Sprite Images?

[mwmartz]

In trying to get a PNG copy of an icon used in the product so I could include it in the help, I learned that the developers are using "CSS image sprites" rather than individual images. Looking around for more information, I get the point that using sprite files help Web pages load more quickly. But, these seem to be more trouble than they're worth from my end. I just need one or two images from the devs sprite file. But figuring out the x and y positions is a real pain, not to mention how to get Flare to recognize them.

If anyone else has had experience working with these kinds of image files, can you offer any tips?

[NorthEast]

But figuring out the x and y positions is a real pain

You shouldn't normally have to work it out yourself, I'd expect that whoever produced the sprite file would also supply the CSS required; e.g. it might have a lot of classes such as .icon-this or .icon-that.

[mwmartz]

Thanks, Dave, I'll ask about that.

As it turns out, it probably won't help me for this particular effort, though. I'm trying to "doctor" a help project that wasn't built in the most ideal way. It turns out the bulk of the icons that need to be replaced are contained within screen shots rather than placed individually where it makes the most sense. So for the time being, I have to doctor individual screen shots with some image editing magic. Thank goodness, Flare automatically updates edited images wherever they're used.

This project is on my list of "do overs" later down the road...