On 2/25/06, Rudy Koot
<r.koot(a)students.uu.nl> wrote:
How should PNG images with an alpha channel be
handled? I've created
some nice images, but now IE6 users are complaining that they have a
black background. If I convert them to GIF/PNG-8 images they have an
ugly edge, which doesn't seem fair to Firefox/Opera/IE7 users. Is there
a better solution, such as MediaWiki automatically converting images for
IE6 users?
The best compromise is to create a proper alpha PNG but use a set
background color more appropriate than black (i.e. on Wikipedia,
probably white). IE6 users will still see a jagged transition, but it
won't stand out enough for them to complain.
Also, links to Firefox, Opera, etc cost you nothing to distribute. :)
It'd be nice if this code
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_talk:Monobook.js#IE_alpha_transparency>
were added to <http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/IEFixes.js>, but
at least you can point them to the code and have them add it to their
personal stylesheets.