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Author PhotoDraw
PhotoDraw

2004-02-04, 5:28 pm

I was wondering why Microsoft decided to stop publishing
sprite editing programs like Image Composer and PhotoDraw-
-does anyone know? I'm sure many people miss it. In case
someone at Microsoft cares I would rather buy Microsoft
Office Standard + FrontPage + PhotoDraw in a suite
titled 'Designer Edition' rather than buy the regular
Professional Edition--I don't need the extra programs
included in Professional. Others probably would also.

Brian Shapiro
Walter Donavan

2004-02-06, 6:28 am

(1) PhotoDraw did not contribute enough to the Microsoft bottom line.
(2) Microsoft decided on .PNG as its universal format and abandoned .MIX
format.

--
Walter Donavan
www.revelation7stages.com
www.1stbooks.com/bookview/15479


Ludwig

2004-02-06, 7:28 pm

Walter:
Then why doesn't the IE-Explorer support such a format? The only one MS
program that I know of is Power Point.

--
http://home.insightbb.com/~raldar4
{ Ludwig }

"Walter Donavan" <invalid@nowhere.not> wrote in message
news:%23jreSoJ7DHA.2656@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> (1) PhotoDraw did not contribute enough to the Microsoft bottom line.
> (2) Microsoft decided on .PNG as its universal format and abandoned .MIX
> format.
>
> --
> Walter Donavan
> www.revelation7stages.com
> www.1stbooks.com/bookview/15479
>
>



Walter Donavan

2004-02-08, 5:28 am

IE6 does support PNG, quite well.

--
Walter Donavan
www.revelation7stages.com
www.1stbooks.com/bookview/15479


Ludwig

2004-02-08, 9:28 pm

Walter:
Not a transparent .png image. You'll either have a black box or a white box.
And in Front Page 2002 it won't show the image, but a blank thumbnail. You
click on the blank and it's there, but so are the boxes. And to view it in
IE 6 the box is there around the transparent image. Via Real Draw Pro or
Photo Draw 2000 v2. If there is a back ground,maybe!

--
http://home.insightbb.com/~raldar4
{ Ludwig }

"Walter Donavan" <invalid@nowhere.not> wrote in message
news:%23P1G1Yi7DHA.2416@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> IE6 does support PNG, quite well.
>
> --
> Walter Donavan
> www.revelation7stages.com
> www.1stbooks.com/bookview/15479
>
>



Walter Donavan

2004-02-09, 3:28 pm

Maybe that's why I never even think of using PNG, despite MSFT's telling us
it's the New Big Thing. Why bother, when GIF and JPG do the job with no
hassles, eh?

Sorry I said something without researching it.

So I did the research. I created a simple PNG in Photoshop: a blue rectangle
on a transparent background.

I opened it in IrfanView: blue rectangle, black background.

And in Internet Explorer 6: blue rectangle, black background.

And in Photoshop: blue rectangle, white (transparent) background.

And in PhotoDraw: blue rectangle,white (transparent) background.

And in Real-Draw: blue rectangle, white (transparent) background.

Conclusion: Photoshop, PhotoDraw, and Real-Draw speak fluent PNG. IrfanView
and IE6 don't. (IrfanView???)

Go figure.
--
Walter Donavan
www.revelation7stages.com
www.1stbooks.com/bookview/15479


Walter Donavan

2004-02-09, 3:29 pm

Forgot to add that FrontPage 2002 does not speak transparent PNG. It
converts them to GIF.

Forget PNG until and unless they fix it.

Comments, Bill?
--
Walter Donavan
www.revelation7stages.com
www.1stbooks.com/bookview/15479


Walter Donavan

2004-02-09, 3:29 pm

I'm assuming the white backgrounds were actually transparent, but the only
pgm that shows a real, live transparent (checkered) background is Photoshop.

So, Ludwig, maybe PS is the only gfx pgm in the world that speaks
transparent PNG? Bill?

--
Walter Donavan
www.revelation7stages.com
www.1stbooks.com/bookview/15479


Walter Donavan

2004-02-09, 4:30 pm

More research: Word, PPT, and Excel all correctly inserted the transparent
PNG--with a transparent background.

--
Walter Donavan
www.revelation7stages.com
www.1stbooks.com/bookview/15479


Ludwig

2004-02-09, 7:30 pm

Walter:
If you load a .png into Real Draw Pro and change the background color, menu
Project/ size and color, you will notice that the transparency is there.

--
http://home.insightbb.com/~raldar4
{ Ludwig }

"Walter Donavan" <invalid@nowhere.not> wrote in message
news:u%23Ij2yz7DHA.2308@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> I'm assuming the white backgrounds were actually transparent, but the only
> pgm that shows a real, live transparent (checkered) background is

Photoshop.
>
> So, Ludwig, maybe PS is the only gfx pgm in the world that speaks
> transparent PNG? Bill?
>
> --
> Walter Donavan
> www.revelation7stages.com
> www.1stbooks.com/bookview/15479
>
>



Ludwig

2004-02-09, 7:30 pm

Walter:
Word and Excel are still useless for the internet. You can load it into
Power Point for a slide show or a movie presentation, with narration and
all, but then you have to have PPT 2002 or newer to view it as older
versions can't play or view it and the Power Point 95 viewer is useless,
Unless they have come up with a new viewer .ppt. Highly unlikely, with the
reason MS is in the business of selling new software.

--
http://home.insightbb.com/~raldar4
{ Ludwig }

"Walter Donavan" <invalid@nowhere.not> wrote in message
news:e3b$ti07DHA.2404@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> More research: Word, PPT, and Excel all correctly inserted the transparent
> PNG--with a transparent background.
>
> --
> Walter Donavan
> www.revelation7stages.com
> www.1stbooks.com/bookview/15479
>
>



Ludwig

2004-02-09, 7:30 pm

They do have a new viewer:

http://office.microsoft.com/search/...=EC010331121033
Watch for the word wrap.
--
http://home.insightbb.com/~raldar4
{ Ludwig }

"Ludwig" <raldar4~no spam~@insightbb.com> wrote in message
news:uu3XqB27DHA.360@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Walter:
> Word and Excel are still useless for the internet. You can load it into
> Power Point for a slide show or a movie presentation, with narration and
> all, but then you have to have PPT 2002 or newer to view it as older
> versions can't play or view it and the Power Point 95 viewer is useless,
> Unless they have come up with a new viewer .ppt. Highly unlikely, with the
> reason MS is in the business of selling new software.
>
> --
> http://home.insightbb.com/~raldar4
> { Ludwig }
>
> "Walter Donavan" <invalid@nowhere.not> wrote in message
> news:e3b$ti07DHA.2404@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
transparent[color=blue]
>
>



Bill Somogyi

2004-02-09, 11:29 pm

Actually png is my preferred format when not using a jpeg. I rarely if ever
have a need for tranparent images on the web. If doing print there is no
need to worry because all the programs I use support the tranparent and
alpha channel so I get what I need from it. For the web I generally find
that png is a smaller file size.

I'd say I use png over gif (3 to 1) on the web. Most times if you find a
gif on my site it was a lapse of memory or it's a blank shim. Now there are
those who would tell you that older browsers won't read them. I know for a
fact that Netscape 4 supports them and that's as far back as I care to check
and to be honest with you frankly I could care less about that browser too.

BTW: FrontPage 2003 supports both 8 and 24 bit png (paletted and true
color) and will even save or convert your images to those formats.

--
Have Fun Bill

RealDraw Cafe
http://realdrawcafe.com
MicrosoftGraphics Users Group
http://microsoftgraphics.com


"Walter Donavan" <invalid@nowhere.not> wrote in message
news:O6942xz7DHA.4060@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> Forgot to add that FrontPage 2002 does not speak transparent PNG. It
> converts them to GIF.
>
> Forget PNG until and unless they fix it.
>
> Comments, Bill?
> --
> Walter Donavan
> www.revelation7stages.com
> www.1stbooks.com/bookview/15479
>
>



Walter Donavan

2004-02-10, 12:28 pm

PNG is almost, but not quite, ready for prime time?

--
Walter Donavan
www.revelation7stages.com
www.1stbooks.com/bookview/15479


Walter Donavan

2004-02-10, 12:28 pm

Feel free to download the new PPT 2003 Viewer, no charge, works with PPT02
and 03.

--
Walter Donavan
www.revelation7stages.com
www.1stbooks.com/bookview/15479


Ludwig

2004-02-10, 7:28 pm

And who can afford to keep upgrading all of the time. Bottom line for MS.
They only made 10 million in the 4th quarter. Ain't that a sham.

--
http://home.insightbb.com/~raldar4
{ Ludwig }

"Walter Donavan" <invalid@nowhere.not> wrote in message
news:OhXysw%237DHA.3052@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> PNG is almost, but not quite, ready for prime time?
>
> --
> Walter Donavan
> www.revelation7stages.com
> www.1stbooks.com/bookview/15479
>
>



Bill Somogyi

2004-02-10, 9:28 pm


"Ludwig" wrote in message

> And who can afford to keep upgrading all of the time.


It's Internet Explorer and not the software with the problem.

--
Have Fun Bill

RealDraw Cafe
http://realdrawcafe.com
MicrosoftGraphics Users Group
http://microsoftgraphics.com


Ludwig

2004-02-10, 10:28 pm

Like I said MS only wants it for Power Point presentations. That's the shame
and the sham of it. You can make a transparent .png in Photo Draw for
Internet Explorer, but it's only 256 colors . So I wonder if it is the same
in Power Point, 256 colors?


http://home.insightbb.com/~raldar4
{ Ludwig }

"Bill Somogyi" <removethisbill@phillysnet.com> wrote in message
news:u5AvLcD8DHA.2480@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>
> "Ludwig" wrote in message
>
>
> It's Internet Explorer and not the software with the problem.
>
> --
> Have Fun Bill
>
> RealDraw Cafe
> http://realdrawcafe.com
> MicrosoftGraphics Users Group
> http://microsoftgraphics.com
>
>



Walter Donavan

2004-02-10, 11:28 pm

It's like the Vermonter said to the tourist: "Ayup. You can't get there from
here."

--
Walter Donavan
www.revelation7stages.com
www.1stbooks.com/bookview/15479


2004-02-16, 11:28 pm

Walter,

hopefully the PNG problem will be fixed in IE
i also know that Longhorn will be using a vector format
for its graphics and icons.. do you know if Microsoft
plans to allow use of this format on webpages? Obviously
the format of the webpage would have to allow an
alternative image to show for browsers that dont support
longhorn vectors

Brian

>-----Original Message-----
>(1) PhotoDraw did not contribute enough to the Microsoft

bottom line.
>(2) Microsoft decided on .PNG as its universal format

and abandoned .MIX
>format.
>


Walter Donavan

2004-02-17, 1:28 am

If you are talking about SVG graphics, Internet Explorer already supports
them, as do major gfx pgms such as Photoshop.

--
Walter Donavan
www.revelation7stages.com
www.1stbooks.com/bookview/15479


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