Design & Publishing . / . WEB . / . Pixelsmith . / .Vector vs Pixel in the Browser-Safe Colors?

Web Design & Review with Pixelsmith, teaching the finer art of graphics for the web.

Followup to: Vector vs Pixel image programs
Vector to GIF Challenge Results: Part 1

Back in February we reported on some misgivings about converting vector-based color files directly to gifs for the web. We had experienced a number of anomalies with the process, and were finding that the software claims are not all they're chalked up to be. (sort of like Adobe Acrobat's claim to convert any document!)
The editorial in WebDesign & Review brought a number of protests from readers (none of which would assist in getting to the bottom of the matter,) so e enlisted the help of Michelle D. Feigen our resident PC/Windows guru to help with the task. She in turn brought in the expertise of Chicago graphics wizard Ken Kehl to run the process in Freehand 8.

Michelle reports on her tests on Illustrator 7 and Freehand 7



Go ahead and copy the above gif file. See if the color values match!

A reader questions the point that building a BROWSER SAFE COLOR in a vector program can shift and return to non-browser safe when taken into an image editing program and back out to a gif.
It's my experience that vector programs -- even when supporting browser-safe colors will NOT export the correct colors when converted to bitmap (jpg or gif)

Michelle "Shelle" Feigen:

"Method: I Created an EPS with the word "TEST", converted it to outlines, and filled each letter with the RGB/Netscape Compliant colors noted below each chip. I then exported the image as a GIF (Interlaced, Aliases, Web-Safe Palette, No Dither).
__ The first test was performed in Freehand 7, but to my surprise, when I opened the EPS in Illustrator 7, the colors had shifted so badly, I had to reset the letters to the RGB/Netscape Compliant colors as chosen. (Failure #1, not shown)
__ After that, I again exported with the same settings for the GIF file. Upon opening the GIFs in Photoshop, the colors were perfection - No shift; HOWEVER, upon opening each EPS file in Photoshop, it looked like someone puked on the colors and forgot to clean up.
I'm pretty sure Ken will have the color shifts I experienced.

Now, let's take a closer look ...


Michelle "Shelle" Feigen is a frequent contributor to WebDesign & Review.
She is owner/operator of Shelle's Internet Design & Consulting


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