Re: Transparent Drop Shadows

Hi St�phane,

I don't have any transparent PNGs to test with anymore (I junked them,
although it wouldn't be too difficult to make a new one). ALTHOUGH.... It
seems to me that one browser did indeed display a transparent PNG correctly
(or at least appear to), but for the life of me, I can't recall which one.
My comment, while it DOES state that a browser does indeed exist that can
display transparent PNGs, is meant more as a hypothetical aside to further
Ben's need for building transparent GIFs similar to how I suggested. Even if
we could find a browser that correctly displays PNGs, it would not be
supported enough to be worth the effort at this time. With so many odd-brand
browsers other than MSIE, Netscape, and Opera, while nothing is a guarantee,
SOMEONE is bound to have a browser that can display transparent PNGs...

Ah HAH! I found it! Back in April, I posted a question regarding transparent
PNGs to the techniques list, and Nik Gare said that he did, in fact, have a
browser that could display my test transparent PNGs. However, the browser
was called "Browse" and it ran on the RISC OS platform. Additionally, Nik
says the browser is no longer being made. :-(

Bummer...

Kehvan

----- Original Message -----
From: "St�phane Bergeron" <stephberg(at)videotron.ca>
To: <hwg-graphics(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 18, 2000 7:49 AM
Subject: Re: Transparent Drop Shadows


At 02:00 AM 18/06/00 -0700, you wrote:
>What you ARE looking for, however, is only spotily supported: Transparent
>PNGs using an Alpha Channel for the drop shadow. Unfortunately, PNG
>transparency support is pretty wild right now, as one browser will display
>it correctly, while others (greater or lesser versions of the same browser,
>even) will display seemingly-random backgrounds where the transparency
>should be. Until browser support for transparent PNGs is more widespread,
>you're pretty much stuck with the method described in the first paragraph.

Hi Kehvan,

I was wondering what browser you found that support 32bit PNG files
(varying transparency)?  I haven't found any myself (I tried IE 5.5, NS 6,
NS 4.72 and Opera 4.0 b5, all on Win 98).  In IE, my 32bit PNG test image
had a gray background while NS 6 and NS 4.72 both butchered it (you'd have
to see it to understand what I mean).  Both displayed the 24 bit version
with a white background and only IE displayed the 8 bit version with the
correct transparency (just like a transparent GIF).  Opera 4.0 displayed
all 3 with white backgrounds and none with any transparency.  My test image
was a simple circle shape drawn in Fireworks 3.0 and heavily feathered to
give the edges a sort of gradient like look..  Background was transparent
in FW and the image was exported directly from it.  The only applications I
found that display and support 32 bit PNG files (as well as 24 and 8 bit)
are Flash 4.0 and Director 8.0 in which 32bit PNG images work very
well.  Made me long for support in browsers... transparent GIFs look so
primitive in comparison... ;-)

St�phane Bergeron

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