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USING PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 8
Optimizing for the web
Last updated 7/26/2011
More Help topics
“Adding layers” on page 51
“Optimized file formats for the web” on page 262
Preserve background transparency in a GIF or PNG image
GIF and PNG-8 formats support one level of transparency—pixels can be fully transparent or fully opaque, but not
partially transparent. (By contrast, PNG-24 format supports multilevel transparency; that is, you can have up to 256
degrees of transparency in an image, ranging from opaque to completely transparent.)
1 Open or create an image that contains transparency, and choose File > Save For Web.
2 In the Save For Web dialog box, select GIF, PNG-8, or PNG-24 as the optimization format.
3 Select Transparency.
4 For the GIF and PNG-8 formats, specify how to treat partially transparent pixels in the original image. You can
blend these pixels with a matte color, or you can create hard-edged transparency by applying a matte setting of
None.
More Help topics
“About the GIF format” on page 264
“About the PNG-8 format” on page 264
“About the PNG-24 format” on page 265
Create a matted GIF or PNG image
When you know the background color of the web page on which an image will be displayed, you can use the matting
feature to fill or blend transparent pixels with a matte color that matches the web page background.
1 Open or create an image that contains transparency, and choose File > Save For Web.
2 In the Save For Web dialog box, select GIF, PNG-8, or PNG-24 as the optimization format.
3 For GIF and PNG-8 format, do one of the following:
• To keep fully transparent pixels transparent, and blend partially transparent pixels with the matte color, select
Transparency. This option prevents the halo effect you see when you place an anti-aliased image on a web page
background that differs from the image background. This option also prevents the jagged edges of hard-edged
transparency.
• To fill transparent pixels with the matte color and blend partially transparent pixels with the matte color, deselect
Transparency.
4 For GIF and PNG-8 format, select a color from the Matte menu:
• Eyedropper Color (to use the color in the eyedropper sample box)
• White, Black, or Other (to select a color using the Color Picker)
More Help topics
“About the GIF format” on page 264
“About the PNG-8 format” on page 264
“About the PNG-24 format” on page 265
