Flash Image displaying differently ???

[j4mes_bond25]

Could anyone possibly point me in the right direction about the way my text images (owner, services, contact, etc.) looks on my website:

http://members.lycos.co.uk/darsh25/personal_website/

I've uploaded all the format of image (.png, .jpg, .gif), so as to show the different quality I'm getting. I've designed these images in Flash. Problem is:

>> "About" text is ".png", which is displaying perfectly well in Firefox but NOT in Internet Explorer. I wonder why ???
>> "Services" text is ".jpg", which regardless of selecting "transparent" in "publish setting" in Flash has white background
>> "Owner" text is ".gif", which is displaying OK in both browser but not as smooth as ".png".

Sadly, not a single possible format I could choose has given me the desired result. Which format of image should I choose in Flash ???

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[RedWombat]

Keep them in Flash.

PNG files and IE don't play well together right now, so you can't take advantage of the Alpha channel in a PNG. (That's what will make the background transparent).

JPG files just don't have a transparent background option. You'll get what your background is or white.

GIF files can only make one color transparent. The aliasing of your text has many colors in it, hence the reason why your GIF doesn't look smooth on the final image.

The Flash Player is installed almost everywhere, you probably don't want to export out your images as PNG, JPG or GIF. I would Keep them all in Flash.

Hope this is helpful.

[Availor]

I recieved an error while trying to enter your site.

[j4mes_bond25]

I recieved an error while trying to enter your site.

I checked it, it seems working OK.

Try once again, cos I was uploading some file this afternoon & you may've tried viewing my site while I was updating.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/darsh25/personal_website/

[j4mes_bond25]

Keep them in Flash.

PNG files and IE don't play well together right now, so you can't take advantage of the Alpha channel in a PNG. (That's what will make the background transparent).

JPG files just don't have a transparent background option. You'll get what your background is or white.

GIF files can only make one color transparent. The aliasing of your text has many colors in it, hence the reason why your GIF doesn't look smooth on the final image.

The Flash Player is installed almost everywhere, you probably don't want to export out your images as PNG, JPG or GIF. I would Keep them all in Flash.

Hope this is helpful.

I didn't export it elsewhere. These images are in flash itself. I created it in flash & then after "Publish Setting", I EXPORTED the image from "File >> Export >> Export Image" & this is how I saved these images.

I'll in the mean time, I'll try NOT to use ".png" however, I've Fireworks as well. Would you say that might help me instead.

By the way, when you say "keep" them all in flash, do you mean save it as ".swf" file ???

[pauland]

By the way, when you say "keep" them all in flash, do you mean save it as ".swf" file ???

From your posts am I right in guessing that you're using flash as an illustration tool to create graphics on an html page (but not building a website in Flash)?

I think the "keep them in Flash" comment was related to you building the website in flash - you haven't really made things entirely clear.

Paul

(looking around your site I can see that you have some html templates kicking about, so I guess html it is!)

[RedWombat]

You could build the site in Flash, although that has it's own issues with search engine crawling. You could also keep your nav buttons in the SWF format. I've attached a simple sample. It looks like you were using Flash as a Graphics Tools as Paul says.

I looked at your Button, ButtonHover and MenuText FLA's. They are all the parts of your buttons you were trying to create the PNG, JPG and GIF's from. When I said keep them in Flash, I meant to create each entire button in Flash or the whole navigation in it and use the SWF. Look through the FLA and SWF I posted.

However, your problem is easly solved with the other approach you were using. Just don't make your background transparent. In your example I would set it to black and use either a JPG or GIF. It will match up with the black of your web page. Does that make sense? You don't even need Flash to do this, just use Fireworks. You would use it's frames to create the Over state and a little JavaScript in your page code to create the image swap as you roll over.

You could still do it with Flash if you wish, just use the SWF instead trying to export out of flash as you were doing. This would take the work out of putting to image files and coding the image swap. Flash does this automatically.

Hope this is helpful and not missing information. I'm in a rush.

Good luck,

[j4mes_bond25]

From your posts am I right in guessing that you're using flash as an illustration tool to create graphics on an html page (but not building a website in Flash)?

I think the "keep them in Flash" comment was related to you building the website in flash - you haven't really made things entirely clear.

Paul

(looking around your site I can see that you have some html templates kicking about, so I guess html it is!)

Yes, you guessed it right. I'm developing the website in CSS & PHP & ONLY certain content of it such as Graphics, Banners, Buttons are something that I've been trying to design in Flash, since I'm learning Flash at the moment & thought of implementing whatever I learn in it by using it in CERTAIN content such as Buttons, Banner, Certain graphics, etc. (but am NOT creating an entire Flash based website, at the moment, since I'm not at all comfortable with it, as I've only recently started learning Flash through Video Tutorial).

Although, ".png" is the best image I could get but sadly not being displayed properly in Internet Explorer. ".jpg" (white background) & ".gif" (rough edges) has its own problem, as you could see on the website itself. In that case, I wonder how exactly could I save my graphics in Flash in order to display it perfectly well on browser.

Would you say, designing in Fireworks would solve the problem ???

[j4mes_bond25]

You could build the site in Flash, although that has it's own issues with search engine crawling. You could also keep your nav buttons in the SWF format. I've attached a simple sample. It looks like you were using Flash as a Graphics Tools as Paul says.

I looked at your Button, ButtonHover and MenuText FLA's. They are all the parts of your buttons you were trying to create the PNG, JPG and GIF's from. When I said keep them in Flash, I meant to create each entire button in Flash or the whole navigation in it and use the SWF. Look through the FLA and SWF I posted.

However, your problem is easly solved with the other approach you were using. Just don't make your background transparent. In your example I would set it to black and use either a JPG or GIF. It will match up with the black of your web page. Does that make sense? You don't even need Flash to do this, just use Fireworks. You would use it's frames to create the Over state and a little JavaScript in your page code to create the image swap as you roll over.

You could still do it with Flash if you wish, just use the SWF instead trying to export out of flash as you were doing. This would take the work out of putting to image files and coding the image swap. Flash does this automatically.

Hope this is helpful and not missing information. I'm in a rush.

Good luck,

In the early stages of my Flash training, when I learnt about creating basic graphics & using the Vector shapes, I designed the buttons & saved it as ".swf" file, but in my HTML code, I couldn't for some reason link them, although I'll delve into it further to ensure if I was doing it right or not.

By the way, creating my required graphics (buttons, banners, etc.) in ".swf" made more sense to me, since it saves me from any hassle that I'm currently facing.

The reason, I'm inclined to use Flash as opposed to Fireworks at the moment is cos I'm training myself in Flash to guess it'd make more sense in using Flash instead by creating my graphics based on whatever I learn.

Just to clearify, if I save my buttons, banners, etc. in ".swf", would you say I should create 2 different buttons i.e. one with NORMAL & another the HOVER. I'd have thought that I could make do with JUST ONE ".swf" & use some sort of Action script in Flash to create its hover effect, but I haven't enlightened myself up with it yet but if it is possible, it would be just fantastic, frankly speaking.

I've got 3 CD of Flash Video Tutorial & I've only finished 1 and half, so haven't looked into Actionscript, as yet.

[remi]

Just to clearify, if I save my buttons, banners, etc. in ".swf", would you say I should create 2 different buttons i.e. one with NORMAL & another the HOVER. I'd have thought that I could make do with JUST ONE ".swf" & use some sort of Action script in Flash to create its hover effect, but I haven't enlightened myself up with it yet but if it is possible, it would be just fantastic, frankly speaking.

I've got 3 CD of Flash Video Tutorial & I've only finished 1 and half, so haven't looked into Actionscript, as yet.

You don't need 2 different buttons with Flash. Flash has a "Button object" to create mouseover effects.

You don't have to be a Actionscript programmer to learn to do this. Take a look at this Tutorial to create Buttons with Flash.

Remi