SW List Listserve cannot accept PNG format....

[Stuart Thiessen]

I am surprised at that.  I was under the impression that the encoding of
binary objects in email didn't make a difference.  Is it possible that they
have to tweak a setting (or two) to make that work?  I am curious for those
of you on the list who use other mailing lists not on this particular
listserv.  Does your listserv have the same problem with PNG?  I wonder if
we could find some feedback from those listserve administrators that would
help.  Maybe it would make it cheaper and easier if we could use PNG?  I
know that the Microsoft Photo Editor can do PNG.  That program comes with
the MS Office programs (which I only have because my RIM would only sync
with Outlook and a few other more expensive products).  Perhaps there are
other graphic products that are freeware that can do PNG?

Just wondering.

Stuart

> -----Original Message-----
> From: SignWriting List [mailto:SW-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA] On
> Behalf Of Valerie Sutton
> Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2003 12:38
> To: SW-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA
> Subject: SW List Listserve cannot accept PNG format....
>
>
> SignWriting List
> October 2, 2003
>
> Dear SW List, Stuart, Sandy...
> Thanks for your points about the .PNG format, which I believe was
> developped by MacroMedia, which has also developed such
> famous programs
> as FLASH, Director, Freehand, Dreamweaver, Fontographer and
> others...PNG is an excellent new format...
>
> BUT...we have a problem with .PNG...our ListServe software, that runs
> this SW List, from a computer in Canada that is donating the
> service to
> us....their Listserve software has problems with the .PNG format...If
> you attach a PNG to an email message and then send it to the
> SignWriting List, sometimes it will come in as "garbage" and it will
> bounce from the SignWriting List, or create a mile of garbage inside
> people's email messages...so...only GIF and JPEG work for the
> SignWriting List postings...and BMP has the same problem on the SW
> List...it will work "partially" but not always...so please stick to
> GIFs and JPEGs ...and JPEGs are ok...if there is some "fuzz"
> it doesn't
> matter for postings on email...which are not works of art anyway -
> smile... they are just used for discussing SignSpelling issues etc...
>
> Now...to finish...I was only talking about "software development"
> regarding the legal issues with GIFs...the users have NO problems and
> can use it freely...it is only a "software development" issue, and
> since CompuServe gives us another "hoop to jump over", it was just
> harder for us to build the GIF format into SignWriter DOS...so instead
> we chose BMP because it was the easiest for us...but that
> does not mean
> that any user has to worry about using the GIF format from
> Photoshop or
> other programs...it is only the problem of finding software that CAN
> create GIFs...there are not as many as JPEGs, which is totally open to
> software developpers, I believe...I hope that GIF will become public
> domain someday, because it is an excellent format which we obviously
> all agree with...
>
> Val ;-)
>
> --------------------------
>
> On Thursday, October 2, 2003, at 09:46 AM, Sandy Fleming wrote:
> > I think the only reason .png isn't popular is that not all browsers
> > support
> > it - and I suppose also because people are just used to
> .gifs. Things
> > should
> > get better as software advances, however.
> >
> > But .pngs would be a good alternative to .gifs as long as it doesn't
> > give
> > anyone problems due to having to use software that doesn't
> "know" the
> > format.
> >
> > As I understand it, it's OK to just convert to .gifs using, say,
> > Photoshop
> > or Paint Shop Pro, like we're doing, since these programs
> were written
> > using
> > the appropriate licenses. It's only when you're actually
> writing your
> > own
> > software to create .gifs that you have to get a license (which
> > explains the
> > problem with SWDOS).
> >
> > Sandy
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: SignWriting List [mailto:SW-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA]On
> Behalf Of
> >> Valerie Sutton
> >> Sent: 02 October 2003 16:56
> >> To: SW-L at ADMIN.HUMBERC.ON.CA
> >> Subject: Re: About .jpg
> >>
> >>
> >> SignWriting List
> >> October 2, 2003
> >>
> >> Sandy Fleming wrote:
> >>> So use .gif for SignWriting!  :)
> >>
> >> Dear SW List, and Sandy and Nana -
> >> Thank you, Sandy, for helping everyone with the JPEG and GIF
> >> issues...wonderful to have help!
> >>
> >> I agree, of course, that when it comes to small
> SignWriting diagrams,
> >> that GIF is best, for me at least. The problem is that
> some software
> >> does not include a way to create GIFs, since CompuServe,
> which created
> >> the GIF format, has had some restrictions on software
> developpers...it
> >> is a matter of us working it out with them...and not all graphics
> >> programs have done that...so for example, MicroSoft Paint does not
> >> always have a way to create a GIF...it depends on the
> version you have
> >> of that software etc...meanwhile JPEGs are always
> available, so it may
> >> be that Nana doesn't have the capability to create a GIF?...
> >>
> >> And that is ok...since both JPEGs and GIFs work fine, when
> posting to
> >> the SW List...
> >>
> >> Years ago, when we were developing the EXPORT feature in
> SignWriter,
> >> we
> >> wanted to create an EXPORT to GIF from SignWriter, but
> there were some
> >> legal restrictions from CompuServe. But there were none
> for exporting
> >> to BMP...so we chose the later, since as a small, non-profit
> >> organization, it was simply easier for us...but it is my hope that
> >> someday, at least from SignWriter Java, we can add a feature for
> >> exporting to GIF, JPEG and a variety of other
> formats...directly from
> >> SignWriter.
> >>
> >> Val ;-)
> >>
> >
>