Transparent default skin images

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  • ---MAD---
    Senior Member
    • Jun 2005
    • 2522
    • 3.8.x

    Transparent default skin images

    Hello,

    I was wondering why vBulletin never make their images properly transparent?

    If say you were to turn this skin darker, you would notice that nearly ever single image has white dots around it..this is very fustrating because lots of people prefer darker skins so they are easier on the eyes but it takes a long time to make it presentable as you have to fix each image unless you make a new image.

    Is there a reason for this?

    Surely when making the images, they should be make properly tranparent without pixel errors to avoid these problems.

    Thanks
    MAD
  • Zachery
    Former vBulletin Support
    • Jul 2002
    • 59097

    #2
    All of the images are matted for the skin that they were developed for, the style was made when png images were not an option.

    Comment

    • Wayne Luke
      vBulletin Technical Support Lead
      • Aug 2000
      • 73981

      #3
      It is a limitation of the GIF file format and anti-aliasing images. You can't do alpha transparency in GIF images, you can only specify a single color in the 256 color palette to be transparent. To get around this, we make a Graphics Developer's Kit available in the member's area and provide instructions on how to matte the images to your background.

      Hopefully in the future, the developers will go with PNG format since Internet Explorer natively supports PNG's alpha transparency as of version 7. In Internet Explorer 5 and 6, you had to utilize DirectX.
      Translations provided by Google.

      Wayne Luke
      The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
      vBulletin 5 API

      Comment

      • ---MAD---
        Senior Member
        • Jun 2005
        • 2522
        • 3.8.x

        #4
        But its still possible to have them cleaner than they are now (for example the calendar image - that one is a big old mess ).

        Edit: Thanks for referring me to the graphics kit - I always forget about it, I will have a look at it now.

        Edit 2: Hmm I will need photoshop or a program like that, I dont have it installed though .
        Last edited by ---MAD---; Mon 26 Mar '07, 8:34am.

        Comment

        • Wayne Luke
          vBulletin Technical Support Lead
          • Aug 2000
          • 73981

          #5
          Should be able to use GIMP, Paintshop Pro XI or Photoshop Elements as well.

          GIMP is free. The others only a fraction of the cost of Photoshop CS.
          Translations provided by Google.

          Wayne Luke
          The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
          vBulletin 5 API

          Comment

          • Wayne Luke
            vBulletin Technical Support Lead
            • Aug 2000
            • 73981

            #6
            Curved table image discussion split to:
            Translations provided by Google.

            Wayne Luke
            The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
            vBulletin 5 API

            Comment

            • Thunderfall
              Senior Member
              • Jan 2002
              • 518
              • 3.8.x

              #7
              Those images are certainly a weak point of vB 3.x. It's too late to change them now. We can only hope that in vB 4, we'll get a new set of graphics that work well with different kind of background colors. For now, many vB forums (such as mine) just use the vB 2.x style graphics, which have good transparency.
              War is only fun when you are winning.

              Comment

              • forumguy
                Senior Member
                • Nov 2006
                • 248
                • 3.6.x

                #8
                PNG Transparencys are all good and well, except IE6 (which is what the majority of people are using) doesn't display them correctly.
                vBulletin 5.0 coming soon... :confused:
                Visit my site today!

                Comment

                • Wayne Luke
                  vBulletin Technical Support Lead
                  • Aug 2000
                  • 73981

                  #9
                  Actually only takes a javascript and 3 lines of code in vBulletin's headinclude template to add this. So hopefully in the future. Internet Explorer 5.5 and higher can use DirectX filters to apply Alpha Transparency. Probably earlier but it isn't support.



                  One of the reasons that PNG wasn't used though is they didn't start becoming commonplace on the Internet until after Firefox 1.0 was released. Before then they were pretty much relegated to niche sites and Linux OS icons. Things change over time though.
                  Translations provided by Google.

                  Wayne Luke
                  The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
                  vBulletin 5 API

                  Comment

                  • JakeS
                    Senior Member
                    • Jul 2005
                    • 1975

                    #10
                    I never even noticed this before as I always made my own images.

                    Comment

                    • forumguy
                      Senior Member
                      • Nov 2006
                      • 248
                      • 3.6.x

                      #11
                      Originally posted by Wayne Luke
                      Actually only takes a javascript and 3 lines of code in vBulletin's headinclude template to add this. So hopefully in the future. Internet Explorer 5.5 and higher can use DirectX filters to apply Alpha Transparency. Probably earlier but it isn't support.



                      One of the reasons that PNG wasn't used though is they didn't start becoming commonplace on the Internet until after Firefox 1.0 was released. Before then they were pretty much relegated to niche sites and Linux OS icons. Things change over time though.
                      Thanks for that. But why doesn't vBulletin come with this?
                      vBulletin 5.0 coming soon... :confused:
                      Visit my site today!

                      Comment

                      • ---MAD---
                        Senior Member
                        • Jun 2005
                        • 2522
                        • 3.8.x

                        #12
                        Originally posted by forumguy
                        Thanks for that. But why doesn't vBulletin come with this?
                        I was wondering that too, since its possible, wouldn't it be obvious to include it to solve all these issues?

                        Comment

                        • Wayne Luke
                          vBulletin Technical Support Lead
                          • Aug 2000
                          • 73981

                          #13
                          It was a design decision at the time to not use it. It is available as addons for 3.0-3.6.5 so not really a big deal for people who want to use it.
                          Translations provided by Google.

                          Wayne Luke
                          The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
                          vBulletin 5 API

                          Comment

                          • Quillz
                            Senior Member
                            • Nov 2004
                            • 2787
                            • 5.0.X

                            #14
                            Originally posted by HappyPike
                            Those images are certainly a weak point of vB 3.x. It's too late to change them now. We can only hope that in vB 4, we'll get a new set of graphics that work well with different kind of background colors. For now, many vB forums (such as mine) just use the vB 2.x style graphics, which have good transparency.
                            Why is it the 2.x images had good transparency but not the 3.x images?
                            Forums

                            Comment

                            • Wayne Luke
                              vBulletin Technical Support Lead
                              • Aug 2000
                              • 73981

                              #15
                              They are square and not anti-aliased... In reality they would suffer from all the same problems if they were anti-aliased.
                              Translations provided by Google.

                              Wayne Luke
                              The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
                              vBulletin 5 API

                              Comment

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