GraPL > Vector Graphics > Introduction

GraPL > Vector Graphics > Introduction > Pictures in Words

Pictures in Words

People have been wanting to put pictures on the internet from the beginning, and it was Netscape’s invention of a browser that could display linked images that really got the whole World Wide Web idea off the ground. So why would you want to include a graphic ‘in line’ with a text description, rather than simply drawing it and linking to it? Here are a few good reasons why this is going to happen:

Quality. When you describe a circle with words, it stays as a circle, and it prints as a circle without ugly jagged edges.
Speed. The number of bytes that come up the wire is always reduced, often dramatically.
Server load. If your home page has 30 pictures on it, that is 30 separate HTTP connections to fetch them. If it has in-line VML artwork, the server can send everything in one response.

To give a very simple example, here is a a filled, coloured ball, which works out at around 3.4Kb as a compressed PNG:

... and for comparison, here is the source for a complete webpage which draws the same ball:

<html><head> <title>My First VML Page</title> <xml:namespace prefix="v"/> <style> v\:* {behavior=url(#default#VML)}</style> </head> <body> <p>This just paints a pretty 3D ball!</p> <v:oval style="width=100;height=100"> <v:fill type="gradientradial" color="red" color2="yellow" method="sigma" focusposition="0.27,0.27" focussize="0.1,0.1"/> </v:oval> <p>Wow!</p> </body></html>

This is exactly 401 bytes of text, so the single image is over 100 times the size of the entire page which defines it as a vector!

Where does GraPL help?
GraPL was designed from the beginning as a tool for building high-quality business charts in vector format, so you can use it today to add vector-drawn charts to your website. Whether you make your charts by hand in GraPL desktop, or generate them inline with GraPL.NET, you can have a site which is faster to load, displays more cleanly, and where the charts print beautifully.

If you want to know more about vector graphics, please read through the next few pages. If you just want to try out some charts, have a look through the ‘Try GraPL’ examples and you will begin to appreciate why this technology is so exciting.

Continue to: Vector Graphics