Macromedia Fireworks gradient fill

[Moly]

Hi,

sorry if this is slightly off topic guys (and gals).

I have been using fireworks to create some web graphics (with the help of my trusty ixus400 too), and when i use the gradient fill option I can see the individual bands of color which looks terrible... yet in the preview pane before i apply the fill to an object it looks fine (so its not my color depth or anything)

any ideas what up with it?

I also can't seem to get the 'fill control line' up anymore so that i can control the direction and length of gradient etc.

any help much appreciated!

Moly

[huebdoo]

First off what are you exporting them as?
Banding (like a rainbow) is common when you use gradients online... that is why anyone who does web design for a living avoids them like the plauge

Try to keep your gradients tight... like 50pix high etc... this limits the transition and will limit the banding effect that I think you are running into

if you were to go from red to blue you might want to try this...
Say the area that you want to have going from red to blue is 100 pixels high

Create a table with three rows, 1 col
in top cell set background as red @ 25 pixels high
in the middle cell place an image that you create in Fireworks going from red to blue with only about 5 pixels on either end being 100% red, 100% blue with the gradient taking up the entire image @ 50 pixels

in the last cell create a blue background @ 25 pixels

What you see looks wierd, what the user sees is a red with a transition to blue .... keeping the transition tight will get rid of the banding that you are witnessing

Hope that Helps
Good Luck

[Moly]

huebdoo,

many thanks for the help... turns out that my problem was something really silly, my colour depth was set at 16bit instead of 32bit (can you believe it... im sure i must have checked it).

However, your advice was very interesting and I did try the effect you mentioned and it works, very clever. you can get a similar effect yet keep it tight.

Also, it highlighted to me the fact that i shouldnt be going near these gradients anyway, thanks for that!

I guess not everybody is going to have true colour running on their machines so i will need to restrict the size and then check it in lower colour depths.

cheers,
Martin