Batman & Robin. Two of the most iconic superheroes of all time. Many people will argue that they are the greatest superhero team ever. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of such an iconic team? Unfortunately, things haven’t always been so harmonious between the two. While they’ve always had their differences, mostly revolving around money, fame and women, things came to a head when DC Comics decided to reboot the entire franchise in 2014. And since then, things have been going pretty badly. The team hasn’t been featured in any major publications since 2016, and fans have been crying out for a new status quo.
The problem is that Batman & Robin use a combination of the PNG file format and CSS3, which has become quite popular as of late. Unfortunately, not all web hosts support the combination of these formats, which prevents certain parts of the site from displaying correctly. So it’s time to fix the issue. In order to do that, we need to look into what makes up a good PNG file and what can cause troubles when dealing with them. Let’s dive in.
Progressive Web App
Progressive web apps, or PWAs for short, are basically like regular websites but with a focus on mobile. They are usually very lightweight and don’t require a lot of resources to run, which means that they can work on almost any device with almost any network connection. Simply put, PWAs can work on the go, which makes them extremely versatile and appealing to business users, in particular.
PWAs are created using one of two frameworks: Polymer or Angular. The first one is more suited for enterprise-level projects while Angular is widely used and quite popular among individual developers and small businesses. Regardless of which one you choose, the basic building blocks are the same: a container element (which holds the content) and some sort of layout (which determines how everything is positioned on the page).
Solid Color
One of the more distinctive features of a good PNG is a good use of solid colors. The most important thing to keep in mind is that while it’s common to use gray-scale (a form of gradation between white and black), it’s best to use colors instead. Gradation takes longer to load and is more taxing on both the server and the end user’s device. With solid colors, you’re essentially getting white or black (plus a small hint of color), which creates an instant visual impact. Think of all those old war movies where the soldiers wear a kind of uniform made out of those bold, bright, in-your-face colors. That’s what you’re looking for!
Animation
Whether it’s a still image or a video, smooth scrolling is always a good idea. It makes for a more pleasant experience, as well as one that is more suited for high frames-per-second (fps) video. The secret to making a smooth transition is to use JavaScript to calculate the next image to display. Doing so makes sure that everything loads smoothly and that there are no momentary glitches in movement, which is essential for a good user experience. JavaScript-enabled animation makes it easy to create the illusion of movement on a page, even if all the visual elements are still.
Transparency
Images with transparency are great for a variety of reasons. One of the most obvious is that they don’t need to be downloaded separately, which means that pages with lots of transparent images don’t count against your data usage. They are also very easy to create using Photoshop or similar software and don’t require much imagination to pull off. Simply find the layer that contains the image you want to use and click the visibility toggle, which will make the element invisible, and then double-click to bring it back.
Portability
Portability between different platforms isn’t just a marketing ploy. Different image formats mean that images can be processed and edited using a variety of apps and different operating systems, without the need to re-optimize every single layout and piece of content. This is extremely valuable when dealing with digital marketing and content creation, and is why most graphic designers will shoot in a variety of formats.
No Common Access Card (CAC)
Since the inception of the common access card (CAC), or the “supercookie” as some have called it, there has been a lot of debate surrounding its necessity and security. The original intention was to create a secure and convenient way to identify users across different websites. However, as the need for CACs decreased, so has its security. There is no longer any need to protect the user’s personal information online, since every site they visit will have their personal information stored locally on their device. So instead of securing the user’s personal information online, we now need to focus on securing the user’s device itself. To do that, we need to look into the use of anti-malware and anti-virus software and make sure that our web servers are up to date and operating correctly. In the near future, most browsers will start warning users when they encounter a site that isn’t legitimate. So in short, while the CAC was once a valuable tool for online security, it is no longer needed and may even become a hindrance.
Alt Text
When a user encounters an image that doesn’t load, they will almost certainly try to click on it to see what is there. To make sure that the image is downloadable, you will need to include a small piece of text next to it. This will make it clear to the user that the image is intended to be viewed as a whole and is not just a small part of a larger image. It also means that if the image is too big to fit on a single screen, the user will have to click on it to see what is there. Alt text is a vital tool for accessibility, which makes it easy for people with various types of visual impairments to access websites and their content.
Web Standards
Even though some people (mostly older generations) may still think that images on a page should be in the form of a picture, the reality is that they don’t need to be. As we’ve mentioned above, not all web hosts support the combination of PNG and CSS3, which makes it problematic for a site to rely solely on images for its layout. Luckily, there is a solution: use the img tag with the height and width attributes, which allows you to set the dimensions of an image as you see fit. In addition to that, you can use the alt attribute to provide alternative text for the image, which will then be displayed whenever someone tries to view the image in a broken format. Furthermore, you can use the title attribute to provide a short description of the image, which will then be displayed whenever someone tries to view the image in a broken format. If all else fails, there is always the old-fashioned way of providing text directly on the page.