HTML and Web Design Secrets P2

For those of you who create logos, refine type, and enjoy drawing, the twomost common drawing programs are Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand(shown in Figure 1-16). Vector-based images differ from bitmap graphicsin that they contain the mathematical information necessary to allow them to bescaled without loss of quality
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HTML and Web Design Secrets P220 Part I: Tools, Planning, and ContentFigure 1-14: Fireworks is extremely popular for bitmap production.Figure 1-15: Designing graphics using The Gimp, a freely distributed open-sourceimaging program. Chapter 1: Setting up a Master Toolbox 21 For information on Adobe Photoshop, please visitwww.adobe.com/.note Macromedia Fireworks can be found at www.macromedia.com/. Corel products are showcased at www.corel.com/, and JASC’s Paint Shop Pro is available at www.jasc.com/. The Gimp for UNIX and Windows can be found at www.gimp.org/, and The Gimp for Mac OS X is at www.macgimp.org/.Secret #9: Vector Image ProgramsFor those of you who create logos, refine type, and enjoy drawing, the twomost common drawing programs are Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Free-hand (shown in Figure 1-16). Vector-based images differ from bitmap graphicsin that they contain the mathematical information necessary to allow them to bescaled without loss of quality. They are extremely useful for creating curves andshapes. Of course, you will need to rasterize your final work by converting it tobitmap formats, such as GIF or JPEG, if you’re going to use your illustration onthe Web, but you can achieve far more complex drawing tasks in a vector-basedprogram.Figure 1-16: Drawing geometric shapes in Macromedia Freehand.As with bitmap programs, there are a few shareware and open source gems thatshouldn’tbe overlooked, especially for those on a limited budget, who have lighter-weight needs for vector drawing.22 Part I: Tools, Planning, and ContentTwo such bitmap programs are: Mayura Draw is a shareware vector drawing program for Windows, at $39.00 per license. Used mostly by scientists and engineers for technical illustrations, Mayura Draw can be an invaluable and inexpensive tool in your design toolbox (see Figure 1-17). Sketch is a freely distributed open source drawing program for Linux, with a Windows port version called “Skencil.’’Figure 1-17: Using Mayura Draw for vector-based design. Web designers and developers using Linux platform and open sourcetip software for designing graphics should check out LinuxArtist.Org, at www.linuxartist.org/2d.php. For additional free vector drawing software resources, see http:// bourbon.usc.edu:8001/tgif/vector.html.Secret #10: Web Animation UtilitiesOutside of animation for advertising, GIF animations have somewhat fallen outof favor for use on professional Web sites—except for those instances where verysubtle effects are desired. Of course, much of this has to do with the proliferationof Macromedia Flash (which has also influenced Web advertising). Nevertheless,GIF animations are sill desired in some cases, so make sure you have one on hand. Chapter 1: Setting up a Master Toolbox 23As with all software and utilities, some of the available Web animation utilities arecommercial, and some are completely free. Table 1-6 provides a variety of popularoptions from which to choose.Table 1-6: Popular Web Animation UtilitiesSoftware Platform and Usage AvailabilityUlead Gif Animator Windows; very Commercial, low-cost product popular with many with 30-day demo, www.ulead designers .com/ga/runme.htmGIF Construction Set One of the oldest GIF Low-cost shareware, animators around for www.mindworkshop.com/ Windows alchemy/gifcon.htmlGIF Builder Very popular for Mac Low-cost shareware, OS 9 and earlier www.mac.org/graphics/ gifbuilder/GIF Builder for OS X Mac OS X (will run on Freeware, Mac OS 8 and above) www.macupdate.com/info .php/id/235GIF Merge Linux and related http://the-labs.com/ platforms GIFMerge/The majority of Web designers, however, tend to use Adobe ImageReady for anima-tions. ImageReady (shown in Figure 1-18) ships with Photoshop and is availablefor Windows and Macintosh.Figure 1-18: Creating a GIF animation in Adobe ImageReady.24 Part I: Tools, Planning, and ContentSecret #11: Screen Capture UtilitiesBy far, some of the most helpful utilities I’ve ever used are those that assist withscreen capturing. Such utilities are invaluable when creating Web site portfolios,sharing mockups with co-workers and colleagues, and so on.While screen captures can be done with almost any imaging program, such asPhotoshop, screen capture utilities let you hone in on specific portions of the screenand capture menus, dialogs, and toolbars with ease. This can be very helpful andsave a lot of time—instead of cropping full-screen images, you can instantly getwhat you need and, in most cases, output it to numerous useful file formats.Many excellent screen-capture utilities are available for all platforms, but the threemost reportedly beloved are as follows: For Windows, SnagIt by TechSmith is an amazing utility that I find myself using almost daily. You can find this low-cost shareware at www.techsmith.com/products/snagit/. Find low-cost shareware ScreenShot Pro, for Mac and Mac OS X at www.code-line.com/software/screenshotpro.html. OSX is packaged with two screen-capture utilities, one within the operating system itself, and the other a feature called Grab. For Linux, the KDE desktop environment has screen shot utilities ...