Web Tools
August 11, 2000
PSP now supports web integration. There's a new Preview in Web Browser
that will load and preview an open image in up to three user-defined Web
browsers. Before the preview is displayed, you're given the option to
display the image in Bitmap, JPEG, PNG or GIF formats. One you've made a
selection the appropriate optimizer opens automatically.
A PNG Optimizer feature allows you to make adjustments and preview when
saving to the PNG format. It even tells you the download times!
The new features you've been waiting for, the Rollover, Slicer and Image
Mapper are located under File > Export > Tool name,
or you can choose to display the Web Toolbar found under
View > Toolbars.
Rollovers
Rollovers can be done equally well with either the Slicing tool or the
Image Mapper. Unlike the "other" program, PSP7 rollovers require a
separate image for the various button states. If you want to apply
a mouseover, onclick, mouseout, you will need the original image, plus
an image for each of the three button states.
Slice
The Slice tool is found under File>Export>Image Slicer. Once
you have your masterpiece created you can slice it up for use in
tables. PSP7 will not only allow you to slice that image into sections,
it lets you optimize each cell individually, add a URL, alt
text, target, and create rollovers for each cell! Better yet,
you can save your settings to load again later. When you're finished
PSP will also save the HTML for you, ready to open in that web-browser!
Unfortunately, PSP7 does not write valid HTML. It adds WIDTH and
HEIGHT attributes to table cells, a feature I'm not personally fond of.
You will also need to do some tweaking to the HTML if you've created a
complex table. It's a natural reaction, (well, natural to me) to
de-select the option "Include cell in table" for those cells I
intend to add content to. It is, in fact, easier to add content if
you enclude the large empty cell in the table, and then manually
remove the image in your HTML editor. The table holds together
better and with the small addition of a valign=top attribute you
can add your text content. Still, be careful of adding too much
content. If you do, you'll find your images will start to break
apart. More table tweaking is necessary. View an
example of a
tweaked table as well as one of the
untouched HTML tables produced by PSP7.
Of
course, we're still beta here, those brave souls who are testing it
have mentioned the invalid HTML to the Jasc Team.... and Jasc usually
seems to listen to what the users want. So there is still hope!
Image Mapper
The Image Mapper rollover effects work the same as the Slicer rollovers;
you'll need separate images for your mouseover effects. But all in
all, it's pretty slick. The Image mapper can make the standard
geometric cuts as well as freehand polygon shapes. The HTML produced
lacks only an alt attribute for the coordinants.
New Productivity Tools
Into the Beyond with PSP7
Additional Enhancements
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