PUB2000: Saving as HTML With Overlapping Images Produces One Large Graphic File

If you have multiple text or graphics objects that overlap each other in your Web publication and you save your publication in HTML format, those overlapped objects may become one large graphic.

This is the default behavior when you save a publication that contains overlapping objects as a Web page.

Internet browsers that only support HTML version 3.2 or earlier do not support the ability to overlap objects. Publisher, in order to retain the look within your publication for those types of older browsers, converts those overlapped objects to one-large, merged image.

For example, some Web pages that contain overlapping photos and buttons created by Microsoft Publisher can be exported as a large image with mapped coordinates that contain hyperlink information. When the mapped area is clicked, the hyperlink is activated.

NOTE: This is a limitation of the HTML version 3.0 format and not a limitation of Microsoft Publisher.

You can change the method by which Publisher saves the publication as HTML. By default, Publisher saves your publication as HTML version 3.0; however, you can change the settings so that Publisher will save your publication in version 4.0 HTML format. NOTE: HTML version 4.0 supports overlapping objects by using cascading style sheet positioning. Publisher then uses cascading style sheets to generate your Web page. As a result, older browsers that do not support version 4.0 HTML will be unable to view your web page properly.

Changes needed to support overlapped objects.

To make the changes necessary to support overlapped objects, follow these steps:

1. Open the publication that you want to post to the Web.
2. Make sure the publication has been converted to Web format.
3. On the File menu, click Web Properties.
4. In the Web Properties dialog box, click the Site tab.
5. In the Target Audience section, click Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator 4.0 or later (High Fidelity), then click OK.
6. On the Filemenu, click Save as Web Page.
7. In the Folder name box, type the path to a new folder on your hard drive, and click OK.

NOTE: When you save using this option, it will create pages that are not supported by HTML browsers earlier than 4.0. The current Internet statistics show that older Internet Browsers, supporting version 3.2 of HTML and earlier, make up about 8% of total browser share.

This ability to save a publication in HTML format using cascading style sheets can be done from both Publisher 98 and Publisher 2000. Publisher 97 does not have this ability.