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List:       gimp-user
Subject:    Re: [Gimp-user] Really easy newbie questions (I hope)...
From:       Ben Logan <ben () wblogan ! net>
Date:       2002-01-31 11:02:00
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Doris,

What version of the Gimp are you using?  The version I'm using (1.2)
supports GIF.  I wasn't aware that they had removed the support for it
(though I'd understand if they did).

Regardless of that, though, your image looks jagged as a GIF due to the
limitations of GIF itself.  The problem is that GIF only supports full
opacity or full transparency.  The formats like psd, xcf, and png
support partial transparency/opacity, and use it for antialiasing
which gives the image a smooth look around the edges.

My solution is to figure out what color I'm going to use on my
website, then create a background layer with that color in the Gimp.
I leave them as separate layers for future manipulations.  Then export
the image as either JPEG (for images with lots of colors) or PNG (for
text, etc).

Even though PNG supports partial transparency, don't create a PNG with
an alpha channel for use on the web.  The browsers seem to do fine
with a PNG without alpha, but really mess up with it.  (You tell me
why the browser companies take such a long time to support an open
standard like PNG... :)

Hope this helps,
Ben

On Thu, Jan 31, 2002 at 01:24:38AM -0800, Doris Philastre wrote:
> Okay, I created an image in GIMP that has no
> background for use on a website. I saved it as a .psd
> file because GIMP doesn't support .gif. I went into
> Photoshop to convert the file format and I couldn't
> figure out how to do it there either. I then went into
> Microsoft Photo Editor and converted it - problem is
> that the outline of the picture is now all jagged and
> it looks really horrible. The .psd file viewed in
> either GIMP or Photoshop is what I want to use. My
> question is how I can get GIMP to save it as a .gif (I
> tried downloading the LZW plug-in but I am not sure it
> worked) or change the format in Photoshop.

-- 
Ben Logan: ben at wblogan dot net
OpenPGP Key KeyID: A1ADD1F0

One learns to itch where one can scratch.
		-- Ernest Bramah
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