RE: AOL Images

This problem started from an effort by AOL to speed web transfers, conserve
bandwidth, and provide better service to its customer base. The majority of
AOL users are probably not affected by it.  However, web page development on
AOL is complicated by this issue, and all authors should be made aware of
it.

In the AOL browser, there is an option to use "compressed" graphics. ��What
this basically means is before the image is received by your web browser,
AOL
tries to compact it and make it smaller. The space savings is approximately
15% on the average, which is not significant to a single web user, but is
very
significant as a portion of AOL's combined network bandwidth.

When you save an image from the web, if you are using AOL's compressed
graphics, that saved image is not actually the image you requested but the
recompressed image you received. The distinction here is that you are saving
the file with a name that indicates it is in GIF or JPEG format, but it is
actually in a special AOL format. As a result, you will be unable to load
it.
�You might check the properties and it reads as a .gif or .jpeg format, but
will not show up. �You're not nuts....its compressed. �Basically AOL
converted
the .gif or .jpeg file to an .art format without your knowing it.

Since the file has been converted to .ART format (even if it doesn't say
.art), only the AOL web browser is able to view it. All other web browsers
will be unable to interpret the file, and will display it as a broken image.
�

THE FIX FOR AOL USERS: �The remedy for this situation is to go into the
Preferences of the AOL web browser, and turn off the "Use Compressed
Graphics"
option. After doing this, you must clear or "Purge" your web browser's
cache,
which is located under the "Advanced" options, and reload the current web
page. After this, you will receive all images in the proper format (true gif
or jpeg) and maintain compatibility with other browsers. After you do this,
you must find good copies of all the pictures you've got on your page and
upload them all again ! I know it's time consuming, but if you want ALL your
visitors to see your hard work, you HAVE to do this.

Even if you don't have a web page and you are an AOL user, you should turn
off
compressed images. The difference between compressed and uncompressed is so
slight to the surfer, that it's not worth using compressed graphics.

 �Bottom line is this...if you have any graphics that are .art format on
your
page, no one but AOL users using the AOL browser can see them!! �If you have
your graphics in your preferences set to compressed, no one but AOL users
using the AOL browser can see them!!   Change your setting!!!

I have modified this some to take less reading time.  The complete text can
be
found at http://members.aol.com/hotsite1/contest/webhelp.html

Hope this helps!

Carla
http://members.home.net/carlanelson1/
Confusion is just a state of mind...I don't avoid it...I create it!!!


Very good essay.  I applaud your knowledge.

I recently had a friend who asked me to look at her web page and check it
for errors.  When I went to the page, the background she described was not
there.  Instead it was a blank gray background.  I went into the source code
and saw the *.art image she was attempting to use.  This was the first time
I'd come across this type of image so I was a little surprised.  I tried
reading it through each of my graphics software and simply could not call it
up.  Wondering where this lady had picked up this image, I asked her for the
URL for the source.  Using Netscape I couldn't read the image, but lo and
behold - IE4.0 did read the image.  I looked at the source code on this page
and found that the *.art image was, in fact, an attached file.  When I
entered the file name into the browser window as a URL (i.e..,
http://www.whatever.com/image.art it displayed the image just as it would if
it were a gif or jpg.  Then when I right clicked on this image, I was able
to save it as a standard jpg format.

Since then I had wondered why AOL used such images and chalked it up to
another reason to stay away from them.  Your explanation was excellent -
Thank you.

Shay...


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=====================================
Bare Tranquility Web Design
http://www.wcnet.net/shay/index.html
shay(at)wcnet.net  /  shay(at)Bayou.uh.edu
Member of the HTML Writer's Guild
http://www.hwg.org/
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