Drop Backgrounds Help needed

[col]

I need to send images over the web with transparent backgrounds, I would like to have used Jpeg as image size is smaller, however when saved it adds a white background. Has anyone found a good way. Using PS7 with RGB images, but could be CMYK

[Doug Nelson]

The only web format that reliably supports transparency is GIF. Another format is available, PNG, but different browsers support it differently, so there is no guarantee the transparency will show.

If you do stick with JPG, make the background the same as the background color on your page. It will then appear to be transparent, even though it actually isn't.

Some textured backgrounds can also be used effectively as JPG backgrounds to match the textured background of your page, but this is hit or miss. Highly detailed backgrounds such as photos or gradients will work poorly with this option.

[col]

Doug

Thanks for your answer I see GIF works however I should have added that these would then be used in page layout programs and printed using CMYK. Have you ever printed a GIF image in a publication?

Col

[CJ Swartz]

I do (volunteer) layout work on a b/w newsletter, and use clipping paths to eliminate the white background on images for placement in articles. (I use PageMaker).

Here's a link to a tutorial on clipping paths - it mentions saving as EPS files, but I save as TIFF or PSD since I'm not giving the printer a file.
Clipping paths - tutorial