Chapter 11: text & layout
The chapter covered a broad overview of graphical uses of text using various methods such as a vector based program and other graphics editing programs. With the web you have more control over layout to an extend by creating some of your typographic elements as a graphic. However, there are drawbacks to this to include increasing the amount of images you must then optimize and it reduces the accessibility of the text.
A broad overview of layout was covered which lead to common formatting such as inline (keeping elements on the same line) and block (elements shift to the next line). Alignment was also covered, which with this knowledge it can help make your type usage more appealing if used properly.
There was also an overview of html & css markup that for beginners might have went straight over their head. It discussed various html elements such as paragraphs, headings, as well as creating CSS rules, showing examples of each. However, it didn't offer many visuals to help the user understand how it would apply to a web page. The visuals that were available weren't very clear to understand fully for someone new to html & css.
Chapter 12: Hypertext & Hypermedia
I had to force myself not to snooze during this chapter. I find myself to be very familiar with this chapter and must say that it's written in a very dry, boring format so if I had not already known this information it would be even less thrilling. But enough about how well I think the book was written, on to what I learned:
Chapter 3 - Introduction to Computer Graphics
Chapter three provided insight into basic graphic terminology for use on computers. The main point they note in page 65 is that despite the increase in quality of monitor resolution, a design on screen will NEVER convey the same response as when it's in print. This has a lot to do with the quality and the colors available on screen, as well as the ability to touch and interact with printed pieces by hand.
Vector graphics offer the ability to scale crisp designs without losing quality. Vector graphics are also commonly referred to as object oriented graphics. Bitmap graphics or raster graphics rely on the pixel resolution of the image. Increasing the size of a bitmap graphic will reduce the quality.
Rasterizing refers to turning a vector image into a bitmap graphic, when doing so you may choose a resolution for your graphic. It is more challenging going from a bitmap to a vector. Although some programs offer vectorization (or live trace), you'll often find your best results by using the bitmap image as a template and redrawing the image in a vector program.
In most graphic programs layers are used to organize and stack elements on top of one another. The book refers to it much like an acetate or tracing paper overlay.
When referring to file formats for bitmapped images it's important to understand the difference between loseless and lossy compression. When using bitmapped graphics for the web compression is used to reduce the file size. Lossless formats offer the ability to still reconstruct the original data exactly from it's compressed version. Lossy formats compress to the extent that the file size is reduced, as is the image quality. Using lossy does discard some image data. I'll review the more common image file formats:
A GIF file (graphics interchange format) supports up to 256 colors and is intended for simplistic graphics such as logos or graphics using solid colors. GIF's support transparency and simple animations.
A JPG file (JPEG - Joint Photographic experts group) supports millions of colors and is intended for photographic compression.
A PNG (portable network graphics) is a newer image file format for the web. It is currently not fully supported by Internet explorer and older browsers. PNG's are a unique image format and could someday become the superhero of image file formats because it can act as both a JPEG and GIF, however, it does not support animation. The greatest thing about the PNG file is that it supports levels of transparency.
A TIFF (tag image file format) file format is primarily used in print design. An EPS (encapsulated postscript) is a file format used for vector graphics in print design. It is also used for duotone images or images with clipping paths.