Re: [Gimp-user] Web development question?

[Chris Mohler <cr33dog gmail com>]

On Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 2:55 PM, Steve Kinney <admin pilobilus net> wrote:
> Others may know uses for png that I am not aware of, but so far I
> have found no use for it in web design.

PNG is quite useful for some effects.  Say I wanted a div element to
have a gradient background - I could create a new image that's 1px
wide by the height of my div, add a gradient, export as PNG.  Then the
css would be something like:

div { background: url(/path/to/png/file) repeat-x }

..and all divs would have a gradient background, using one tiny file
(and even IE6 will comply). Quite useful for things like faux drop
shadows, rounded corners, etc. too (but newer CSS techniques are
arguably better/easier).

My general rule is: photograph -> JPEG, icon/effect ->PNG.  As with
every rule, there are exceptions ;)

Anyhoo, there are tons of uses for PNG in web design.  Check out a
Joomla template sometime - most of those do a crazy amount of styling
using PNG files.

Chris