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. This chapter offers a quick and fascinating demystification of these critical graphics file types. The next chapter discusses the dance between graphics and Web browsers, with a look at CGI, HTML display, color schemes, and other details.
Among the tools discussed in this book is 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 flexibility 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
