Programming Web Graphics with Perl and GNU Software
Published on 9. March 1999
Book
470 pages
978-1-56592-478-9 (ISBN)
Description
From access counters and log-report graphs to scientific plots and on-the-fly animated GIFs, graphics scripting is within the grasp of most Web authors. This text is aimed at intermediate and advanced Web users who want to use CGI scripts to generate dynamic graphic content. It also aims to help demystify the manipulation of graphics formats for newcomers to the Web.
The book covers the following: a tour through the most popular Web graphics file formats by implementing parsers for GIF, JPEG, and PNG files; descriptions of the PNG, JPEG and giflib libraries, as well as many other free and proprietary libraries and SDKs; documentation and examples using the Perl graphics modules GD and GIFgraph, and the Perl interface; powerful ImageMagick libraries; documentation on the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) and the Perl interface that lets you easily script plug-ins or interface to the GIMP via the Web; the creation of image maps from data extracted from a database; the implementation of several Perl modules for the creation of neatly formatted PostScript files; details on interfacing to a fax gateway; reusable recipes for many popular applications such as Web counters and Web cam; the creation of animated GIFs on-the-fly; and optimizing graphics generation on the server-side.
The book covers the following: a tour through the most popular Web graphics file formats by implementing parsers for GIF, JPEG, and PNG files; descriptions of the PNG, JPEG and giflib libraries, as well as many other free and proprietary libraries and SDKs; documentation and examples using the Perl graphics modules GD and GIFgraph, and the Perl interface; powerful ImageMagick libraries; documentation on the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) and the Perl interface that lets you easily script plug-ins or interface to the GIMP via the Web; the creation of image maps from data extracted from a database; the implementation of several Perl modules for the creation of neatly formatted PostScript files; details on interfacing to a fax gateway; reusable recipes for many popular applications such as Web counters and Web cam; the creation of animated GIFs on-the-fly; and optimizing graphics generation on the server-side.
Reviews / Votes
'...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 2000More details
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Person
Shawn Wallace has been applying computers to graphics problems for the past twelve years. A programmer and artist, Shawn is managing director of the AS220 (www.as220.org) artist community in Providence, RI., a cofounder of the SMT Computing Society, and a member of the Rhode Island chapter of the Perl Mongers. He is also involved in the Bolero open source music notation system (www.as220.org/shawn/bolero) and the Institute for Folk Computing, a program to inform and inspire the use of open software by the general public in Providence. Shawn studied computer engineering at the University of Rhode Island and participated in the construction of an early (mid-80s) hypermedia delivery system at HyperView Systems in Middletown, RI.
Content
Preface. I. Introduction to Web Graphics. 1. Image File Formats Network Graphics Basics Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) Portable Network Graphics (PNG) JPEG References. 2. Serving Graphics on the Web The Server and CGI Web Graphics and the Browser Presenting Images in HTML Colors and the Web Browser The Once and Future Browser References. 3. A Litany of Libraries Image Support Libraries References II. Graphics Programming Tools. 4. On-the-Fly Graphics with GD GD Jumpstart Sample Application: A Chess Board Simulator The GD.pm Distribution Font Methods Polygon Methods. 5. Industrial-Strength Graphics Scripting with PerlMagick Learn PerlMagick in 21 Seconds The ImageMagick Distribution and PerlMagick Image::Magick Attributes and Methods by Category Reading and Writing Images Getting and Setting Image::Magick Attributes Manipulating Images How to Tell When Something Has Gone Wrong Using the ImageMagick Utilities. 6. Charts and Graphs with GIFgraph Let's Make Some Graphs! GIFgraph Reference Colors in GIFgraph Creating Data Sets with Data::Xtab Passing GIFgraph Graphs to GD Objects. 7. Web Graphics with the Gimp Quick Gimp Getting and Installing the Gimp Using the Gimp for Day-to-Day Web Projects Scripting the Gimp in Perl References III. Dynamic Graphic Techniques. 8. Image Maps Client-Side Versus Server-Side Image Map Tools Image Maps on the Fly: A Clickable "Wander" Engine. 9. Moving Pictures: Programming GIF Animation Anatomy of a GIF89a Animation Seven Easy Pieces with PerlMagick GIFscript, an Animation Scripting Language. 10. Web Graphics Cookbook The BrokenImage Module A Web Page Access Counter A JavaScript Rollover Menu A Web Cam ASCII ALTs Thumbnailing References. 11. Paperless Office? Not in Our Lives: Printing and the Web Everything I Needed to Know About PostScript I Learned Here Using the PostScript Modules on the Web The PostScript::TextBlock Module Multipage Documents with PostScript::Document The PostScript::Elements Module References IV. Appendixes A. A Simple PNG Decoder in Perl B. Quick Reference Guide to the Gimp C. Procedure Reference for the Gimp