Blade Pro, Ring Tables and Netscape, Websafe colors, Macromedia, Corel PhotoPaint 8, and other jargon

>> I am not sure if this is a bug in DreamWeaver or if it is user error
>> somewhere.. but when creating this site with mostly ring tables with in a
>> larger table  to keep it from overlapping my border.  It has made it so

>Regarding TABLEs, that one other comment about </TD>. They are not
required.
>- -But- Netscape is -known- to have problems under certain table structures
>that
>do not have all 'optional' closing tags.

I work with Dreamweaver, and it's not until I start handcoding
ring tables, and accidentally leave tags open, that Netscape gets
goofy on it.  So, no, it's not a Dreamweaver problem.  Just
about every version of Netscape very strict on closing tags.

There's some other Netscape stuff that bugs me.  Like if
you specify a <table background="dadadada.gif">, it
repeats the background in each cell, requiring the tag
<td background="dadadada.gif"> and another table
to have it display properly.  In MSIE, you can do it
without a ring table>.

Prime example:

http://www.spelaean.com/wasson/

This is one I had to fix because of the way NN reads it.

Well... I guess it's not too bad.  We gotta do what we gotta do.  ;o)

>Blade Pro works with PSP, not just Photoshop.

Blade Pro works with just about any graphic program that takes plug-ins.

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Here's my take on websafe colors:

I don't like 'em.  However, I, along with most, am stuck
with < 31,200bps connection.  That being the case, I'm always
trying to cut down on colors as much as possible, because this
cuts down the size.  I try to use GIFs as much as possible.
They may be larger than a JPG when just sitting on your HD,
but they don't have to decompress when sent, making them
faster to send over the web.

If someone is at 256 colors, they should be hung.  But the
lowest, really, is 16-bit color (32,768), and even that requires
color reduction for some things, like gradients, to display
properly.  Rounding up:  Color reduction is important to
reduce size, but web safe isn't the necessity that it was
yesteryear.

>Also I would like to know true comparison between ImageReady and
>Fireworks.
>Which one is really better? (Please don't be partial)

I say, screw both.  Corel PhotoPaint 8 slams 'em all.  It may be
tougher to learn than most, but if you start to realize what this
software can do, and how to apply it, there's just no end to the
possibilties.  It evens kills other progs for web graphics.  The
paletted 8-bit thing is great.  You can choose safe colors for
various browsers/platforms if you want, but if you want images
that look great, and are low in memory, select the number of
colors you want to use in "Optimized" mode.  I had a 107K image
that I tried cutting down to 8-bit without losing quality or color.
I used PhotoShop, ImageReady, Fireworks, and PhotoPaint.

PhotoShop and ImageReady gave me the same results of 103K,
Fireworks got me down to 95K, but Corel PhotoPaint 8 got me
down to 71K, and the image looked exactly the same.

This program is SO underrated.  Some people call it cheap
because of its price.  Some say it doesn't do anything.  Really,
though, if you give it some time, you'll find that Corel has
given you an all powerful graphics suite at a great price.
I used to swear by Adobe PhotoShop.  Now, even version
5.0, loaded with plug-ins just frustrates me because of
its limits.  Give it a shot.

>I use notepad to code and photoshop and freehand the most for graphics.
>I do have homesite but I always seem to revert back to coding with
>notepad. :/

Word... Notepad becomes a habit.  I even find myself having to go
back and fix code generated by the almighty Dreamweaver 2.0 to
get the look I want.

>They have pursued that market and done a lot of market
>research and listened to what the customers want.

They've also done a lot of buying and firing.  Sorry for the
gripe, but as a software designer, the kind of stuff they do
to smaller firms just pisses me off.  You guys know about
the Quark and mTropolis thing?  Macromedia has done
that same type of thing on numerous occasions.  Grrr...

>Image ready is more a 'companion' application to photoshop
>than an all encompassing web graphics app.

No joke.  I'm surprised it isn't just a plug-in!

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Sorry for the bomb!  I've been lurking for about two months, now,
and I just had to release!

Thanks for all the feedback on my pages!

-Steve

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