Animate Your Web/Animate Your Web.iso/gifcon/faq.txt

Text File | 1996-08-26 | 49KB | 1,102 lines

GIF Construction Set
Frequently Asked Questions

August 25, 1996

Copyright (c) 1996 Alchemy Mindworks Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced
by any means without the written permission of Alchemy Mindworks
Inc. No fur-bearing animals were harmed during the creation of
this document. Allergy alert: may contain nutmeg, but we doubt
it. Return for refund where applicable. Not recommended for
persons with sugar-restricted diets. Batteries are included --
best of luck finding them. Proud sponsor of the 1934 penguin
olympic games at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. May cause
irritability, sleeplessness or warts after prolonged use.
Contents under pressure. BHT added to preserve freshness.
Caution: this product has caused some laboratory rats to rip
through their cages, fly across the room and brutally murder
hundreds of innocent people. Shake well before using. No vacuum
tubes or other user-serviceable parts inside. Not to be combined
with other radioisotopes except under the advice of a physician.
Avoid prolonged exposure to ultraviolet light. The truth is out
there. Use no hooks. Not intended for use by children or liberals
under the age of five. Printed on unrecycled dead trees and we're
proud of it.





This document contains the following sections:

SECTION 1: Downloading, Installation and Shareware
SECTION 2: Technical Support
SECTION 3: Running GIF Construction Set




SECTION 1: Downloading, Installation and Shareware
--------------------------------------------------

Q: Is there a Macintosh version of GIF Construction Set?
A: Not as yet. One is in the works, but no release date has been
assigned to it at this time. Macintosh development is relatively
slow and confusing, something they don't tell you when you buy
one of the damn things.


Q: I've been trying to download the current version of GIF
Construction Set for days but your server is always busy. Can you
e-mail me a copy?
A: Sorry, we are unable to e-mail large binary files over our
present mail server. Our main server has been the recipient of
an ongoing program of expansion, but each time we increase its
capacity, the demand seems to increase to match it. It's usually
more readily accessible before noon, EST. We do have a number of
mirrors around the world, accessible through the Mirrors link at
the top of each of our web pages. The SimTel mirrors are
especially useful.


Q: I've downloaded GIF Construction Set but it will not install -
- it tells me that I must run it under Windows, even when I do.
What's wrong?
A: You have a damaged download. Download it again.


Q: Does using an unregistered copy of GIF Construction Set to
create a few graphics for my web page constitute a fair use of
the shareware?
A: In our opinion it does not. The shareware release of GIF
Construction Set is provided for you to evaluate. If you find it
to be good enough to create GIF files for use on a web page, we
feel that it is good enough to register. If you don't agree --
that is, if you find it to be unsuitable for your needs and as
such not worth registering -- please delete it and accept our
thanks for trying it out.


Q: Should I install GIF Construction Set in Windows 95 or NT
through Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel?
A: Absolutely not. Use the Run item of the Start menu.


Q: Can the 32-bit version of GIF Construction Set run under
Windows 3.1 or Windows 3.11 if I have WIN32S installed?
A: No, it uses several DLLs not supplied with WIN32S. Use the
sixteen-bit build.


Q: What are the functional differences between the sixteen- and
32-bit builds of GIF Construction Set?
A: Not much. The 32-bit build supports long file names,
while the sixteen-bit build does not. The 32-bit build is
somewhat faster under 95 and NT. The 32-bit build can create wide
palette GIF files, discussed elsewhere in this document.
Otherwise, they're identical.

You're probably wondering about now if Windows 95 might not have
just been a really sneaky way to sell everyone 32-bit versions of
perfectly good sixteen-bit applications.


Q: What files does the GIF Construction Set installer add to my
\WINDOWS and \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directories, and what changes does
it make to my registry?
A: None. We feel that shareware should not mess with your system
files, and none of ours does. Everything the installer writes to
your hard drive goes in GIF Construction Set's private directory,
and no system files are altered.


Q: How can I uninstall GIF Construction Set.
A: Simply delete its private directory and everything in it.


Q: If I register GIF Construction Set by phone, can I get a
registration code immediately?
A: We can e-mail one to you if you request it. This usually takes
about 72 hours. Please note, that's actually three business days
-- weekends don't count.


Q: How can I register GIF Construction Set?
A: You can pay by Visa, Mastercard, American Express or by a
cheque drawn on an international bank having the address of a
North American clearing office and a bank transit number printed
on it. Cheques must be in US dollars -- no other currency can be
accepted. Please do not send us Eurocheques -- they cannot be
cleared outside Europe.

Our present bank cannot accept payments by wire transfer.

We ask that you use the order form provided with every copy of
GIF Construction Set to place your order. It's stored in a file
called ORDER.WRI in the GIF Construction Set directory, which can
be opened with Windows Write or WordPad.

You can register over CompuServe at GO SWREG. The registration
code 10595.

You can FAX the order form to 1-905-936-9502, e-mail it to
[e-mail] or snail-mail it to Alchemy Mindworks
Inc., P.O. Box 500, Beeton, Ontario L0G 1A0 CANADA.

For the fastest service, please call our order desk at 1-800-263-
1138 or 1-905-936-9500. They take all major plastic, and are open
24 hours a day.

We are unable to send you GIF Construction Set COD.


Q: Can I pay for GIF Construction Set by purchase order?
A: No. If you want to buy 100 or more copies, please get in touch
with us and we'll consider it. Sadly, the purchase order system
has seen considerable abuse in recent years -- while few
institutions issuing purchase orders flat-out refuse to honour
them, we have found that many purchase orders are accompanied by
extensive documentation requirements, lengthy waits for payment
and the need to follow up and beg for money multiple times before
a cheque actually gets cut. This probably makes sense if the
purchase order has been issued to pay for a Cray supercomputer or
a couple of B1 bombers -- it's not workable for a $20.00
shareware registration.


Q: How long does it take to get a registered copy of GIF
Construction Set?
A: Barring unforeseen delays -- post office strikes, mice in the
disk copying machine, an unscheduled apocalypse -- we will ship
your software within 72 hours of receiving your registration
order. Note that it usually takes about two weeks for a package
to get from Canada to the United States, and about three weeks
for one to get from Canada to overseas destinations. We have no
control over this.

The only other shipping option we can offer at present is Federal
Express. As of this writing, this costs $28.00 (US) to the United
States and $45.00 (US) to other parts of the world. We cannot
ship by UPS, Airborne, DHL or other couriers at this time.


Q: I already have the shareware version of GIF Construction Set.
Can you just e-mail me the registration code and not charge me
shipping.
A: We certainly can. Just be sure to state that you'd like this
done when you register. You'll get no disks by snail-mail, and
we'll deduct the $5.00 shipping charge.

Please note that you must state that you want your registration
code e-mailed to you at the time you order. We are unable to
locate and amend your order after it has been received.


Q: GIF Construction Set used to be bookware. Can I still register
it by buying and reading The Order, by Steven William Rimmer?
A: GIF Construction Set is no longer bookware. While we are still
happy to honour the bookware offer if you wish, this will get you
a registered version of GIF Construction Set 1.0G, a sixteen-bit
build with relatively few features. Alternately, you can order a
registered copy of the current release of GIF Construction Set.
This version includes better animation support, Animation Wizard
to make creating animations easier, better palette options, block
management, Netscape sanity checking and numerous other features.
It costs $20.00 (US) plus $5.00 shipping.


Q: I'm writing a book and I'd like to include GIF Construction
Set with it. Can I do this?
A: We grant permission to include our software with books on a
project by project basis. We require a signed agreement for each
book. Please e-mail your request to [e-mail] and
provide us with:

1. The name of the book you wish to include our software with.
2. The author of the book.
3. The name, address, phone and FAX number of the publisher.
4. The name or names of the applications in question.
5. A FAX number and contact name to FAX our agreement to.

See the Shareware Distribution document which accompanies GIF
Construction Set for more information.

Please note that due to the high volume of requests we receive to
include our shareware with books, we are unable to review, sign
and return individual publishers' agreements for permission to
use our shareware. The only permission you need is our signed
distribution agreement -- and not to put to fine a point on it,
that's all we have the resources to provide at the moment.


Q: Do you offer an educational discount for GIF Construction Set?
A: No, we don't. We feel that the fairest price is one which
applies to everyone equally.


Q: Does the registered version of GIF Construction Set come with
a printed manual?
A: No, it comes with complete documentation on disk which can be
printed out if you require a paper reference. A paper manual
would have about tripled the cost of the package -- we feel that
software should be affordable, and this extra cost didn't seem to
make sense for an application as simple as GIF Construction Set.


Q: Are you guys in league with the devil?
A: Don't laugh -- we get asked this one frequently.

Some of the people who work at Alchemy Mindworks have pagan
beliefs, and some vaguely pagan iconography has appeared in some
of our literature and example graphics. The most overtly pagan
images arguably turn up in the "click me" advertisements for
Steven William Rimmer's novels, which are themselves fairly
pagan.

This document being about GIF Construction Set rather than
about comparative theology, we won't get into the distinction
between that which is pagan and that which is occult or satanic,
save to note that there is a really huge difference between them.

We have been surprised -- or perhaps more correctly, disturbed --
to find that some fundamentalist christians seem to equate pagan
traditions with worship of the christian devil. Our reply to this
is "not even close" -- and their reply to our reply is very often
"that's just what I'd expect the devil to say."

Well, we aren't. If we were, we'd no doubt have a much more
convincing rebuttal.

Should the pagan graphics trouble you, you can convert the
distribution version of GIF Construction Set into a politically
correct, culturally neutral GIF Construction Set. Delete the two
"click me" advertisements and this bit of the Frequently Asked
Questions document.


Q: If I register GIF Construction Set and the leather-winged
demon of the night comes by to rip out my heart before the
registration key arrives, what can I do?
A: Running away isn't an altogether bad idea. Painting its nose
with Keen's extra hot mustard has been known to work as well.
Keep in mind that the leather winged demon of the night has been
lunching down those still-beating hearts in record numbers of
late, and is getting a bit porky. It can't move like it used to.
Do not attempt to use high explosives or small tactical nuclear
weapons against leather-winged demons of the night, as this just
irritates them.


Q: I received a message from Alchemy Mindworks saying that I have
a GIF file created by an unregistered copy of GIF Construction
Set on my web page, and asking me to register the software. I
only created the one GIF file while I was evaluating the
shareware version -- don't you people think that coming after me
this way is somewhat unreasonable?
A: A considerable pontification follows -- this is not
recommended for anyone with a short attention span. See the
question following this one as well.

We receive a number of messages each week from registered
users of GIF Construction Set which say, in effect "I paid for
the software. I've found a GIF file which was obviously created
by someone who didn't. Can't you do something about this?"

In one light, this ignores the reality that shareware developers
are ultimately powerless to stop users of their software who are
determined not to pay for it -- we can't call in the shareware
police, and as should be obvious, we wouldn't even if we could.

We're also unable to ascertain how long someone has been
evaluating an unregistered copy of GIF Construction Set, of
course.

At another level, however, we feel that this is a reasonable
concern. Users who have supported the shareware they use should
feel a bit abused when they see others who do not. We don't
believe that shareware which seeks to compel its users to
register it -- with 30-day timers and other restrictions -- is
really in keeping with the spirit of shareware. However, getting
in touch with the owners of the web pages in question and
mentioning that they've used GIF Construction Set without paying
for it doesn't seem unreasonable.

The messages we send to the owners of web pages which include GIF
files created by unregistered copies of GIF Construction Set seem
to evoke one of three responses. Some of them are ignored -- this
is especially true of messages sent to large corporations and
branches of the government. The White House web page, for
example, has two GIF files of a waving American flag on it as of
this writing which were created by an unregistered copy of GIF
Construction Set.

Some of the people we contact actually register GIF Construction
Set, which is, of course, very heartening.

Finally, a few of the replies we receive express howling, lethal
outrage at our having contacted their senders. These seem to be
from younger users of the Internet, or possibly from people who
feel that a good strong offense is the best defense. These
replies usually include sentiments such as "you have no idea how
shareware is supposed to work", "I only used the software once",
"you have some nerve demanding that I register your shareware",
"you're spamming my e-mail", "I'm just evaluating it and haven't
decided whether I like it" and "I'm so offended that I'll never
use your software again, and I'll tell all my friends what
bastards you are".

This latter point is a somewhat hollow threat -- users who had no
intention of paying for GIF Construction Set in the first place
can't very well threaten not to do so in the future. As to our
"demanding" payment, the most coercive line in the message we
send to unregistered users of the software is "we would like to
ask that you register GIF Construction Set..." -- not exactly a
leg-breaker.

We feel that software should be regarded as you would any other
tool -- for example, a hammer or a power drill. If you only
needed to drill one hole, you'd still have to go out and pay for
a power drill -- the price of the tool isn't predicated on the
number of times you intend to use it. Admittedly, this precludes
users who would buy the drill, use it for the one hole they
needed drilled and then return it, claiming they didn't like it -
- a practice at least as unethical as using unregistered
shareware.

The distinction between GIF Construction Set and a power drill is
that the people who sell power drills have pretty tight control
over the number of people who use them versus the number of
people who pay for them. Shareware developers must, by nature, be
resigned to a level of abuse that the manufacturers of more
conventional tools need not concern themselves with. Some users
of shareware might regard this as a degree of license to abuse
the software they download.

Our perception of shareware -- albeit from the point of view of
shareware developers -- is that shareware which is being
evaluated should not be used to do productive work, and that
shareware which is doing productive work is no longer being
evaluated. In the case of GIF Construction Set, "productive work"
would be creating GIF files which wind up on a web page. If it's
good enough to create images for your web page, it's worth paying
for.

License to evaluate shareware should not be regarded as the
opportunity to get as much productive work done during the
evaluation period as possible, and then to "decide" that the
software isn't worth registering. If there's a distinction
between this and the aforementioned example of returning a tool
to the shop where you bought it after you're done with it, it
eludes us.

In conclusion, then, we don't feel that our messages asking
unregistered users of our software to pay for it are unreasonable
or out of keeping with the spirit of shareware. They're certainly
less so than the level of crippling we see in other shareware
packages. Parties who use shareware and don't pay for it make it
more expensive for the ones who do -- doubly so for the users who
don't pay for it but call our technical support line anyway. (You
know who you are.) Users who claim to have only used GIF
Construction Set once can take heart -- we're only asking you to
pay for it once.


Q: I received a message about an animated GIF file on my web page
having been created by an unregistered version of GIF
Construction Set. I found that GIF file on another page -- do I
have to do anything about it?
A: This is the Internet -- you don't HAVE to do anything.

We feel that using an unregistered shareware application to do
productive work is software piracy, no less so than using an
unpaid-for copy of a commercial application. Someone used a
pirated copy of our software to create the GIF file in question,
even if it wasn't you or anyone you know.

You might want to consider whether you wish to support software
piracy by using the product of a pirated application.

Secondly, you might want to consider whether you want people who
browse your web pages to know that pirated software was used in
part to create them. They certainly won't know where your
animated GIF file came from.

Ulimately, it's your decision whether you want to remove the GIF
file in question from your page, register GIF Construction Set to
make it legal or just pretend we're extraterrestials and wait for
us to beam up and go away. To phrase it another way, you're free
to decide whether you see yourself as being part of a lawless
Internet, wherein everyone does as he or she pleases --
presumably doing it to you one day soon -- or whether you feel
that the Internet has a conscience and a sense of ethics, of
which you are part.

If you're not prepared to register GIF Construction Set, we would
certainly prefer to see you remove any GIF files created by
unregistered copies of it from your web page, however they got
there. However, as was noted earlier, this is the Internet -- no
one is going to force you to do so.


Q: Can I bundle GIF Construction Set with my commercial product.
A: Possibly, but please read the Shareware Distribution document
that accompanies GIF Construction Set first, and then get in
touch with us before you proceed.


Q: How much do upgrades for a registered copy of GIF Construction
Set cost?
A: Upgrades in the 1.0 series are free -- just download the
current shareware release and install it on a system with a
registered copy. It will find your registration code and become a
registered copy. We have no current plans to amend this situation
in the foreseeable future, although we reserve the right to do so
if we change our minds.


Q: I registered GIF Construction Set for Windows 3.1, but I've
upgraded to Windows 95. How much will the 32-bit version cost me?
A: Nothing. We sell functionality, not platforms. In fact, if you
look at the GIF Construction Set disk you received when you
registered your shareware, you'll find the 32-bit build is on it.
Barring this, you can download it from our web page. The same
registration code works in both versions.

Hands up all Windows users who consider 95 to be an "upgrade".


Q: I live outside North America -- how much more must I add for
shipping?
A: Nothing. The $5.00 (US) shipping charge for GIF Construction
Set will get it anywhere on earth by air mail -- prices for the
Martian colonies are slightly higher.


Q: What is the Unisys GIF tax and does this mean that I must pay
a royalty on GIF files I create?
A: The GIF format was originally created by CompuServe. The image
compression algorithm used by GIF files is called LZW. At the
time GIF was created, back in 1987, CompuServe appears to have
assumed that LZW was a public domain entity -- at least, there's
no indication that they did a patent search to find out whether
LZW was owned by anyone. CompuServe announced the GIF format in
1987 with the following grant of rights to developers:

"While this document is copyrighted, the information contained
within is made available for use in computer software without
royalties, or licensing restrictions."

As it happens, CompuServe didn't actually have these rights
to grant -- LZW is a patented entity which is currently owned by
the Unisys Corporation.

Unisys actually acquired the LZW patent in 1985. They didn't make
much noise about it until December of 1994, however, leaving
sufficient time for GIF to be widely adopted as a graphic file
format. Among other things, it became the defacto standard for
lossless graphics on the web.

At the end of 1994, Unisys announced that it would be demanding
royalties from any developer who created for-profit software
which can read or write graphic files using LZW compression --
for practical purposes, this includes GIF and some TIFF files.

Our understanding of this situation, as explained to us by our
trademark and patent attorneys, is that Unisys can demand a
royalty for software which uses its patented algorithm to read or
write GIF files, but not for the data the algorithm creates. As
such, while we must pay Unisys a royalty on each copy of GIF
Construction Set registered, you're safe in using GIF files
without any interference from Unisys.

Our attorneys have also recommended that we not say what we think
about Unisys' conduct in this situation, so we'll leave it to
your imagination. Note that Unisys would now like to sell us all
Internet-based services and hardware. Ya, right...


Q: Can I use some of the images at the Alchemy Mindworks web page
on my own page?
A: If you are a registered user of GIF Construction Set, you are
welcome to use the animated moving red ball graphic and the
animated spinning compact disk graphic on your page. There are
two conditions to this:

1. Your page must include a link back to ours, and credit for the
source of the images.

2. You must download these files from our page and reference
copies of them on your server, rather than referencing the files
on our page. From time to time we change the links and the file
names for frequently "borrowed" files, replacing them with
something else entirely. You probably don't want to see what
"something else" looks like.

If you'd like a graphic to use for a link to our page, please
check the link at the bottom of our main page to download one.


Q: If I have a registered copy of GIF Construction Set, do I have
to pay a royalty to Alchemy Mindworks if I sell the animations I
create?
A: No. Your intellectual property is yours to do with as you
like. You also don't have to acknowledge the software you used to
create 'em, although you're welcome to do so if you like, with
our thanks.


SECTION 2: Technical Support
----------------------------

Q: Can I get technical support for GIF Construction Set even if
I'm not a registered user yet?
A: We will provide limited technical support to unregistered
users at our discretion to help you evaluate the software. Please
note that we reserve the right to discontinue technical support
to specific unregistered users if we feel that your requests on
our technical support facilities are excessive, or if your
questions are answered in the GIF Construction Set documentation.


Q: Is there a limit to the amount of technical support I'm
entitled to as a registered user?
A: We would like your use of GIF Construction Set to be as
effortless and productive as possible. As such, we do not impose
specific limits on technical support -- if you're genuinely
having a lot of problems, we're here to get you through them.
However, technical support is not a talking manual. We reserve
the right to refuse to provide technical support to users with
questions which are answered in this documentation, or in the GIF
Construction Set documentation.

If you're really new to computers, to Windows or to the net, you
might need to read up on these areas before we can assist you
with specific problems in GIF Construction Set. We consider that
the question "which one of the plastic things on my desk is the
mouse?" is a good indication that you have some way to go before
you need to talk to us.

We usually will not be able to help you with applications from
other developers, even if you're using their files with GIF
Construction Set, or GIF Construction Set's files with them. We
cannot direct you to books to read or places on the web to find
out about things other than our software.

We cannot provide technical support in languages other than
English. That's contemporary English, by the way, rather than,
say, Chaucerian English. Neither jive nor val-speak constitute
English for the purposes of this discussion. Inserting the word
"blimey" into another language at regular intervals doesn't
qualify as English either.

Finally, we will hang up on, shred or delete requests for
technical support from users who are rude or abusive.


Q: How can I contact the technical support desk for GIF
Construction Set?
A: You can get technical support by e-mail at
[e-mail] -- questions sent to this e-mail address
are usually answered within 48 hours, and often within two or
three hours.

You can also call us at 1-905-936-9501 between 10:00am and 5:00pm
EST, most working days. If you get the voice-mail machine, all
our lines are busy. We will not under any circumstances return
calls for technical support. Please do not call the 800 number
for technical support -- this connects to our order desk, which
knows nothing about software. They cannot transfer you to someone
who does.

Please read this document in its entirety and the Documentation
file for GIF Construction Set before you call technical support.


Q: What's the best time to call the technical support desk.
A: Before noon EST is usually somewhat quieter, as the west coast
hasn't come on line as yet. Noon to one EST is dodgy, as it's
lunch time. Afternoons can get fairly busy. Friday is
particularly heavy, as Sprint gives some of its customers free
long distance calling on Fridays. Some of them call us just to
chat. Thanks, Sprint...

We are often able to provide technical support on weekends and
after hours -- if anyone is working here during this period,
they'll be happy to assist you as best they can. Note that after-
hours technical support cannot help you with questions about
order status or software registration codes. If you call after
hours and get voice mail, there's no one about.


Q: Is there any way to call technical support without my paying
for the call?
A: Aside from relocating to beautiful Adjala township in central
Ontario to raise potatoes and drink warm, flat beer, no. Unlike
many software developers, we do not impose a per-call fee on
technical support, nor will you find yourself on hold for fifteen
minutes listening to elevator music if you call us. However, the
only way we could provide toll-free technical support would be to
increase the price of our shareware to cover the phone costs.
This would, in effect, impose the cost of technical support on
everyone who uses Alchemy Mindworks' software, even though only a
few users would actually be calling for technical support.

We feel strongly that people shouldn't be required to pay for
services they don't actually get. We believe that this would be
fundamentally wrong. We further feel that if our various
governments felt the same way, our various economies wouldn't be
melting down as you read this.


Q: I'm having difficulties with a GIF file. Can I e-mail it to
you so you can see what's happening?
A: Please query first -- your problem may be something we've
heard of, and we'll be able to recommend a solution for it
immediately. Under no circumstances should you e-mail us a GIF
file which is over 20K in length. Our mail server automatically
deletes files bigger than this, as well as the messages they're
attached to.

If you do e-mail us a GIF file, please send it as a BinHex-
encoded attachment. Do not uuencode it, or try sending the binary
file as a text message.


Q: What is the longest recorded flight of a chicken?
A: Thirteen seconds.


SECTION 3: Running GIF Construction Set
---------------------------------------

Q: When I click on View to see an animated GIF file, nothing
happens -- all I see is the first image. What's wrong?
A: This is a bug which appeared in the 1.0J 32-bit version, and
again in the 1.0M 32-bit version. It only affects machines
running certain builds of Windows 95 and NT with a 16- or 256-
colour screen driver installed. It's permanently fixed in version
1.0N -- using the sixteen-bit version or installing a 32,768-
colour or better Windows screen driver will work around the
problem in earlier versions.


Q: My animated GIF files looked fine in GIF Construction Set, but
they appear tiny on my web page. What's wrong?
A: This seems to happen when pages are built with a number of
popular web page creation packages, including FrontPage, HotDog
and Netscape Gold. We do not use these packages in house, and
cannot confirm that there's a problem with them. However, it
appears that they install WIDTH= and HEIGHT= elements into the
HTML coding which references the anaimated GIF files in question,
and that these values are incorrect when animated GIF files are
used. You can remedy this situation by opening your HTML document
in a text editor, such as Windows Notepad, locating the reference
to the GIF files in question, and deleteing the WIDTH= and
HEIGHT= elements.


Q: Some of my GIF files with transparent backgrounds exhibit an
irregular coloured aura around the non-transparent elements. Is
this due to bad karma, or is something amiss?
A: Something's amiss. These are usually pixels which have a
colour similar to that of your transparent colour, but are
actually being drawn in a different palette colour.

Here's how this can happen. Imagine a figure against a white
background. The background is solid white, and as such if white
is assigned as the transparent colour, it will drop out
correctly. If there are a few very light grey pixels at the edges
of the figure, you might not have noticed them when the figure
was against a white background, but when the background becomes
transparent, they'll become quite visible, as they'll be almost
white but not transparent.

You can fix this by editing your image with a paint package and
replacing the slightly off-colour pixels with pixels which are
the same as those of your intended transparent colour. This can
be a bit fiddly.

Keep in mind that there can only be one transparent colour per
image in a GIF file, and that the transparent "colour" is really
a transparent palette index number. As such, if you were to
assign colour 255 as the transparent colour, colour 254 would not
be transparent, even if colour 254 and colour 255 are in fact
the same visible colour.


Q: Sometimes I attempt to import source image files into GIF
Construction Set and they report as corrupt, even through I know
they're good. What's wrong.
A: This is a really obscure bug -- we know about it, but we can't
reproduce it in house as of this writing. It seems to be
dependent on a specific build of Windows 95. We recommend that
you use the sixteen-bit version of GIF Construction Set 'til we
work out what's amiss. In a pinch, the Merge feature gets around
it.


Q: How can I create buttons that wait for a user to click on them
with GIF Construction Set?
A: You can't -- the Wait for User Input flag is not implemented
in Netscape.


Q: My animations view fine in GIF Construction Set, but only
display once in Netscape. What's Wrong?
A: This can be caused by one of several things. Check the disk
cache value in Netscape. It should be at least two megabytes, or
2000 kilobytes. Also, check your Netscape version -- the 3.0 beta
releases have exhibited various problems like this. We recommend
that you use release 2.0 for serious work 'til the 3.0 package is
out of betas.


Q: Can I create a GIF file with a small animated image moving
over a larger background frame?
A: Maybe, sometimes, not really. There are several problems
inherent in this. First off, a GIF Loop block always loops the
whole file, which means that your background frame will
periodically repaint itself. This is quite noticeable on slower
machines. Secondly, as of this writing Remove by Previous Image
does not work in Netscape, so animated images moving over a
background frame may leave bits of themselves behind. This
feature does appear to work in Microsoft Explorer 3.0, but not
everyone uses Explorer.

If your animated tile won't actually move around relative to your
background frame, you can usually get away with this.


Q: The animations I create in GIF Construction Set play at the
wrong speed in Netscape. Can this be fixed?
A: Not really. Netscape's animation drivers have a somewhat
variable playback speed as of this writing. It depends to a
considerable extent on your machine speed, available system
resources and the size and colour depth of your animated image.
Whether or not you own a cat and feed it enough cheese probably
enters into the problem as well. While you can adjust the
playback speed for a specific speed on your system by changing
the Delay values in the Control blocks for your animated GIF
file, this will only guarantee the "correct" playback speed on
your system. It will probably vary on other machines. This is a
characteristic of Netscape we're all stuck with at present.


Q: How do I create a transparent GIF file with GIF Construction
Set?
A: Here's the procedure, step by step:

1. Open a GIF file. You should have a Header block and and Image
block visible in GIF Construction Set.

2. Click on the Header block once.

3. Click on Insert.

4. Click on Control. You should now have a Header, a Control and
an Image block.

5. Double-click on the Control block to edit it.

6. Enable Transparent colour.

7. Click on the eyedropper tool and use it to select the colour
in your image that you want to be transparent.

8. Click on OK and save the file.


Q: Does GIF Construction Set run under Windows NT
A: Yes, it does -- but only the recent versions have been fully
NT compatible. Versions prior to 1.0M are not recommended for use
under NT.


Q: When I create GIF files with GIF Construction Set and
reference them in a web page, the image is inset into the upper
left corner of a huge blank space that pushes all my other text
and graphics down the page. What's wrong?
A: This is caused by having the Screen Width and Screen Depth
fields of the Header block of your GIF file set too large. The
current version of GIF Construction Set will set them for you
automatically when you save a GIF file. Older versions left them
at their default values of 640 by 480 pixels.

If you have an older version of the software, edit these fields
so they're the same size as the pixel dimensions of your images.
Alternately, get the latest version of GIF Construction Set from
our web page.

Note that the Adjust Header on Save option in the Setup dialog
must be enabled in the current version of GIF Construction Set
for this feature to work.


Q: When I downloaded GIF Construction Set, there was text
scrolling across the status bar of my web browser. Was this an
animated GIF, and if so, how can I do this on my own page?
A: Actually, that's a Java script. Download one of the pages that
has it to a local HTML file and swipe the <SCRIPT> </SCRIPT> part
at the top, as well as the <BODY> tag immediately after it.
There's an alternate one in the Fiction section of our web page
that's kind of slick too.


Q: I created transparent GIF files in another application and
imported them into GIF Construction Set. The images imported
fine, but they're no longer transparent. What's wrong?
A: GIF Construction Set's Insert Image and Animation Wizard
features only import images -- not Control blocks. You can either
use Merge to preserve the Control blocks of your source images or
add new Control blocks as required and set the transparency
values therein after using Insert Image or Animation Wizard.

The Manage function of the Block menu is handy for doing this for
a whole GIF file at once.


Q: I get coloured speckles in the background of my images, or
the images themselves look crunchy and of poor quality once
they've been imported into GIF Construction Set. What am I doing
wrong?
A: It sounds like you're dithering twice -- once to get your
images into GIF files and a second time to get your GIF files
into GIF Construction Set. Assuming that your source images are
coming from a graphics package -- such as Photoshop, for example
-- export them to 24-bit files in a format like BMP, PCX or TGA,
and import these files into GIF Construction Set. This will
eliminate one stage of dithering and eliminate most of the
objectionable artifacts.

Read the next few questions and answers for further discussion
about this issue.


Q: The background of my GIF file can't be made wholly transparent
because it has dots of other colours in it. What's wrong?
A: It's dithered. If your source images are essentially drawn,
the best way to get around this is to rebuild your GIF file using
one of the drawn image options in Wizard, or using Remap to
Global Palette in Insert Image. You can reduce the effects of
dithering in photographic images by choosing a pure white
background and importing from native 24-bit files, as discussed
elsewhere in this document.


Q: How can I avoid completely having GIF Construction Set dither
images I create in an imaging package, such as PhotoShop?
A: Create your image such that all the colours in your source
image are drawn from the Netscape 216-colour palette. See the
next question in this document if you don't have the Netscape
216-colour palette available.

How you create your images to use this palette is up to you and
your image creation software.

Having created suitable images, export them to a format that GIF
Construction Set will read -- because they must, by their nature,
have no more than 256 colours, you can even use the GIF format.

If you're using the Animation Wizard feature of GIF Construction
Set, be sure to choose the Draw Images option and tell it that
you'll be creating animated GIF files for use on a web page. If
you're using Insert Image, set the default palette in Setup to
the Netscape 216-colour option. Insert your images and select
Remap to Global Palette from the Palette dialog when it appears.

These options tell GIF Construction Set to remap your images,
rather than dither them. Because both your source images and the
GIF file GIF Construction Set is building for you have the same
palette -- the Netscape 216-colour palette -- all the source
colours will remap exactly to colours in the final palette, and
no colour shifts will occur.

This is the safest way to create photographic animated GIF files
with transparent backgrounds if your photographic images are
starting out in a package like Photoshop.


Q: What is the Netscape 216-colour palette, also called the
Netscape "safe" palette? How can I use it in my imaging software?
A: When it's running on a system with a 256-colour screen driver,
Netscape remaps all its graphics to a fixed palette having 216
colours. If you create graphics which use this palette, you can
be assured that no colour shifts or dithering will occur in
Netscape, even if they're viewed on a machine with limited colour
depth.

GIF Construction Set has the Netscape 216-colour palette as one
of its default palette options. If you need this palette, open
the Setup dialog of GIF Construction Set and make sure that the
Default Palette combo box is set to the Netscape 216-Colour
option. Having done so, create a new GIF file by selecting New
from the File menu. Imsert an image into it -- the nature of the
image itself doesn't matter, as all you want is the palette. Save
this file.

You can now open this temporary GIF file into your imaging
software -- PhotoShop, PhotoPaint or whatever you like the look
of -- and extract its palette. Use this palette when you create
new files or convert 24-bit images to 256 colours for export to a
GIF file. Save the palette so you can use it again at a later
date without having to repeat the foregoing procedure.


Q: What are the THN files created by GIF Construction Set, and do
I need to keep them?
A: THN files store the GIF Construction Set thumbnails, and are
only used by GIF Construction Set and other Alchemy Mindworks
applications. You can delete them if you wish. Open Setup and
turn off Write Thumbnails to prevent their being created in the
future.


Q: Is it true that interlaced GIF files download to a web page
faster?
A: No, the opposite is usually true. They take a bit more time to
display under most web browsers, and because interlacing can
break up consecutive pixel runs at the ends of lines, interlacing
can actually make your GIF files larger in pathological cases.


Q: How did you create the moving bullet graphic, the spinning
compact disc graphic and the slide show graphic at the Alchemy
Mindworks web page?
A: They were all created with GIF Construction Set. The moving
bullet graphic is a single small GIF image repeated multiple
times, with each iteration being moved right by a few pixels. The
Manage function in the Block menu of GIF Construction Set makes
it easy to do this.

The spinning compact disc graphic was created by rotating the
image of a compact disc several times in Corel PhotoPaint and
then assembling the frames in GIF Construction Set.

The slide show is just an animated GIF file with a different
picture for each frame.


Q: Can GIF Construction Set add sound to my animated GIF files?
A: No, the GIF specification does not include facilities for
sampled audio at present.


Q: Can I get more than 256 colours in a GIF file image?
A: No, the GIF specification does not support images with more
than 256 colours at present. This situation is likely to remain
for the foreseeable future.

Actually, this is almost completely true. See the next question
and answer for further discussion about this subject.


Q: What are Wide Palette GIF Files, and do they really allow a
GIF file to store more than 256 colours?
A: Wide palette GIF files let a GIF file store images having more
than 256 colours, but they do so in a very peculiar way. It's
important to understand what they're up to. This feature appears
in the release version of GIF Construction Set 1.0N and later
versions. It's only available in the 32-bit build.

A GIF image can only store a maximum of 256 colours. However, a
GIF file can store any number of images. If each image has its
own local palette, it's possible to have more than 256 different
colours stored in the file.

This is what wide palette GIF files do. If the source image you
wished to store in one had 510 distinct colours, GIF Construction
Set would create a GIF file with two Image blocks. The first
Image block would have a local palette with the first 255 colours
of your source image in it. The second Image block would have a
local palette with the second 255 colours from your source image.
Each palette would also have one colour that did not appear
anywhere in your source image, to be used as a transparent
colour. When such a GIF file is displayed, the multiple images
will merge on your screen to create a complete picture having
more than 256 distinct colours.

Wide palette GIF files allow you to enjoy lossless images having
lots of colours in a format which is compatible with existing web
browsers. However, they embody some important catches. They tend
to be kind of large. They display properly in most web browsers
and in GIF Construction Set, but practically nowhere else. If one
is displayed on a system with a 256-colour screen driver, it will
look ugly enough to mutate bacteria.

There's more complete information about wide palette GIF files in
the documentation and Help section of GIF Construction Set.


Q: Can I break an animated GIF file apart into its individual
frames, so I can edit them?
A: Yes -- the Extract function in the Block menu can be used to
do this.


Q: After I use the Export function on my animated GIF files, they
don't animate any more. What's wrong?
A: This is not what Export is intended for -- you should have
just saved your animated GIF files. Export combines all the
elements in a multiple-image GIF file into a new single-image GIF
file, to allow complex graphics like the EXAMPLE.GIF file that
accompanies GIF Construction Set to be imported into applications
which can only read single-image files.


Q: I get all the way to the end of Animation Wizard, select a
file and it will not allow me to go any further. What's wrong?
A: Animation Wizard requires that you specify two or more files
to create an animation.


Q: Do you have somewhere I can download some animated GIF files
to use at my page?
A: No, we don't offer any sort of on-line image libraries. There
numerous such pages on the web, however. Search Yahoo or Lycos
for the words "animation" and "gif" to turn them up.


Q: Can I import a number of source images at once into GIF
Construction Set, or must I select them individually?
A: The Insert Image function allows you to select multiple images
at once. Click on Insert and select Image. When the file dialog
appears, you can:

- Hold down the Ctrl key and select more than one file name by
clicking on it.

- Hold down the Shift key and click on the beginning and then the
end of a range of file names to select.

- Hold and drag your mouse over a range of file names to select
them.

Once you have finished selecting images, click on OK. When the
palette dialog appears, enable the Use for Subsequent Images
option to process all the images without the Palette dialog
appearing again.

Animation Wizard also allows for multiple file selection using
the same controls. This option does not appear in versions older
than the 1.0N release.


Q: When I import or open some two-colour GIF files, the colours
are changed to black and white, or black and white images are
reversed. Have I been staring at a cheap monitor from Sears too
long, or is this a bug?
A: Actually, it's a bug. It's fixed in version 1.0N.


                          - THAT'S IT -