- Spacer GIF
Prior to the adoption of
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), the spacer GIF was a transparentimage , often used to control blank space within aweb page , that can be resized according to the width and height dimensions it is given. Spacer GIFs are not browser specific. The reason a spacer GIF is invisible is so that anHTML developer can create a table cell and fill the background with a specific color that can be viewed through the transparent spacer GIF. For instance, let's say the developer wants to create a blue box that is 500 x 500pixel s wide and high. Instead of using a separate blue graphic that is 500 x 500 pixels (taking up additional bandwidth), the developer can specify the table cell background color and specify the dimensions of the spacer GIF that already exists.History
David Siegel's 1996 book "Creating Killer Web Sites" [http://www.killersites.com/killerSites/core.html] was allegedly the first to publish the Spacer GIF technique. According to Siegel, he invented the trick in his living room.cite web
last = Justaddwater
title = Justaddwater: Who invented the Spacer GIF
publisher = Justaddwater
date =2006-03-03
url = http://justaddwater.dk/2006/03/03/who-invented-the-spacergif/
accessdate = 2006-11-26]The use of spacer GIFs has declined due to the prevalence of
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for laying out web pages, which achieves the same effect by changing the margin or padding on a given element. If used properly, CSS reduces unnecessary code in a web page. Blank 1x1 GIFs are still occasionally used to fix a PNG rendering limitation in MicrosoftInternet Explorer versions 5.5 - 6.References
External links
* [http://www.killersites.com/killerSites/1-design/single_pixel.html Single-Pixel GIF Trick @ CKWS, by David Siegel]
* [http://www.killersites.com/killerSites/resources/dot_clear.gifSpacer GIF example: dot_clear.gif]
* [http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/box.html#mpb-examples CSS2 Box Model Specification, World Wide Web Consortium]
* http://www.loremipsum.net/pixelgif/ Loremipsum.net: download pixel.gif/spacer.gif]
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