How do I make a transparent background?

[ScottHornberg]

I've nearly thrown my laptop out the window trying to figure this out. I'd like to erase the background of an image, and just have the figure. I've made two layers, and erased the background I'd like to be rid of, but when i save it to my desktop, the image has a white background. How do I get rid of this white background? I have other icons without a background saved to my computer, but for some reason I can't make them. Please help!

Photoshop CS for Mac OS X 10.4

 

[Gaussian]

Hi Scott. The reason why your image has a white background is probably because you saved the image as Jpeg. Jpeg doesn't support transparency, GIF for example does.

 

[ScottHornberg]

I still must be doing something wrong. I opened up my picture, deleted the background, and saved it as a GIF, but it still didn't work. When I opted to save as a GIF it brought up two windows asking me about Index Colors and GIF Options. Is there something I need to do in those windows to make it work? Thanks.

 

[Sean]

If you want to save a transparent .gif you need to use the 'save for web' option under file > save for web. Then, just make sure the 'transparent' box is checked.

 

[ScottHornberg]

That worked like a charm. Thank you so much.

 

[Gaussian]

Also keep an eye on the Matte option, make sure the color is close to the background you're planning to use it on.