DAVE ENTWISTLE

Manchester UK

What Is a TRANSPARENT IMAGE?

Transparent Images are images that have an Invisible Background so that the colour (or pattern) of the page background shows through, giving the image the appearance of floating on the page of a Web browser:-

<NORMAL -- TRANSPARENT>

The two Images of me (at work!) demonstrate the difference between a Normal and a Transparent Image.

INSTRUCTIONS To Create Transparent Images Using Lview Pro

1. Load your Gif image into Lview Pro using the File/Open Command.
2. Ensure you are using less than 256 colours by selecting Color Depth from the Retouch menu. The less colours you use, the quicker the image will load into the browser. Also make sure Palette image is selected and that Enable Floyd-Steinberg Dithering is turned OFF (ie. unselected), as shown:-


3. Under the Options menu select Background Color. This opens a Colour Palette and you can click on the colour which you want to use as your background (transparent) colour. If you are not sure which colour your background is, you can use the dropper facility in later versions of Lview Pro. A thin black rectangle will appear around your selected colour - though difficult to see on some screen resolutions. Remember The background you are selecting is not the colour (Wallpaper) of your Browser background, but the colour you want to make transparent in your Gif image. The 256 Colour Palette displays similar to this:-

If you want your image to be Interlaced, Please refer to my page which gives simple instructions, explanations and examples, with regards to Interlacing Images.
4. THATS IT! apart from saving it. From the File Save Menu, make sure that you select "GIF89a" then save your image. If you do not select this gif format, then your background will not be transparent.

NB. Your image will not display the transparent background unless viewed in your Web Browser.

If you do not have Lview Pro, it is available from Demon's FTP Site, or you can Download it Now from Here:-

Download Lview Pro (314,727 Bytes)

If You Prefer to use "Paint Shop Pro" to create transparent Images, and for help with authoring images, Instructions are contained in Chris Wood's "Demon Home Pages Authoring FAQ" which you can Look At Now :-

For Further Help with your Web Graphics Try My Other Pages:-

Understanding and Creating TRANSPARENT ANIMATED IMAGES
Understanding and Creating INTERLACED IMAGES


These are examples of a logo (and pictures) I constructed using this method:


If you Have Any Questions or Problems On This Subject, Please Tell Me :-

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Alternatively Please Email Me Here :-
david@davent.demon.co.uk

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