Quick Tip For Making Transparent Sigs

[Dr. Rated-R]

I remember ages ago when everybody had a transparent signature. Which is to say a signature that, like the one I have now, blended seamlessly with the board's background color. However, these signatures were either really low quality (which is, of course, the restraint of using the .gif file format), or they weren't REALLY transparent, the background of the image was just set to match the user's board skin, and thus looked absolutely retarded for people who don't use that skin. With this method though, the user could add effects like drop shadow and brushes and other stuff to the background that wouldn't look right on an actual transparent signature, due to the restraints of .gif.

However, there was all along a way to have a HIGH QUALITY, transparent signature, with drop shadows and other semi-transparent effects. And thanks to an extremely (and unnecesarily) long-winded tutorial on Deviant Art, I've discovered this. Alpha Transparent PNGs. Look at my signature in this post, and look at the screenshot I've attached. Same image, just on a different background. And it blends seamlessly with that background, even the dropshadow and the grunge brushes.

Here's how you do it, for those who don't know, in Photoshop. Create a new document, and make your image. You'll want to fill your bottom most layer with a solid color (I used white), so you can see what your image will look like on a solid background. Once you like the way the image deletes, delete the background color layer and go to "File->Save For Web...". In the settings (on the right) change the file type from whatever it is to "PNG-24", using the provided drop down box. Make sure "Transparency" is checked. Click "Save" and then follow the procedure to save your graphic. Upload it somewhere (I'd like to take this time to plug Gonad.org's excellent image hosting), and then put it in your sig on this and any other forum, as it should work with all of them.

For those that already knew this, I apologize for insulting your intelligence, but finding this tutorial made me cringe at the memory of how ugly some of those "transparent" sigs with the orange backgrounds were.

[public enemy]

I think this has been widely known for quite some time now, but still a handy post for those that didn't.

[Lord Nibbler]

I remember Keith going crazy go-nuts over Alpha transparency in PNGs.

[Guest muddatrucker]

It looks terrible when you align it to the right, it works with graphics that are a couple of pixels high, but unless you can read Arabic, its just annoying.

EDIT: I swear I've done this much simpler, I just create a new graphic on PS, request that it doesn't have a background, then save it as a PNG, done.

[alldaws1]

Yeah, this has been known for a while. Thing is it's only transparent in Firefox. Has a background in IE.

[Dr. Rated-R]

Who the fuck uses IE anyways? >_>

[Gene Kiniski]

I remember Keith going crazy go-nuts over Alpha transparency in PNGs.

[Psicosis]

Yeah, this has been known for a while. Thing is it's only transparent in Firefox. Has a background in IE.

[K]

Yeah I was dead excited. I had been currupted by Internet Explorer for too long.

[kliq]

Good news! I.E.7 will support alpha-transparency.

[Blink]

Hate to drag this back from four days ago, but I'd like to know when IE7 will be released. I've searched, and can't find a date.

[kliq]

Hate to drag this back from four days ago, but I'd like to know when IE7 will be released. I've searched, and can't find a date.

There's a BETA available now, but it's due to be released with Vista/XP SP3.