((((((((((((((((( WEBREFERENCE UPDATE NEWSLETTER ))))))))))))))))))
JUNE 15, 1998
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Dear Developer,
If you run a popular Web site it may qualify for acceptance in our
News Harvester 2 Free Content program: News Headlines, hot off the
presses, in a scroller you can size and color to fit your site.
Check it out at http://www.webreference.com/headlines/nh/
Thank you,
Bob Peyser, Managing Editor WebReference.com
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Now with over 33700 subscribers
http://www.webreference.com
http://www.webreference.com/new/ <- archive, subscribe/unsubscribe
New this week on WebReference.com and the Web:
1. INTERNET BUZZ: An Interview with Vint Cerf
2. HTML WITH STYLE: The Strands that Make the Web
3. 3D ANIMATION WORKSHOP: VRML for Web Advertising
4. FIREWORKS VS. IMAGEREADY: All-in-one Web imaging
5. NEW FEATURES: Webref search, Headlines LCD'd
6. NEW LINKS: Ad management, Computer Magazines,
Conferences
7. NET NEWS: NBC buys controlling interest in SNAP!
Spread the word! Feel free to send a copy of this newsletter to
your friends and colleagues.
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1. INTERNET BUZZ: An Interview with Vint Cerf
Part one of an interview with Vint Cerf, Senior Vice President,
Internet Architecture and Engineering MCI Communications Corporation,
and the man often referred to as the "Father of the Internet"
because of his key role in developing TCP/IP. By Rich Wiggins.
http://www.webreference.com/outlook/column25/
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2. HTML WITH STYLE: The Strands that Make the Web
Once again Mr. Piperoglou clarifies a slew of HTML subjects. This
tutorial lifts the veil from hyperlinks/links; URIs; URLs; element
attributes, and anchors and how they all work together to help make
the Web the Web. He even throws in some information about the
cutting edge Object Transfirbulation Protocol.
http://www.webreference.com/html/tutorial2/
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3. 3D ANIMATION WORKSHOP: VRML for Web Advertising
Join your host Robert Polevoi as he plumbs the new depths of
e-commerce in 3D advertising with VRML banner ads. Business will
never be the same as users bob and weave with animated servants
of commerce as they grab for user eyeballs with one hand and their
wallets with the other.
http://www.webreference.com/3d/lesson42/
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4. FIREWORKS VS. IMAGEREADY: All-in-one Web imaging
Macromedia released Fireworks 1.0 last week, and it's hot. Fireworks
is a new class of all-in-one Web-centric image creation and
optimization product, and combines vector with bitmapped imaging.
Adobe recently released a second beta of Imageready, and we thought
the two products would make a natural comparison.
>Interface and Scope
Fireworks and Imageready both do optimization and output bitmap
files (GIFs, Animated GIFs, JPEGs, and PNGs). Both preserve Photoshop
files' layer info, though only Imageready outputs layered Photoshop
files (useful for moving back and forth). Both support Photoshop API
filters. Both have editable, scalable text. Both can tween. They're
both cross platform (Mac/PC).
From there the similarities diverge. Fireworks is fundamentally a
vector-based program, and can create editable bezier paths, objects,
and therefore more compelling animations. Fireworks can open Illustrator
files and keep its layer info intact, and gives you the option of
keeping this info as vectors (which are scalable and editable) or
convert them to bitmaps. ImageReady can only rasterize Illustrator
files, as it is bitmapped based.
Fireworks takes advantage of its vector heritage with its always
editable "Live Effects." Draw some text, throw a drop shadow, change
the text and the drop shadow changes. No more bouncing back and
forth between applications. Fireworks also includes symbols and
instances as in Flash, and can tween the parameters ImageReady can
plus rotation and effects parameters.
By combining both vectors and bitmaps in a single environment Fireworks
makes it possible to create Web graphics from start to finish. With
Imageready, you need Freehand or Illustator for line art.
All this power has a price, however. Fireworks' interface takes some
getting used to, as many of the menu options will be unfamiliar to
Photoshop users, as they are for manipulating symbols and objects.
To go to bitmapped mode you have to: edit the background image convert
(Modify > Background), or double click, or for objects that aren't
bitmaps Select > Convert.
Imageready, with its more limited bitmapped power, will feel like
an old friend to Photoshop users as many of the menus and dialogs are
similar. Layers in Photoshop become layers in both programs, but I
found Imageready's to be more intuitive to use. Imageready has better
palette control: you can lock colors, and Web-snap colors to
their closest browser-safe color. There's a Browser Dither option
that shows what your image will look like on 8 bit systems, and a
Windows Gamma option, that simulates the PC's higher gamma. This second
beta also has an improved color reduction algorithm that doesn't shift
colors you don't want shifted! (Adobe's Photoshop can shift colors).
Sounds good, you say, how do they stack up when optimizing Web graphics?
>Optimizing Animated GIFs
Fireworks is the first Mac product to employ LZW interframe
optimization. What does that mean to you? Smaller animated GIFs,
ad banners, and faster downloads. I tested Fireworks on our animated
test penguin logo, and it created the smallest GIF89a files of all
client programs tested.
http://www.webreference.com/dev/gifanim/
Fireworks makes the optimization of animated GIFs painless. One
click on the "optimization" checkbox in the export dialog, and
Fireworks automatically creates a minimized superpalette, and
performs the following interframe optimizations: auto crop and
difference, plus LZW optimization.
http://www.webreference.com/dev/gifanim/frame.html
Imageready 1.0 beta m82p: Adobe's Imageready is a pixel-based
Web image editor and animator. The GIF89a optimization it
currently uses is simple cropping. Keep in mind that Imageready is
still in beta.
>JPEGs
For the same file size Imageready created sharper JPEGs than
Fireworks. Adobe always had a great JPEG codec, and it looks like
they've improved it.
http://www.webreference.com/dev/graphics/
>Conclusions
The two programs both have their strengths. Imageready creates
sharper JPEGs than Fireworks, but larger animated GIFs. Fireworks
has the best GIF89a optimization I've seen in a client program,
and you can create more complex animations faster using its
vector-based features.
Fireworks, with its vector-based foundation, is designed for
tweaking, which is a godsend for busy Web designers (isn't that
redundant?). It has a higher learning curve than Imageready however.
Imageready makes simple animations easy, and has an interface similar
to Photshop's, so Photoshop users will get up to speed faster with
Imageready.
Keep in mind that Imageready is still in beta, so its optimization
may improve for the released version, due late this month. We'll
have another look at Imageready when v 1.0 is released.
http://www.macromedia.com/software/fireworks/
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/imageready/
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5. NEW FEATURES: Webref search improved, Headlines LCD'd
>Webref search improved
We've updated the advanced search page with a few new features
including a type of search popup (fuzzy, related...) a new look.
The results page now includes a query by example link (similar to
excite's) that makes finding things faster. Give it a whirl at:
http://www.webreference.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi
>Headlines LCD'd
We've Lowest Common Denominatored (LCD'd) the Web headlines you
saw previously in our DHTML news scroller. You'll find the latest
Net news from Internetnews.com in the form of links on the left side
of webref's home page. Since they're straight HTML links, any browser
can read the news now.
We merge these Internetnews.com headlines into the home page using
a modified version of News Harvester (call it Phase 2.5) and a
server side include. Stay tuned, an external site version is on
the way. Isn't technology wonderful?
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6. NEW LINKS: Ad management, Computer Magazines, Conferences
>Advertising Management Services
Running ads on your Web site can be a chore as anyone knows: sell
the ads, buy costly banner software, track the ads, etc. So farm
out the hassle to a service provider.
http://www.webreference.com/advertising/services.html
>Computer Magazines
The lastest news, tips, rants and raves about what's going on in
the world of computing, all right here at your virtual magazine
stand.
http://www.webreference.com/internet/magazines/computers.html
>Conferences
Get out of town! Summertime is happening and so are conferences.
So take a working vacation at an informative tropical seminar.
Here's your travel guide.
http://www.webreference.com/internet/conferences.html
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7. NET NEWS: NBC buys controlling interest in SNAP!
As predicted in the May 22 Update one of big old media players (NBC)
bought a new media portal (SNAP) last week. NBC acquired 60% of of
SNAP's service for $63 million and agreed to promote it on the air
to its 73 million TV viewers. SNAP was one of the newest and least
trafficked portals, which made it prime takover material. Halsey Minor,
CNET's CEO, made the cover of the business section in this morning's
New York Times with a story titled "Validation" that showed how his $25
million, 150 person investment in SNAP turned into needed capital for
the rest of his CNET operation.
http://www.webreference.com/new/980522.html
http://www.nytimes.com
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/1998/06/0903-analysis.html
Internenews.com, June 9, 1998
That's it for this week, see you next time.
- Andrew King
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