Amazon.co.uk Review
As a how-to book,
Programming Web Graphics with Perl & GNU Software covers a narrow but powerful niche of Web development--on-the-fly graphics generation. It also focuses on the Perl language and its associated free code modules, making the techniques you learn in this book immediately available for free.
Author Shawn P. Wallace begins with a look at the popular image formats on the Web: GIF, PNG and JPEG. The chapter quickly demystifies these critical graphics file types. The next chapter discusses the dance between graphics and Web browsers with a look at CGI, HTML display, colour schemes and other details.
Among the tools discussed in this book are the GD Perl module for working with GIF files, the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP), GIFScript and ImageMagick. The author uses a chessboard simulation application to illustrate how to manipulate graphics dynamically. Some sections focus on graphing, animation and image maps to illustrate the flex ibility of dynamic graphics.
Near the end of the book the author presents a "Web graphics cookbook"--a collection of examples you can use in your sites that includes a graphical Web counter, a JavaScript rollover menu, image thumbnailing scripts and more. The author finishes with a discussion of creating and integrating PostScript code.
This guide reads more like a brain dump from the author than a comprehensive discussion of Web graphics; however, there's much to be gleaned from his knowledge. --Stephen W Plain
Review
'...is a cross between a how to manual and an idea book. It will empower readers in the often mystical area of graphic creation and suggest new ways to give web sites lively, dynamic content, all without spending a penny on software. 454 pages are hardly enough to provide a thorough course in every tool mentioned, but in each case there is enough material to lift the reader to basic confidence, and the references to take them further. Although without some knowledge of Perl it might be intimidating, the text should be accessible to the complete graphics novice. Shawn Wallace has written an excellent book on a topic which deserves it."'--Gavin Inglis, news@UK, June 2000
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