animated GIFs and Netscape

*dlee* · 04-25-2002, 09:08 AM

This is not a new problem, it has been happening for a long time, but I am curious about it.

When viewing many webpages through Netscape, animated images are a real mess. They have black boxes behind them, are all broken up and/or bounce all over when they aren't supposed to. In IE these same images look fine. I am wondering if this is just a problem on my computer or if this is common with Netscape. I have used both 4.5 and 4.7 and have the same results with most animations. (there are some animations that work fine in my Netscape, but most are a mess)

This problem has me very leary of using or designing animated images for fear they will look like this to everyone who uses Netscape! Any thoughts or ideas about this?

dlee

thudfactor · 04-25-2002, 09:14 AM

I've been using Netscape 4.7, 4.5, and Mozilla interchangeably for the last several months and I've never seen this behavior. Can you point me to a site that does this for you? I am using a Windows machine, but I used to develop on a Mac as well and I don't remember every having any of those problems either. If I recall correctly, Netscape parsed animated GIFs all too well in 97.... EVERYONE was using them to the extreme!

What platform are you running on?

*dlee* · 04-25-2002, 10:03 AM

Here is a perfect example.

http://www.designsbydolly.com/heartg...flashheart.gif

This is a graphic I designed. It works perfect in IE, but is a mess in Netscape. All it is supposed to do is a gradual change of colors. In my Netscape the top fourth of the heart is missing, the heart bounces around slightly and there is a white "shadow" of sorts around the letters.

I find this on many pages I view with Netscape.

I am not sure what you mean by "platform" but I am using a Compaq Presario 5222, windows '98, if that helps.

I never noticed this until maybe a year ago or so. Not sure what has started it, but it is making me frustrated!

thudfactor · 04-25-2002, 10:23 AM

Quote:

I am not sure what you mean by "platform" but I am using a Compaq Presario 5222, windows '98

Yup, that's what I meant.

Quote:

It works perfect in IE, but is a mess in Netscape. All it is supposed to do is a gradual change of colors. In my Netscape the top fourth of the heart is missing, the heart bounces around slightly and there is a white "shadow" of sorts around the letters. I find this on many pages I view with Netscape.

I've loaded it up on mine and looked at the graphic in IE, Netscape 4.6, and Mozilla. Alll three render the images the same way. I suspect you might have something funny going on in your computer -- perhaps some part of your netscape installation has become corrupted and an un-installation and re-install is in the cards for you.

But unless lots of other people write in and say "yup, I have the same problem too," I don't think it's a widespread enough problem for you to be concerned.

- - J

*dlee* · 04-25-2002, 12:45 PM

Thanks so much for your thoughts on this annoying problem! I will probably try a re-install, and if that doesn't fix it, I guess I can just live with it knowing it is something with just my computer.

Thanks again,

dlee

*frankc* · 04-25-2002, 01:47 PM

Dolly, just another thought--check the website for your PC's graphics card and see if there are any updated drivers for it.

*kitchin* · 04-25-2002, 11:15 PM

I see the problem you describe in Netscape 4.7, Win 98, admittedly without the best video card. And I see how it is supposed to look in IE 5.

There are two problems.

1. The first control has a delay of 0. "This may cause your animation to run erratically in Netscape, or very fast," according to my ancient version of GIF Construction Kit.

2. The images are not all the same size. Offsets are specified to make them line up. This saves some file space, but apparently Netscape can't handle it.

Here is how your image is constructed:

Code:

HEADER GIF89a Screen (89 x 87)
LOOP
CONTROL (delay 0)
IMAGE 89 x 87, 64 colours (offset 0,0)
CONTROL (delay 0.25)
IMAGE 78 x 71, 64 colours (offset 5,8)
CONTROL (delay 0.25)
IMAGE 78 x 71, 64 colours (offset 5,8)
CONTROL (delay 0.25)
IMAGE 75 x 71, 64 colours (offset 5,8)
CONTROL (delay 0.25)
IMAGE 75 x 71, 64 colours (offset 5,8)
CONTROL (delay 0.25)
IMAGE 75 x 67, 64 colours (offset 5,8)
CONTROL (delay 0.25)
IMAGE 78 x 70, 64 colours (offset 5,8)

thudfactor · 04-26-2002, 06:35 AM

Quote:

The images are not all the same size. Offsets are specified to make them line up. This saves some file space, but apparently Netscape can't handle it.

Actually, Netscape can handle it. I'm looking at it here just fine at home using Win98 and Netscape 4.7. I don't doubt it's a problem, but since the browser doesn't ... hey wait.

AHA!

Dolly, Kitchin, are either of you running in 256-color mode? When I changed to 256 colors, the animation in Netscape became much more erratic and there where white sparkles in odd places in the image. No parts of the image were missing, however.

If that's the mode you're running in, then that might be the problem. Netscape does not seem to do quite as good a job as MSIE re-allocoating the colors it is allowed to display.

*dlee* · 04-26-2002, 07:48 AM

Thudfactor and Kitchin,

Well, I spent some time first checking into what Kitchin had to say. I opened the animation in my Paint Shop Pro animation program and changed the first frame's display time to "25",( where it was supposed to be!) However, that made no difference. I then went through each frame individually and viewed the image info, and it was showing me each image was the same size. (width="89" height="87") I am not sure where you were seeing the 7 images as different sizes. Could you direct me to how you were seeing that? I see them as all the same size.

Just FYI, for this graphic I used the automatic animation feature in PSP. I started with one single image, (Blue heart) and had the animation wizard animate it. *If* the images are indeed different sizes somehwere, it must have been done through the animation wizard. I used the exact same image (blue heart) to make this animation: http://www.designsbydolly.com/heartg...kheartbeat.gif the same day, and not once had a problem veiwing it in Netscape. This is what was confusing me all along! Why some animations worked fine, and others were a mess in Netscape.

After all my investigating and the image was still not working correctly in Netscape, I went and checked my display settings. I thought I was in 24 bit. I was not in 24 bit or 256, but 16 bit! Not sure how that setting was changed..........but I have two sons on here often, so that might explain it!

When I changed it back to 24 bit, every image I have checked so far is now working correctly! Thanks Thudfactor!

I would still like to find the reason why some animations worked fine in my previous settings and others didn't. But for now I seem to have things displaying correctly on my monitor.

Thanks again!

Dolly

thudfactor · 04-26-2002, 08:04 AM

Quote:

I would still like to find the reason why somee animations worked fine in my previous settings and others didn't. But for now I seem to have things displaying correctly on my monitor.

The images that DID work OK may have either used fewer colors or used more colors that were already in use by Windows, and therefore didn't have to be juggled around. It's been a long time since I worried about such stuff so my terminology might be off, but the way I understand it, When faced with a higher color image than the monitor settings, both IE and Netscape steal colors allocated to other items (like the interface of Windows) and change them to what they need to be to display in the browser window.