Saving a transparent GIF in Photoshop CS2

[nagar]

Hi,
I'm experiencing problems saving transparent GIFs with Photoshop CS2. To save gifs I use the Save for the web command
If I place a solid background and select it as the trasparent color, the image background remains solid (no transparency shown)

If, on the other hand, I remove the background layer on Photoshop the image is transparent but looks jigsawed and the borders look very bad.

What's the correct procedure to create a transparent GIF?

Thanks a lot.
Andrea

[species]

hi. easiest way i have found is to put your image on a transparent layer then save as .gif this will save the transparent background. first image is on a transparent layer. second image is both layers saved as .gif

[Welles]

Hi Andrea,

In addition to species excellent response I'll add a caution that transparent GIFs always have a border which is pixilated. That's because the GIF format just supports 1 bit transparency. A particular pixel is either on of off, no partial transparency which is the quality that allows for smooth edges. If your original image has transparent portions, such as a drop shadow, the only way to try and address that is by using the Matte color feature found in the Save For Web... dialog. The Photoshop help files has an excellent description of that feature with pictures.

Cheers!