Damian Dawber - Learning Raphaël JS vector graphics

Damian Dawber is a web developer working on medium- to large-scale e-commerce websites and bespoke web and mobile applications. He works with both frontend and server-side technologies having had exposure to a wide range of projects working on behalf of small and medium enterprises through to FTSE 100 companies.

He started his career after being exposed to programming as it used to solve problems in physics and decided he wanted to write code on a daily basis thereafter.

Naturally I would like to thank everyone who has in some way shaped my personal and career development up to now. In particular, I would like to thank my family, my colleagues, and my current and former employers for giving me the opportunity to develop in this industry.

Special thanks must go to this book's technical reviewers, Charles Thomas and Lee Turver. Their input has been most valuable.

I would also like to thank Toms Alabs for providing me with content pertaining to the future of the Raphal library.

After leaving school and having spent significant periods in occupations as diverse as a trainee accountant and soldier, Charles Thomas supplied a software solution for a company he worked for as a laboratory supervisor in 1990. When he was made unemployed by his company in 1992, he completed further software training (HNC in Computer Studies in 1994).

Since 1994, he has always been engaged in projects that are on the "bleeding edge of technology" and he enjoys doing these very much. During his career he has worked globally for different companies in England, Europe, Canada, and USA as a software engineer (Some of these companies include the European Bank, GE (Amsterdam), Associated Newspapers / Daily Mail, and HSBC). He now lives and works in the UK and enjoys working as a graphical frontend developer on contract as required by interested companies.

He additionally did a smaller review for Instant RaphaelJS Starter by Packt Publishing.

I would like to thank Toms Alabs (the main collaborator of the latest Raphal release) for his contribution that provided information on the future of Raphal, which appears in the last chapter of the book.

Lee Turver is a PHP developer based in Manchester with close to 10 years' experience working with various web-related technologies. Now working for one of the leading digital agencies in the North West, building high-quality solutions for high-profile clients.

You can follow Lee on Twitter @LeeTurver.

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Preface

Learning Raphal JS Vector Graphics takes you on a tour of the Raphal JavaScript library and its potential applicability in today's online landscape. While it is a "mini", it is by no means limited. Coverage is given to all of the library's main facets and applications thereof and on completion of this book you will be able to create vector drawings and interactive applications in the browser.

What this book covers

, The Graphical Web , gives an introduction to Raphal: what it is, its applications, and its relevance in the context of the Web.

, Basic Drawing with Raphal , looks at how we can draw and embellish the fundamental graphics elements.

, Drawing Paths , covers drawing and manipulating more complex shapes using paths.

, Transformations and Event Handling , covers transforming graphics elements, basic event handling, the Events library, and the drag-and-drop functionality.

, Vector Animation , looks at bringing our elements to life by way of animation. We look at different ways in which we can animate graphics and lead by example.

, Working with Existing SVGs , explains how we can use Raphal to work with the existing SVGs with an overview of Inkscape and a discussion on choropleth maps.

, Creating a Suite of Social Media Visualizations , looks at building four social media data visualization demos based on everything we have covered in the previous chapters.

Who this book is for

This book is for any and all developers with an interest in frontend technologies. It is perfectly suited to those with a desire to create interactive applications or vector drawings in the web browser.