I wanted to draw a logo based on a parabolic curve.<\/p>\n
So I fired up Photoshop, and quickly realised I couldn’t draw it by hand.<\/p>\n
So I created a template in Excel, dragged it as a background layer into Photoshop, and tried to trace around it. I quickly realised I didn’t have the skill for that either.<\/p>\n
I considered using the Python Imaging Library<\/a> to construct the logo from first principles and primitive graphics operations. Then I discovered Scalable Vector Graphics<\/a> (SVG) – a method of representing graphics primitives in an XML format, and have them be represented in your browser. <\/p>\n Cool! A new technology to learn, perfectly suited to my needs: <\/p>\n So, I installed the Adobe SVG View plug-in to IE and set to work.<\/p>\n As I constructed the image, I encountered a few expected hurdles. The ARC syntax is mysterious. The Adobe SVG viewer ignores the textLength parameter. <\/p>\n However, overall I would say it was very successful. Perhaps the approach influenced some of my creative decisions, but I was happy with the result, and I think it would have been hard to reproduce with another technology.<\/p>\n For example, when I decided that the parabola did not look pleasing, I changed to a sine wave. In a raster-based world, that probably would have meant scrapping the image and starting again. Instead, I generated a new vector path in Excel, and simply copied it across.<\/p>\n Having the option in the future of animating the logo – declaratively! – was also a big plus.<\/p>\n It was when I had substantially finished the logo design that the problems occurred. I discovered I had just wandered directly right into the middle of another standards-compatibility minefield.<\/p>\n For example, Firefox wouldm’t display my image until I changed the namespace from the one I found on a SVG tutorial site. Even then, Firefox still paid no attention to the specified font-size. I had realised from the textLength issue earlier that some of the fancier features might not be supported in every browser… but font-size<\/em>?<\/p>\n I didn’t care, because I was planning on converting to PNG format anyway before putting it on a web-site.<\/p>\n So to do the conversion, I loaded it into PhotoShop… or actually found that PhotoShop couldn’t read SVG files. Despite the fact Adobe wrote the SVG plugin, Adobe PhotoShop can’t read them! Odd!<\/p>\n So I searched the web for some simple converters. I found development frameworks. I found payware. I found major infrastructural installs – nothing simple and free.<\/p>\n I installed a demo of some payware called ABC Amber. It is a great program! It has a colourful UI, tips-of-the-day, nice installer. If I had to be picky and point out one small little problem, it would be that it doesn’t read valid SVG<\/strong>! I don’t even know why, because the only feedback it gives is “Failure”.<\/p>\n I did run my SVG through a validating engine – and got the all clear.<\/p>\n When I saw that ImageMagick would read SVG, I remembered the pain I had in installing that to support Animated GIFs, and almost gave up. Then I remembered that, back then, I had actually succeeded in installing the part I needed, so I launched ImageMagick’s display tool. It read the SVG file in without complaint, but cropped it severely and displayed the text in the wrong place – half off the screen.<\/p>\n I had to convert this image to PNG by displaying it in Internet Explorer, zooming in and taking screenshots. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n Right now, I am backing away from SVG very carefully and with no sudden moves, and I am cursing the software industry under my breath for wasting yet another great opportunity to interoperate. <\/p>\n I am sure it is like HTML, CSS, PNG and other web-standards – No doubt there are techniques to carefully negotiate the majority of common browser bugs to produce images that look roughly the same in each browser. But this is a logo – it should be damn near identical<\/em> in each browser, and I don’t have the time to spend a career on learning the tweaks required.<\/p>\n What do I think of the SVG standard? I think Gandhi was right: “It would be a good idea.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n