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Vector graphics can have significant advantages as web graphics over bitmap formats like jpgs, gifs and png's. Xara has demonstrated that file sizes can be dramatically smaller so they minimize bandwidth requirements and download quickly. Even with a smaller file size, quality can be much higher. I say "can" because the advantages aren't necessarily a given for all implementations of SVG's. Certainly all of those advantages have been achieved with Xara Ltd.'s successful creation of its "Flare" plug-in coupled with the superior vector drawing capabilities of its Xara X illustration program. For many typical uses of jpgs and gifs, a higher quality and significantly smaller alternative can be created by pairing Xara X's vector output with Xara's plug-in. Xara has proved it can be done. What is really amazing is that Xara has made it practical using a program (Xara X) that sells for under $80 US! Calling them "scalable vector graphics" highlights that they are intrinsically scalable - zoom in and in and the graphic's quality doesn't deteriorate! Using CorelXara I could make a graphic that is my name - "Ross". Let's say I make it only a quarter inch high at 100% zoom. In CorelXara I can zoom in on it over 25,000% ! - with no decline in quality. It would be possible to zoom in on the letter "o" and type a brief ode to Xara. Of course the font size would be incredibly small! The poem would appear only as a small speck - if at all - at a 100% zoom factor. If the graphic were exported as a bitmap, that tiny text would be lost. (The bitmap's resolution would have to be extreme - with a correspondingly huge file size - for the tiny text not to be lost by bitmapping the object. The technology to do this, if it exists at all, is likely classified for military use only). As a SVG the tiny text remains accessible. Furthermore, the file size of the document could be incredibly small - possibly no more than 5 or 6k in size! The ultra-high resolution bitmap would likely have to be many megabytes bigger - possibly even hundreds of megabytes! File sizes for SVG's are determined largely by the number of vector objects that make up the graphic rather than its physical "size". I routinely work on detailed drawings that are 2x3 feet in size but still have file sizes under 75k. If I resized the graphics down to 4x6 inches, they would still be the same file size. When SVG's have small file sizes, they can be much easier for your computer to process the data vs. much larger bitmap file. Lots of computing power is required to work with large bitmaps. Indeed there never seems to be enough power. Vector graphics are in comparison a piece of cake to process and display. CorelXara's graphics engine is so fast that most redraws are practically instantaneous. Of course redraws are slowed down somewhat when you've incorporated large bitmaps into your drawing. CorelXara allows you to use bitmaps as fills and to apply them as transparencies (much like a bump map in some other programs). The speed of CorelXara is like a breath of fresh air if you are used to creating graphics in PaintShop Pro or Photoshop. Even on older computers CorelXara performs impressively. Brush off the old 486 - it can come back to life as a graphics workstation! If it has a video card capable of thousands of colors, you'll find it performs admirably. On a newer computer it really flies. SVG's are particularly useful as web graphics even though currently users will need the browser plug-in. The Xara plug-in allows the user to zoom in and pan. This is great for maps but also useful when the graphic is highly detailed. The graphic gets displayed at very high effective resolution - much higher than would be practical for a bitmap for web use. With their relatively small file sizes SVG's make it practical to include very detailed drawings on a website. Xara's implementation of SVG also allows items in the drawing to be hyperlinks much like a client-side image map.
I'm sorry but I haven't quite finished this page! ... I intend to provide
some example graphics that use Xara's plug-in to display as SVG's in your
browser window. Check back again soon to see how this page has developed.
I really want you to see how impressive it can be to have high resolution
vector-based graphics on your webpage.
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proceed to my page about my enthusiasm for CorelXara ...
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