Re: best way to load large background graphic

Just read Jeff's response to you. If you have Fireworks, it has a wonderful
optimization feature for Web images that will let you view your image at
several different optimization settings. Works very nicely. You might also
try slicing it. Sometimes that makes it load more quickly.

If it were me, I'd feel better about making the background "fixed" and using
CSS to make a layer that appears to scroll over the fixed background.

You can look at a site I'm working on at this address. It's not finished,
but it will give you an idea of what I'm talking about.
www.gatewayone.com/wordcrafters/cucchiettiboats

Hope this helps...Gail Miller

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Kane" <jeffkane(at)pobox.com>
To: "Lonna Poland" <lonna(at)granbury.com>
Cc: <hwg-graphics(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2001 1:48 PM
Subject: Re: best way to load large background graphic


> >I have a large map which I have to use for a background graphic.  We
> >don't want the map graphic to tile.
> >
> >1.  How can I prevent the large map from tiling as a background?
> >
> >2.  What is the best way to optimize the graphic so it won't take
> >forever to load?
> >
> >Thanks,
> >
> >Lonna
>
>
> Lonna,
>
> I don't think you can prevent the map from tiling. But you can
> increase its physical dimensions so that it's too large to tile on
> most monitors. For example, if the map is 800 pixels x 500 pixels,
> you could increase the canvas size (e.g., in Photoshop) to 1300 by
> 1100), adding the extra canvas on the right and the bottom. The map
> would then be unlikely to tile, since most monitors have resolutions
> less than those dimensions. I'm assuming here that the page's content
> is of comparable size to the background map. If you create a long
> page that scrolls, you may need to increase the canvas dimension even
> more.
>
> An alternative may be (?) to use javascript so that the background
> floats and moves as the user scrolls down the page.
>
> One way to minimize the file size would be to convert the graphic to
> GIF format and decrease the number of colors to a minimum. You may
> also want to reduce the opacity of the background so it doesn't
> interfere with the page's content.
>
> The extra canvas space added shouldn't affect file size much since it
> would be a flat area of one color that compresses easily.
>
> Of course, if the same background is used on multiple pages, it only
> needs to load in the first time.
>
> You probably also want to specify a background color which will
> appear before the background loads.
>
>
> Jeff
>
> --

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