You're probably one of the millions of AOL users that
do not realize that AOL software automatically
compresses image data and will distort many images and photographs,
causing these images or photographs to look blurry or have black lines in
them. AOL software is unusual compared to all other browsers (like
Netscape or Internet Explorer) included with other more standard internet
services. AOL thinks it is doing its
users a favor by compressing images automatically to speed downloading
time, even though the download time is essentially unchanged by this
compression.
The actual result is that the AOL software adjusts images and photographs only to a predefined set
of 256 unique colors. Any images with more than the 256 colors in
the AOL palette get blurred or blackened. In short, AOL users do not
see the internet as clearly as the rest of the internet community. Once you're
logged on through AOL, it doesn't matter whether you use the AOL browser,
Internet Explorer, or any other browser on your computer. They will
all receive AOL compressed images.
To improve the quality of images on all Web sites
(including ours!) when using America Online
you will need to turn off the image compression function that is set to
"on" by default. The basic procedure to turn off AOL image
compression is outlined below, but may vary slightly between AOL software
versions.
Turning off AOL Image Compression:
| 1) |
Choose "My
AOL" on the icon bar across the top of the window. |
| 2) |
Select
"Preferences". |
| 3) |
Click the "WWW" icon,
pulling up the AOL Internet Properties dialog box. |
| 4) |
Click the "Web
Graphics" tab on the AOL Internet Properties
dialog box. |
| 5) |
Uncheck "Use
Compressed Graphics". |
| 6) |
Leave
the AOL Internet Properties dialog box open. |
You now need to delete the pages /
images that have been previously viewed (browser's cache):
|
7) |
Select the "General"
tab on the
AOL
Internet Properties dialog box. |
|
8) |
Click the
"Delete Files" button in the "Temporary Internet
files" section. |
|
9) |
Click
"OK" to confirm this action. |
|
10) |
Click "OK" to close the
AOL Internet Properties dialog box. |
|
11) |
Close the
"Preferences" window. |
For the above
changes to take place, you may have to exit and restart AOL.