Too many Webmasters forget that computer-generated images are always saved as squares or rectangles. There is nothing wrong with that, except that they are boring! The Web in particular suffers from this surfeit of rectangular shapes. The browser window is a rectangle, frames are rectangles, and the majority of buttons and graphics are enclosed in rectangles. This rectangle-mania might make Web surfers feel hemmed in and claustrophobic.

The solution is transparency. Transparent graphics include masks that allow you to hide, or conversely, unveil parts of an image, giving visitors the sensation of seeing images of irregular shapes.

Contents:

- Imitating Transparency

- GIF Transparency, Anti-Aliasing and Borders

- Practising in Fireworks

- Practising in Photoshop 5

- Summary

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