That's Not Flash? Native Browser Vector Graphics

Browsers can move images around on the screen, but they can't draw without Flash or one of those other plugins, right? Today's browsers — Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and yes, even Internet Explorer — all have Vector Graphics implementations. But Is SVG really possible in Internet Explorer? What are the benefits of SVG over Flash? And what the heck is a vector graphic anyway?

See liquid layouts never before possible in a web browser that are fully interactive, squash and stretch, and have physical properties — all without Flash Player or any other plugin. Vector graphic markup is a simple, familiar language, and the DojoX GFX package creates a cross-browser abstraction which allows for advanced techniques and dazzling effects.

TARGET AUDIENCE - Web Developers of all levels, management interested in learning new technologies

The presentation will start with a short slide show explaining the difference between vector and raster images, and the benefits of SVG over Flash. Simple examples of SVG and VML markup will be shown and how they are the basis for the advance layouts and effects to be seen later. DojoX GFX is introduced and how its renderer works on different browsers. Next will be a short discussion on Google's work in vector graphics, including Open SVG and the Drawing tools in Google Docs. Finally, the abilities of DojoX Drawing will be fully demonstrated, starting with drawing and animating shapes and polygons, and concluding with examples of typical web UI components that are flexible and interact with one another.

About Mike Wilcox

Mike Wilcox is a software engineer for of one of the top AJAX companies in the United States, SitePen Inc., which is comprised of the original contributors of the Dojo Toolkit and other open source technologies. As co-founder of the JavaScript user group in Dallas, Club AJAX, Mike is a regular speaker with presentations that include "The JavaScript Programming Primer" and "'That's not Flash?' Native Browser Vector Graphics".

Mike is a key developer for the new Deft project in Dojo that implements most of the Flash-based components used in DojoX, like the File Uploader and the Video and Audio controls. He is also a primary contributor of the Dojo extensions for Adobe AIR. His latest project is a vector-based drawing library, which he hopes can be used to push the boundaries of browser user interfaces.

For more information, read Mike's blog at http://www.sitepen.com/blog/author/mwilcox/ and visit http://clubajax.org/

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