@Database "Netscape Palette Documentation"
@author "Geert Bevin"
@$VER: Netscape Palette Documentation 1.0 (08-Jan-96)
@font Helvetica.font 13

@node MAIN "Welcome to Netscape Palette"

@{fg shine}    Netscape Palette V1.0@{fg shadow}

    by
    Geert Bevin
    8 January 1997

    @{b}1. Introduction@{ub}

        1.1 @{" Description " LINK "DESCRIPTION"}................................................................................................................What is this palette?
        1.2 @{" Copyright " LINK "COPYRIGHT"}....................................................................................................What's the copyright status?
        1.3 @{" Disclaimer " LINK "DISCLAIMER"}...............................................................................................................What do I guarantee?

    @{b}2. Installation@{ub}

        2.1 @{" How to install " LINK "INSTALL"}................................................................................How is Netscape Palette installed?

    @{b}3. Usage@{ub}

        3.1 @{" ImageFX " LINK "IMAGEFX"}..................................................................................How to use this palette with ImageFX?
        3.2 @{" Personal Paint " LINK "PERSONALPAINT"}..............................................................How to use this palette with Personal Paint?

    @{b}4. Author@{ub}

        4.1 @{" How to contact me " LINK "AUTHOR"}.........................................................................Where can I contact Geert Bevin?

@endnode

@node AUTHOR "Where do I contact Geert Bevin"

@{fg shine}    Netscape Palette V1.0@{fg shadow}

    8 January 1997

    @{b}How to contact the author@{ub}

    Geert Bevin
    Antoine Dansaertstraat 195
    1000 Brussel
    BELGIUM

    Phone.................+32.2.217.40.71
    EMail...................gbevin@arcadis.be
    URL......................http://web.arcadis.be/bevin
    IRC.......................Bevin on #Amiga

@endnode

@node IMAGEFX "How to use this palette with ImageFX"

@{fg shine}    Netscape Palette V1.0@{fg shadow}

    8 January 1997

    @{b}ImageFX usage@{ub}

    Start ImageFX.

    Click on '@{b}@{fg fill}@{u}L@{uu}oad@{fg shadow}@{ub}' to load the picture that you want to optimize.
    Select the filename of the picture that your want to optimise.
    Click on '@{b}@{fg fill}@{u}O@{uu}k@{fg shadow}@{ub}'

    Click on '@{b}@{fg fill}Palette@{fg shadow}@{ub}' to access the palette section.
    Click on the @{b}@{fg fill}cycle gadget@{fg shadow}@{ub} above the render button until it displays '@{b}@{fg fill}Render@{fg shadow}@{ub}'.
    This makes you work with the palette that's used for rendering.
    Click on @{b}@{fg fill}L@{u}o@{uu}ad@{fg shadow}@{ub} in the palette section to load a new palette.
    Select '@{b}@{fg fill}Netscape.col@{fg shadow}@{ub}'.
    Click on '@{b}@{fg fill}@{u}O@{uu}k@{fg shadow}@{ub}'

    Click on '@{b}@{fg fill}Render@{fg shadow}@{ub}' to access the rendering section.
    Click on the @{b}@{fg fill}cycle gadget@{fg shadow}@{ub} in the display options until it displays '@{b}@{fg fill}256@{fg shadow}@{ub}'.
    This makes ImageFX use 256 colours for rendering.
    Click on the left @{b}@{fg fill}cycle gadget@{fg shadow}@{ub} in the dither options.
    *   If it displays '@{b}@{fg fill}Float@{fg shadow}@{ub}', '@{b}@{fg fill}FloatR@{fg shadow}@{ub}', '@{b}@{fg fill}EDD@{fg shadow}@{ub}' or '@{b}@{fg fill}Order@{fg shadow}@{ub}' you will @{b}dither@{ub}.
    *   If it displays '@{b}@{fg fill}None@{fg shadow}@{ub}' you will @{b}remap@{ub}.
    Click on the right @{b}@{fg fill}cycle gadget@{fg shadow}@{ub} in the dither options until it displays '@{b}@{fg fill}High@{fg shadow}@{ub}'.
    This makes ImageFX use the best possible dithering/remapping algorythm.
    Click on '@{b}@{fg fill}@{u}R@{uu}ender@{fg shadow}@{ub}' to optimize the picture.

    Click on '@{b}@{fg fill}@{u}S@{uu}ave@{fg shadow}@{ub}' to save your picture.
    Click on '@{b}@{fg fill}Rendered Image@{fg shadow}@{ub}' to save the optimized picture.
    Select the @{b}@{fg fill}fileformat@{fg shadow}@{ub} (preferably GIF or PNG).
    *   Select '@{b}@{fg fill}Save@{fg shadow}@{ub}' if you want to overwrite the original picture.
    *   Select '@{b}@{fg fill}Save as@{fg shadow}@{ub}' if you want to overwrite the original picture.

    @{b}Note@{ub}

    Experiment with the @{b}@{fg fill}dithering options@{fg shadow}@{ub} and rerender until the rendered picture looks right.

@endnode

@node PERSONALPAINT "How to use this palette with PersonalPaint"

@{fg shine}    Netscape Palette V1.0@{fg shadow}

    8 January 1997

    @{b}Personal Paint usage@{ub}

    Start PersonalPaint.

    Go to the '@{b}@{fg fill}Project@{fg shadow}@{ub}' menu and select '@{b}@{fg fill}Image format...@{fg shadow}@{ub}'.
    Use the slider next to '@{b}@{fg fill}Co@{u}l@{uu}ors@{fg shadow}@{ub}' until it displays the number '@{b}@{fg fill}256@{fg shadow}@{ub}' appears left of it.
    *   If you can't make it display 256, select another display mode.
    Click on '@{b}@{fg fill}@{u}P@{uu}roceed@{fg shadow}@{ub}'.

    Go to the '@{b}@{fg fill}Color@{fg shadow}@{ub}' menu and select '@{b}@{fg fill}Palette -> Load...@{fg shadow}@{ub}'.
    Select '@{b}@{fg fill}Netscape.col@{fg shadow}@{ub}'.
    Click on '@{b}@{fg fill}@{u}P@{uu}roceed@{fg shadow}@{ub}'.

    Go to the '@{b}@{fg fill}Brush@{fg shadow}@{ub}' menu and select '@{b}@{fg fill}Load...@{fg shadow}@{ub}'.
    Select the filename of the picture that your want to optimise.
    Click on '@{b}@{fg fill}@{u}P@{uu}roceed@{fg shadow}@{ub}'.

    Go to the '@{b}@{fg fill}Settings@{fg shadow}@{ub}' menu.
    *   Select '@{b}@{fg fill}Dithering -> Pattern@{fg shadow}@{ub}' or '@{b}@{fg fill}Dithering -> Floyd-Steinberg@{fg shadow}@{ub}' if you want to @{b}dither@{ub}.
    *   Select '@{b}@{fg fill}Dithering -> None@{fg shadow}@{ub}' if you want to @{b}remap@{ub}.
    *   Make sure that the '@{b}@{fg fill}Dithering -> Best-Quality@{fg shadow}@{ub}' menuitem is selected.

    Go to the '@{b}@{fg fill}Brush@{fg shadow}@{ub}' menu and select '@{b}@{fg fill}Color -> Remap@{fg shadow}@{ub}'.

    Go to the '@{b}@{fg fill}Brush@{fg shadow}@{ub}' menu and select '@{b}@{fg fill}Save...@{fg shadow}@{ub}'.
    Select the @{b}@{fg fill}fileformat@{fg shadow}@{ub} (preferably GIF or PNG).
    Enter a new filename if you don't want to overwrite your original picture.
    Click on '@{b}@{fg fill}@{u}P@{uu}roceed@{fg shadow}@{ub}'.

@endnode

@node COPYRIGHT "What's the copyright status"

@{fg shine}    Netscape Palette V1.0@{fg shadow}

    8 January 1997

    @{b}Copyright@{ub}

    You can copy this archive freely as long as this guide accompains the palette ALWAYS.

    When you change the palette and spread it further on, you have to remove my docs but
    you have to state that you based your new palette on my work.

@endnode

@node DISCLAIMER "What do I guarantee"

@{fg shine}    Netscape Palette V1.0@{fg shadow}

    8 January 1997

    @{b}Disclaimer@{ub}

    I guarantee you nothing at all.

    This palette is based on a lot research. After weeks of asking around and reading,
    I finally found some information about it. If this information proves not correct,
    this palette is not valid anymore.

    I just hope that the information is correct.    8o)

@endnode

@node INSTALL "How is Netscape Palette installed"

@{fg shine}    Netscape Palette V1.0@{fg shadow}

    8 January 1997

    @{b}How to install@{ub}

    Just copy the file Netscape.col to the palette directory of your paint program.

    ImageFX.....................PROGDIR:Storage/Palettes/
    PersonalPaint............PROGDIR:Colours/

@endnode

@node DESCRIPTION "What is this palette"

@{fg shine}    Netscape Palette V1.0@{fg shadow}

    8 January 1997

    @{b}Description@{ub}

    1.1 @{b}Background @{ub}

            Every image displayed by a computer has specific colours attached to it. This collection of
        colours is called the palette of the image. On the www, the most used format of images is GIF.
        GIF images have a palette limitation of maximum 256 different colours from a selection of
        16777216 colours.
            Now most people can only display 256 colours at the time on screen. So when several GIF
        images with different palettes are being displayed, chances are that more than 256 colours are
        needed.
            The computer will have to choose which colours to use for the screen. There are two ways to
        do this, dynamical allocation or statical allocation.
            The first method allocates colours when they are needed. That means that if the first image
        needs 107 different colours, 107 colour registers in the screen palette are filled with these
        colours. If the second image needs 95 different colours with 43 colours in commen with the first
        image, 52 new colour registers will be allocated in the screen palette. There will however be a
        problem when all the 256 colour registers of the screen's palette will be filled. If a new image
        needs colours that are not present in the screen's palette, the computer will have to find the
        closest existing colour possible. In some cases this can prove disastrous. For example : if the
        first images only needed very dark colours and the new image contains a bright green, it will be
        impossible to display this green and it will be remapped to a darker colour, thus destroying the
        whole appearance of the image.
            A better method is statical allocation. A screen palette is filled before any images are loaded
        or displayed. This palette has to contain samples of the whole colour spectrum. When an image is
        displayed, the computer scans through the image palette to see if colours are already present in
        the screen palette. The remaining colours will be remapped to the closest existing colour. However
        due to the fact that the existing palette covers the whole colour spectrum, the replacement colour
        will never be far away from the original one.

    1.2 @{b}Purpose @{ub}

            Netscape is the most used webbrowser. It thus makes sense to optimize a webpage for Netscape.
        To display images, Netscape uses the statical allocation method, explained above. A lot of paint
        packages allow the user to dither or remap their images to a new palette. Dithering tries produce
        the aspect of a specific colour by putting several pixels of different colours next to eachother.
        Remapping tries to choose colours in the new palette that are the most resemblent to the original
        palette.
            When you have the palette of Netscape, it is easy to optimise your images to use the colours
        that will be used by Netscape. New images can be drawn with colours from this palette. Existing
        images can be dithered or remapped, depending on what gives the best results.

    1.3 @{b}End note @{ub}

        I can hear a lot of people say : "And what about IBrowse and AWeb?"

        @{i}IBrowse @{ui}

        Well the author of IBrowse (Stefan Burstroem) told me that V2 will use the same palette as Netscape.

        @{i}AWeb @{ui}

        It is possible to switch AWeb to dynamical allocation. If your page is optimised for a certain
        palette, your page will display perfectly in this mode.

@endnode