Titling for a Web page

[DRTV-RJ]

I’m using PS 7 to create titles i.e. basic text on a layer with some effects such as shadows, glow, bevel/emboss and so on. I do this by creating a layer then through the layer pallet I add the desired effect. after saving and merging visable layers (where necessary) Then through the “help” drop down, I use the transparency wizard to create gifs with no background. With me so far? Well several problems come into play: 1) many of the effects created in the layer pallate do not make it through the transparency wizard, namely shadowing, & glowing. In addition, the titles appear raggid and of poor quality after using the wizard. Am I missing something in order to save the effects and how do I preserve a clean, crisp image in order to have a professional look when presented on the web ?

[matthew hattie]

Why do you need gifs with no background? Why don't you just put the part (slice) of the background behind the title, on in PS? What are you using to compile this? The wizard pretty much whacks a clipping mask on yer pick, so if your opacity fades towards the edges (as in a dropshadow) they will look jagged.

[Shank Williams]

You are seeing the limitations of .gifs, which can have only 256 colors.
Shadows, glows, and gradients may become dithered or banded. If the edges are
soft in the original, such as a glow fading to nothingness, or anti-aliased
text, the edge will suffer when saved for web. The GIF format explicitly allows
only one level of transparency; either something is 100% transparent or 100%
opaque. Feathered transparency is not allowed.
So what happens is semi-transparent pixels get converted to a "matte" color,
which is set in the Save for Web window, and should match the web background
color, to avoid "halos", which appear when the matte color is a mismatch.
You can avoid transparent gifs as much as possible.
You can fake transparency by using a .jpg image with a solid background, and use
a solid b.g. color on your web page.
You can look into .png format, but that is another set of complications.

[Jodi Frye]

Yes i was not satisfied with the gif rendering on my title page so i used jpeg and put it on the same pattern that's on my webpage backgound ( a rectangular selection just around the title). Worked like a charm. I will always try to find ways around using Gif if at all possible.

[Jake Hannam]

Jodi,

GIFs are fine for what they were intended for. Shank summarized it very nicely.

When you can get away with it, GIFs usually offer a smaller file size (important for users with slower connections) but usually JPG is the best bet. PNG would be even better than GIF or JPG but internet browsers have only limited support for it at this time.

Jake

[DRTV-RJ]

Will try reworking with other formats. Shank, Thank you for your explanation, It makes much more sense now.