Slices versus hotspots

[KatWoman]

I can make the background for the site in Photoshop or Illustrator and add
the slices areas and hyperlinks and export as html and then do further edits
in FP.
Would it be better to just import the image and make the hyperlink areas
with the hotspot tool? Must I use layers to use the hotspot tool?

Method one actually creates several gif and or jpg areas which can be
optimized separately for fast loading.
If I use the hotspot method the background will be one large graphic? or
does FP "slice" it?

I would like to make a button area and on mouseover have a large image or a
flash movie open in the main frame. I tried using image swap but it resized
my large image into the size of the button! and opened in the same frame.

 

[Murray]

The less you do in Photoshop, and the more you do in FP, the better your
HTML pages will become. I'm all for using Graphics Editors to edit
graphics, and HTML authoring systems to write HTML. I don't much care for
using Graphics editors to write HTML, and that's what you are getting with
PS/IR when you add hyperlinks and hotspots.

Notwithstanding that, a background image cannot have image maps applied to
it. You may need to rethink your approach as a result.

I would like to make a button area and on mouseover have a large image or
a flash movie open in the main frame. I tried using image swap but it
resized my large image into the size of the button! and opened in the same
frame.

To open something in another frame, you must use the hyperlink's target
attribute to target the other frame. And when you swap images, the two
images must be the same size or the larger one will be resized to match the
smaller one.

 

[Steve Easton]

I would use hotspots.

Also for what it's worth, slicing images does not speed loading, it actually makes the page load
slower.

It just "Appears" to load faster because the slices start showing as they are loaded, just so the
viewer has something to look at while they wait.


--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
95isalive
This site is best viewed............
........................with a computer

 

[KatWoman]

so in the window where I choose the target frame, what frame do I select?
(_self? _parent_)
I mean how do I see the name of it in the selection window? Or must I create
a frame for the images to open in first? I am trying to avoid it being a
popup window.

If I can't select areas on a background image to hotspot do I load the image
and then hotspot it? Or make some invisible layers on top of it?

I have seen a lot of pages with popup windows if you click the main window
to see the next image the popup box gets "hidden" behind and people think
it's not working.

It's enough to make me start learning Dreamweaver and Flash. PS just bought
MM I think so I guess they will become more compatible with each other.
Personally I detest Flash sites, I hate intro movies and unclear menus and
obscure navigation.
But the graphics looks are more controllable and you can fit a much larger
number of images in a small file size.
I am a big fan of MS software for the ease of operation and less steep
learning curve. A lot of designers really detest FrontPage though and say
the code is weak etc. I was trying to get
the best of both worlds", graphics sliced in PS or IR and then into FP for
the rest.