | would I set up the pages to detect whether their browswer will handle
| > | PNGs well and then download the JPG or GIF if it doesn't? I have the
| > | banner in its own page, which I put into a layout cell at the top of
| > | each page on the site using Insert - Web Component - Included Content -
| > | Page.
| > |
| > | If it's possible to detect using JavaScript whether the browser will
| > | work with PNGs, I guess I could have a duplicate of each page with the
| > | JPG included instead of the PNG for those that don't, but that would be
| > | a pain. I'd rather swap the image, if that's possible. And, I realize
| > | that not everybody has JavaScript enabled on their brower, but if they
| > | don't they've got bigger problems on my site than fuzzy graphics.
| > |
| > | Or, am I nuts and it's not that fuzzy? If you like, go to
| > | www.leonardforiowa.com and tell me if I'm worrying about nothing.
| > |
| > | Thanks,
| > |
| > | --
| > | Randy Morgan

 

[Randy Morgan]

Tell me about it! My wife refuses, on principal, to use a help file.
She spent several years in publishing and considers herself a "Mac
person". Windows is somehow beneath her. Go figure.

Randy Morgan

 

[Murray]

PNG files are safe to use as long as they are 8 bit, or 24 bit files. They
are supported by all modern browsers. If you want to place an image, try a
24 bit PNG.

What is NOT supported (by IE only) is the 32 bit PNG files, i.e., millions
of colors with 8 bit transparency.

 

[Randy Morgan]

OK, I'll try that. I don't know exactly what type of PNG gets
generated, but hopefully there are some options to guide me to 24-bit files.

Thanks,
Randy Morgan