Peter Kentie: Web Graphics Tools and Techniques home page


	This web site is complementary to the book: Web Graphics Tools and Techniques written by Peter Kentie and Published by Peachpit Press.

This book has won the prestigious Adobe Power of Design competition in the category 'Design for Printed Media Professional 1997' and is listed as a Recommended Book by the Computer Graphics Expert Editor of Amazon books.

When it comes to creating Web pages, no single tools is sufficient. Web creators need to master a wide variety of authoring and graphics tools, as well as have a basic working knowledge of HTML coding. The book Web Graphics Tools and Techniques is your ultimate guide, written by a professional Web designer. The book begins with basic Web concepts, then proceeds into the specifics of formatting graphics, text, and tables with HTML. From there, it moves deeper into graphics techniques, explaining the use of such graphics tools as Photoshop, Painter, Poser, and Director. In addition, it covers additional issues such as tables, frames, clickable image maps, 3-D images, QuickTime VR, Java, Javascript, ActiveX, VRML, and user interaction. The complete book, 312 pages, is in full color and lavishly illustrated with large pictures of the completed web page and the accompanying HTML code. Other language versions available include: German, Dutch and Korean. A Japanese translation is currently being completed.

You can download a complete chapter as a PDF-file to get aquainted with the quality of the production. The chapter is called Integration of Foreground and Background. The file size is 1400 Kb .

On this site you'll find references to all examples depicted in the book. Some are on this server, others scattered all over cyberspace. In addition HTML and Web design tips and tricks are published here.

The basic HTML language is extensively explained in theory and practice. All examples are shown in full color. The HTML code for advanced techniques as Frames, Tables, Styles and sound- en video-tags are extensively taught. Every chapter uses the creation of a web page or site to illustrate the techniques involved. The examples are shown on this site. Practical knowledge of <META>-tags are also part of the Web Graphics Tools and Techniques book.

Animated objects certainly add an extra dimension to a Web page. The problem is, how do you create an animation that is visible on the Web page, but does not overtax a user's link to the Internet? GIF animation is a increasingly popular method of displaying animated characters or logos on a webpage. In chapter GIF Animation all popular methods are explained using Macintosh and Windows software

Thanks to the QuickTime VR technology, an unknown room or space can be virtually inspected from a distance. Multimedia is the key to a new form of communication. The creation of a QTVR movie is explained in the book using a 'real life' example of a convention centre in Eindhoven, Holland.

On the Web, images make an important contribution to the content. In chapter GIF and JPEG Images the basics of preparing an image for the Web is shown, as well as how to use the various file formats.
Image quality on the Web is not solely determined by scanning and drawing software. The colors displayed also depend on the brand of computer, monitor, operating system, and video card used. The method by which Web browsers handle colors is discussed in chapter: Coordinating Colors on the Web.

Home pages that consist only of text and static images represent the first generation of Web design. Shockwave can spike your Web page with real-time animation. How do you create a Shockwave animation? In the chapter Creating Shockwave Movies, the production of a movie step-by-step is demonstrated.

Ever since Netscape introduced the <background> tag, which allows a small image to be repeated across an entire page, Web designers around the globe have been using patterned backgrounds. In separate chapters, the creation of Web page backgrounds using repeating tiled images is shown using programs like Fractal Design Painter, Adobe Photoshop en Illustrator, Kai Power Tools, Xaos Tools Terrazzo, Specular Texturemaker and other web design tools.

In a special chapter, an alternative method for enhancing a Web page is shown: using picture frames as a motif. By using borders that simulate real slide frames, you can increase the attractiveness of pictures on your Web site. Creative Picture Borders filters as Alien Skin Black Box (a.k.a EyeCandy) and Kai Power Tools are used for special effects.

Many home pages on the Web open with a large attractive image. Because first impressions are so important, the book shows how to create such a splash page. And, so you can measure the success of your home page, I explain how to create a Counter to check the number of visitors to your site.

State of the art web design techniques like ActiveX, Java and JavaScript are also featured. Tailored to the designer instead of the hexadecimal speaking codewarrior. A special JAVA Applet game called Spacemen is used as an example to teach the possibilities of this programming language. You can play it on-line!

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