Granny's Mettle

Transparent Images for the Web and Print

For transparent images that you have extracted from your photos, the next step is to choose where you’re going to post them. There are several options: you could either post the images on the Web for your website, on a page layout application, or on a presentation program.

Your image to the Web.
If your image is going to be posted on the web, it should be in GIF, PNG or “Fake Transparency” with JPEG.

GIF is the original format with transparency support for the web. A disadvantage when using GIF is that the image can have color shifts, posterization and distortion, particularly on those with high color densities. In addition, GIF only supports 1-bit transparency. This would be a problem for images with partial transparency because each pixel is either completely transparent or not. Enhancements like smooth drop shadows that fade away gradually may not be feasible.

PNG, on the other hand, is developed as an answer to the limitations of GIF. It allows high color and partial transparency with the use of alpha channels. However, the downside to this application is that there are still many browsers being used today that do not support PNG.

“Fake Transparency” with JPEG works where the area of the image, which you have chosen to be transparent are filled with the same background color or texture as the web page. Many designers use this especially when image is placed on a colored background where alignment is feasible.

Your image to a page layout application.
Applications like InDesign, QuarkXpress, or Pagemaker are often used for page layouts. You have three applications to choose from:

• Use the Adobe native PSD format when you need to retain transparency among Adobe applications.
  
• Use Embedded Paths (EPS) as most desktop publishing applications accept the EPS format. In addition, EPS images support the use of embedded clipping paths. However, when used for transparency, the isolated object can only have hard edges, and again, it doesn’t support partial transparency.
  
• Use Alpha Channels (TIFF) when you want to define transparency in shades of gray. For page layout applications, the TIFF format is used for images with alpha channel transparency.

Your image to a presentation program.
When the image is going to be used in a presentation program such as PowerPoint for on-screen display, PNG is usually the ideal choice. However, this only works if your presentation program supports PNG.

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