HTML gug req'd

[TheArmourer]

I'm completely stumped by an HTML related problem I've got.

In simple terms, I can't get ...
http://www.thearmourer.pwp.blueyonde..._text_mask.png
... to load via IE.

If I drag the original file from from its folder on my PC into IE it works fine.
It opens fine in Photoshop and Fireworks and Dreamweaver.
I've replaced the file on the server but is doesn't help.

There are another 5 files in the same directory that have the same problem.

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!

[jBirch]

PNG isn't really supported in IE. They suck, true, but them's the breaks.

Not to fear, as with all IE problems, there is a completely baffling fix:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bobosola/pnghowto.htm

[darius]

I'd probably convert those files to GIF. Until IE supports PNGs well, GIF is really the format to use for line-drawing graphics.

But shame, shame for creating images with text in the first place when you could get the same effect in CSS. Get thee to a stylesheet!

darius

[TheArmourer]

Don't think that's the problem as it's only affecting some png files. 78 pngs site wide and only 6 in one particular folder that don't work.

(I tried looking at CCS but my head imploded in Chpt 1)

[darius]

That's odd. Have you checked to see that there's nothing special about those PNGs? IE supports pretty basic stuff, but it's the alpha-channel and transparency stuff that it chokes on.

darius

[jBirch]

Just to be silly, if it's on a 'nix box, you have to set permissions on the file.

[TheArmourer]

The 6 "problem" files were created from the same template as 9 other working files in the same directory which is what really baffles me.

I'm kind of out of my depth on alpha "channels" but there is a background layer and a text layer (well that's how Fireworks treats them) so I guess there may be a transparency issue somewhere. Is flattening the immage likely to help?
Plan B is converting them to GIFs (which will be smaller anyway) but that's just a bit more hassel.

As for Unix - I'm working between a Win2K and an NTServer machine but I've no idea what the site host server is, or how to find out, or how to change what preferences.

(BTW Thanks for the help!)

[jeff]

I say 'friends don't let friends use IE' - but there's a lot of it around... If you try to browse the same URLs in Mozilla or Firefox do you get the same problem? (that would answer the question of whether it was a permissions problem).

We need a poll: 'what OS and what browser to you use'

[jeff]

I agree with the preceding comment about text in a graphic. Please don't do that! It becomes almost useless: you can't search on it, can't cut and paste from it, takes longer to load, doesn't resize when the browser windows is resized, longer to edit (for the author). Blah.

CSS isn't so bad once you get your head around it, really. But, just use FONT, COLOR, and BGCOLOR tags where available and you can do it in straight HTML. Wrap the elements in a table and you can set font, background and foreground colors without difficulty.

[Max]

Translator, please! On second thought, no translator.