SVG Essentials - Softcover

Eisenberg, J. David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0596002238 ISBN 13: 9780596002237

Publisher: O′Reilly, 2002

Synopsis

Scalable Vector Graphics -- or SVG -- is the new XML-based graphics standard from the W3C that will enable Web documents to be smaller, faster and more interactive. J. David Eisenberg's insightful book takes you through the ins and outs of SVG, beginning with basics needed to create simple line drawings and then moving through more complicated features like filters, transformations, and integration with Java, Perl, and XSLT.Unlike GIFs, JPEGs or PNGs (which are bitmapped), SVG images are both resolution- and device-independent, so that they can scale up or down to fit proportionally into any size display or any Internet device -- from PDAs to large office monitors and high-resolution printers. Smaller than bitmapped files and faster to download, SVG images can be rendered with different CSS styles for each environment. They work well across a range of available bandwidths.SVG makes it possible for designers to escape the constant need to update graphics by hand or use custom code to generate bitmap images. And while SVG was created with the Web in mind, the language has a variety of other uses. SVG greatly simplifies tasks like:

• Creating web sites whose graphics reflect the content of the page, changing automatically if the content changes
• Generating graphs and charts from information stored in a wide variety of sources
• Exchanging detailed drawings, from architectural plans to CAD layouts to project management diagrams
• Creating diagrams that users can explore by zooming in and panning around
• Generating bitmap images for use in older browsers using simple automatable templates
• Managing graphics that support multiple languages or translations
• Creating complex animation

By focusing sharply on the markup at the foundation of SVG, SVG Essentials gives you a solid base on which to create your own custom tools. Explanations of key technical tools -- like XML, matrix math, and scripting -- are included as appendices, along with a reference to the SVG vocabulary.Whether you're a graphic designer in search of new tools or a programmer dealing with the complex task of creating and managing graphics, SVG Essentials provides you with the means to take advantage of SVG.

About this title

Review

SVG Essentials is a programmer's guide to Scalable Vector Graphics, the official W3C recommendation for portable, scaleable images on the Web. SVG is an XML application, and has great potential as a standard, open and powerful technique for including rich graphics and animation in Web pages. Macromedia's proprietary Flash plug-in is widely used for the same purpose, but SVG is the official solution. Complete with hundreds of code examples along with both colour and black-and-white illustrations, this title describes the SVG specification and shows how to create and manipulate SVG documents. The book uses open-source technology throughout, and readers should already be familiar with both XML and Java.

The author begins with an overview of SVG, and goes on to describe the coordinate system, the basic shapes, and how documents are structured. Chapters on paths, patterns and gradients show how to create and fill any shape, including Bezier curves. Text gets a chapter of its own, explaining how to make text follow a path or even make it read right-to-left, for international language support. Sections on clipping, masking and filters cover these more advanced graphical techniques, and an important chapter covers animation and Javascript scripting. The book goes on to show how to generate SVG from other XML data, such as MathML, used to describe mathematical symbols and equations. Finally, there is a chapter on how to serve up SVG using Java servlets.

Clearly written and logically presented, this is an excellent choice for Web developers who want to get started with SVG. --Tim Anderson

Review

"....those who want the nitty-gritty on this emerging Web Graphics format will be hard pressed to find something better." -- Keith Shengili-Roberts, Computer Paper June 2002

Those who want the nitty-gritty on this emerging Web Graphics format will be hard pressed to find something better. -- Keith Shengili-Roberts, Computer Paper June 2002

Edition details

• Publisher: O′Reilly
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0596002238
• ISBN 13: 9780596002237
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 335