http://www.geekchichq.com/The_Sultan_.html

Yes, it's nifty. Not the point. Try selecting any of the text on the main page. Heck, try selecting any *one* image on the main page.

Do not, at any point, suspect that the entire page is a single 593x2341 PNG (with an alpha channel).

 Hmmm - I don't see the pictures ON the table. Didi they use another one to take the photograph?

According to the page source, there are multiple images there.

Zylon:

Yes, it's nifty.

TRWTF. 

Zylon:

Try selecting any of the text on the main page.

No problem:

    * Home
    * The Sultan 
    * Order your Sultan
    * About us
    * Policies
    * Contact us
    * E-mail sign-up 

 Not much different than using flash, except it's all on one screen and there are no fancy transition animations.

Well, the text in that image is actually in the document... in the <title>.

If you click on the link for "Order My Sultan" ... On the resulting page, none of the links at the top are links.  You've just hit a dead end!

That's nothing. Take a look at the <title> tag. Never mind; I see FraGag beat me to that one...

According to the <meta> tags, incidentally, this was designed in Apple's iWeb. I'd heard that iWeb can output some crazy stuff, but this makes some of the FrontPage code I've seen look sane.

 the "content" text exists in three variants there:

1. drawn on the main image
2. part of the <title> tag
3. part of the main image's alt="..." attribute 

not much space saved...

addendum: oops sorry, that was on the "order my..." page -- there at least the email-link works in the middle of the page. Astonishingly

belgariontheking:

If you click on the link for "Order My Sultan" ... On the resulting page, none of the links at the top are links.  You've just hit a dead end!

that's because you're supposed to obey the sultan, not order him around.

 How prevelant is internet explorer 6 these days? (I know at least one corporation that still uses it.) Because PNGs with transparency look rubbish in it.

Stats tend to put it between 20% and 30%. Most of these are probably users that are running Windows 2000 or older, never install updates, or use work machines that use internal systems that have never been upgraded to work on anything other than IE6.

Of course, it's trivial to get IE6 to show alpha channel PNGs (PNGFix has been around for a long time, and takes no time to add to the code), and if you can use GIF-style PNGs (single bit alpha, 8-bit color), that'll work without fixes, so that bit isn't really an issue.

Yes, this is a WTF.

Yes, making a web page of text and images by rendering and including one massive image is a WTF.  But since the creator is apparently picky about getting appearance just right (see table), I'm not surprised.

Making your web page uncrawable by bots by putting all the text into images is a WTF.  Fixing the problem by putting all of the text into the title is also a WTF.

Nice find.  And I want the table too. 

AlpineR:

And I want the table too.

Hint: girlfriend first.  Once you've trapped her in holy matrimony, you can start buying stuff like this. 

morbiuswilters:

AlpineR:

And I want the table too.

Hint: girlfriend first.  Once you've trapped her in holy matrimony, you can start buying stuff like this.

"uhh, honey?  I want to spend 10 grand on a table.  Is that ok?"

belgariontheking:

"uhh, honey?  I want to spend 10 grand on a table.  Is that ok?"

I'm assuming AlpineR is a real man.  A man's man.  He's not going to be like you and ask his wife's permission to buy a $10k gaming table.

morbiuswilters:

belgariontheking:

"uhh, honey?  I want to spend 10 grand on a table.  Is that ok?"

I'm assuming AlpineR is a real man.  A man's man.  He's not going to be like you and ask his wife's permission to buy a $10k gaming table.

Yeah, asking for her permission -- or even telling her before the delivery guys are bringing it into the house -- only gives her the opportunity to say no.