Are you finding some sites don't look right in IE?
Short Answer: Use another browser.
However, most web folk recognise that the above response is not very helpful. After all, the web should be available to all.
Neither IE 5.5 nor IE6 display png's with transparent backgrounds well. As a result, many novice web designers have become wary of a very good file format for web graphics.
The png format came about in the mid 1990's. It arose from patent problems in the gif format and because the gif format was showing it's age, being capable of using only 256 colours. The png format is now over 10 years old.
Even today, some web developers are still wary of pngs, more than 10 years since they were developed, because it was the first time they became very aware their assumed default browser, IE, actually wasn't very good at all and didn't conform to any web standards.
It is actually a lot better than jpeg at some jobs and there is more history of png at wikipedia.
The inability of IE5.5 and then IE6 to display png graphics correctly made things difficult for the new file format for a while. Eventually Microsoft bowed to popular demand and IE7 finally supported transparent background pngs some 8 years after the introduction of png.
In the 1990's there was a plethora of sites carrying the message 'Best viewed in Internet Explorer' often with a pretty IE graphic alongside.
With IE 5.5's inability to display pngs, people (myself included) started using transparent pngs and such pages carried an equivalent banner of 'Best viewed in Opera or Firefox' or something similar.
I appreciated the shortsightedness of such behaviour even then. There were far too many sites out there built for IE and which could not display properly in any other browser.
I was working with Linux, Windows and Solaris at the time and experienced many sites which simply could not display on either my Linux machines or my Solaris machines. I think some web developers just didn't get the message that IE wasn't the only browser in existence nor that telling people to use IE to view a web site just wasn't a viable option.
I also learned the 'hacks' to persuade IE to behave properly with transparent pngs.
There are many resources out there today to help the errant web designer with this problem.
Some work with all images, background and front copy and some only work with front copy, so you need to be careful in what you apply.
All these links contain useful information about handling transparent pngs in IE 5.5 and IE6.
24ways
allinthehead
alistapart
webmasterworld
The png library FAQ
Bob Osola's solution
koivi's server side php solution
Bob Osola was the first to provide a correction for the transparent png IE display problem
Microsoft didn't fix their transparent png display problem until IE7. The best solution to the IE/png transparency display problem is one that works for all the conditions you might want to throw at it.
The IE problem with transparent PNGs is well documented and there are fixes out there, some having been in existence for years. The historical lack of IE support doesn't prevent the use of png graphics in today's web development scene.
This IE problem kept a few people busy in it's time and we are all very lucky that those who solved the problem were prepared to share their solutions.
So ... don't worry about transparent PNG's just use a proper browser.
Web development has moved on from suggesting which browser a viewer might want to use. Today web development is generally done in Firefox. Any IE foibles are dealt with at a secondary level.
According to this source, Firefox is the leading 21st Century browser.
However, most web folk recognise that the above response is not very helpful. After all, the web should be available to all.
Neither IE 5.5 nor IE6 display png's with transparent backgrounds well. As a result, many novice web designers have become wary of a very good file format for web graphics.
The png format came about in the mid 1990's. It arose from patent problems in the gif format and because the gif format was showing it's age, being capable of using only 256 colours. The png format is now over 10 years old.
Even today, some web developers are still wary of pngs, more than 10 years since they were developed, because it was the first time they became very aware their assumed default browser, IE, actually wasn't very good at all and didn't conform to any web standards.
It is actually a lot better than jpeg at some jobs and there is more history of png at wikipedia.
The inability of IE5.5 and then IE6 to display png graphics correctly made things difficult for the new file format for a while. Eventually Microsoft bowed to popular demand and IE7 finally supported transparent background pngs some 8 years after the introduction of png.
In the 1990's there was a plethora of sites carrying the message 'Best viewed in Internet Explorer' often with a pretty IE graphic alongside.
With IE 5.5's inability to display pngs, people (myself included) started using transparent pngs and such pages carried an equivalent banner of 'Best viewed in Opera or Firefox' or something similar.
I appreciated the shortsightedness of such behaviour even then. There were far too many sites out there built for IE and which could not display properly in any other browser.
I was working with Linux, Windows and Solaris at the time and experienced many sites which simply could not display on either my Linux machines or my Solaris machines. I think some web developers just didn't get the message that IE wasn't the only browser in existence nor that telling people to use IE to view a web site just wasn't a viable option.
I also learned the 'hacks' to persuade IE to behave properly with transparent pngs.
There are many resources out there today to help the errant web designer with this problem.
Some work with all images, background and front copy and some only work with front copy, so you need to be careful in what you apply.
All these links contain useful information about handling transparent pngs in IE 5.5 and IE6.
24ways
allinthehead
alistapart
webmasterworld
The png library FAQ
Bob Osola's solution
koivi's server side php solution
Bob Osola was the first to provide a correction for the transparent png IE display problem
Microsoft didn't fix their transparent png display problem until IE7. The best solution to the IE/png transparency display problem is one that works for all the conditions you might want to throw at it.
The IE problem with transparent PNGs is well documented and there are fixes out there, some having been in existence for years. The historical lack of IE support doesn't prevent the use of png graphics in today's web development scene.
This IE problem kept a few people busy in it's time and we are all very lucky that those who solved the problem were prepared to share their solutions.
So ... don't worry about transparent PNG's just use a proper browser.
Web development has moved on from suggesting which browser a viewer might want to use. Today web development is generally done in Firefox. Any IE foibles are dealt with at a secondary level.
According to this source, Firefox is the leading 21st Century browser.
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