Web designers: Would you use transparent PNG files?

Deja Q

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Sun Aug-23-09 06:07 PM
Original message

Web designers: Would you use transparent PNG files?

Or stick to JPG and GIF files? :(

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targetpractice

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Sun Aug-23-09 06:13 PM
Response to Original message

1. They come in very handy...

...and enable great visual designs, but you need to determine how much you want to hack your site to enable IE 6 support.

Fortunately, the requirements for web applications I've been involved with recently do not included supporting IE 6 users.

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Deja Q

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Sun Aug-23-09 06:14 PM
Response to Reply #1

2. Pardon my fortran, but IE6 sucks.

There is no reason why people shouldn't be using IE7 or, better yet, anything that isn't IE... :D

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targetpractice

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Sun Aug-23-09 06:20 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. If you are doing any kind of commerce site...

...I believe that supporting IE 6 is not worth the time, because the population of IE 6 users is adverse to spending money (e.g., upgrading their OS, buying modern hardware, etc.)

However, if you are making an application for B2B or the enterprise market... You may find that some big corporate users are really slow to upgrade... So research your user base carefully.

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madinmaryland

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Sun Aug-23-09 06:51 PM
Response to Reply #2

9. Fortran 77?

:woohoo:

Fucking punch cards, though!

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Amerigo Vespucci

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Sun Aug-23-09 08:17 PM
Response to Reply #2

15. Well, the only reason is "the customer is always right"...

...a year ago I redesigned a site for a customer, and they wanted drop-down menus. I did a variation of the Suckerfish menus, thinking I'd take care of any compatibility issues, and the customer said "My brother told me that the menus aren't lining up right." The brother (one of the business partners) was using IE6. Even if you can get a business owner to switch / upgrade their browser, they're STILL going to fret about any customers visiting the site with IE6.

SO...researching and implementing the hacks took longer than building the damned menus. BUT...the customer was happy.

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NJmaverick

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Sun Aug-23-09 06:22 PM
Response to Original message

4. If I needed the transparent background

yes, in fact I done that in the past

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Deja Q

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Sun Aug-23-09 06:24 PM
Response to Reply #4

5. Thanks for the input!

I might do PNG, then... Actually, the whole page would be comprised of PNG images. That might be technologically premature, however... :(

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OhioChick

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Sun Aug-23-09 06:28 PM
Response to Original message

6. You need transparency...use GIF

Transparent PNG files do not work in IE6 without causing a high CPU load.

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targetpractice

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Sun Aug-23-09 06:35 PM
Response to Reply #6

7. Why support IE 6 in 2009?

Edited on Sun Aug-23-09 06:37 PM by targetpractice

Supporting IE6 only keeps it hanging around in the market and limits your ability to exploit modern web standards.

Upon edit: I realize that there are specific occasions when the business requirements demand supporting IE 6 because of an existing population of users. But for a new site for new users? Why?

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OhioChick

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Sun Aug-23-09 07:14 PM
Response to Reply #7

10. 15% of Browsers are still IE6

Do you really want to limit your audience?

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targetpractice

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Sun Aug-23-09 07:24 PM
Response to Reply #10

11. Yes... Because that 15% is not worth the extra cost in 2009.

Edited on Sun Aug-23-09 07:41 PM by targetpractice

Of course, the decision not to support IE 6 depends on the specific purpose of the web site...

But, developing for and supporting IE 6 is more expensive than sticking to modern web standards, and it limits what can be designed.

So, the real question is... Is it worth the extra cost to reach those 15%? Will they spend money on my site? What compromises are being made to support them.

Upon edit: I should mention that I'm thinking about interactive sites and web applications... For a political site, I may value that 15% more.

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ChromeFoundry

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Sun Aug-23-09 07:41 PM
Response to Reply #11

12. I would present the figures to the client...

and let them decide if they want to limit their subscriber base by 15% or more because if an image format.

If you are making a website for personal use, do what ever you want. When it comes to decisions for a client site, it is ultimately the choice of the customer. When upgrading a site- look at the web logs to see what the current hit counts are coming from. If you have a lot of ie6 users, your customer service department is going to be very busy dealing with pissed off users... Moving to PNGs from GIFs at a later date is less than a no-brainer! Selecting an image format is not exactly coding for an obsolete browser.

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OhioChick

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Sun Aug-23-09 07:44 PM
Response to Reply #12

13. You're absolutely right. I completely agree. n/t

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targetpractice

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Sun Aug-23-09 07:55 PM
Response to Reply #12

14. You're right... I was arguing beyond transparent PNGs...

IE 6 has significant issues beyond it's inability to render transparent PNGs (e.g., security, no CSS2 support, etc.)

I'd go further than looking at web-logs... I'd reach out to users if possible to understand why they are using IE6... maybe there are important reasons and maybe those are important users.

Finally, it wouldn't be good idea to simply kill IE6 support when upgrading a site. Users should get proper warning like YouTube, Facebook, Flikr and others are displaying to IE6 users that their favorite browser won't be supported in the future.

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kedrys

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Sun Aug-23-09 06:50 PM
Response to Original message

8. I would, and I do

No reason not to. Even my mom doesn't use IE6 anymore. As benchmarks go, that one works for me.

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