PUB97: Using Transparent GIF Files with Publisher 97

When you import a transparent CompuServe Graphics Interchange Format (.gif) file into a publication, the graphic appears to be opaque on the screen and when printed. However, if you create a World Wide Web site based on the publication, the .gif image will be transparent when viewed in a Web browser.

A .gif file is a type of bitmap graphic; it is a rectangular array of pixels, or dots, of different colors. Transparent .gif files aren't truly transparent. They are 256-color bitmaps that contain additional information that tells a photo-editing program or a Web browser to replace pixels of a specific color with pixels from the background color. Because Publisher is neither a Web browser nor a photo-editing program, it doesn't use the transparency information. Publisher does, however, retain the information. When you create a Web page based on the publication, a Web browser uses the transparency information.

Overlapping Transparent .gif Files and Other Graphics

If you overlap two or more transparent .gif files and export the publication for use as a Web page, the graphics will be combined into a single .gif file, and the transparency information for both files will be retained. However, if one of the .gif files appears to truncate the other file in Publisher, the graphic will also appear to be truncated in a Web browser.

You can also overlap a transparent .gif file and another type of graphic file, such as a Publisher drawing object. When you export the publication for use as a Web page, the two graphics will be combined into a single .gif file and the transparency information in the .gif file will be retained.