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Re: Creating and editing .gif technical drawings for Web
Subject:Re: Creating and editing .gif technical drawings for Web From:Barry Campbell <barry -at- WEBVERANDA -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 8 Jul 1998 10:50:21 -0400
At 10:26 AM 7/8/98 -0400, Suzanne Pyle wrote:
>I'm looking for some recommendations on drawing programs to use to create
>and edit technical drawings that are saved in .gif format. I'm creating
>drawings that represent a process or flow, and include computer hardware
>clipart with text, arrows, the whole shabang. But I'm a bit limited I'm
>afraid. Powerpoint 97 drawings don't really convert well to .gif when I
>bring them into Paint Shop Pro. I was thinking of getting Corel Draw. Can
>you recommend other programs, or ways to develop nice technical drawings in
>a format to be viewed on the Web?
Suzanne,
When faced with a similar need, we tested several alternatives (CorelDraw
among them) and came up with the following solution:
Create the graphics in Visio Professional. This is a template-based
drawing program that can be purchased in a "professional" package,
which includes flowchart templates and clip art representing just
about any computer or networking concept you can come up with.
I haven't seen anything that can touch it for doing flowcharts
and network diagrams.
Visio includes an export-to-GIF option. If the file in question is
destined for placement on an intranet, where GIF file size optimization
is not a huge issue, you'll be fine with Visio's filters; if the
information is destined for an external Web site, you'll want to convert
to GIF in two steps:
(1) Export your Visio drawing as a TIFF bitmap
(2) Open the TIFF in Photoshop, ImageReady, PhotoPaint, DeBabelizer,
or whatever you use to generate optimized GIFs, tweak to your heart's
content, and generate the GIF from there. I am personally a huge fan
of Adobe ImageReady; it saves a huge amount of time when it comes to
generating optimized graphics for the Web.
Hope this helps! Although it may not sound like it, I have no financial
interest in Visio, Adobe, or any of the other companies I've mentioned. :-)
--
Barry Campbell | barry -at- webveranda -dot- com
Web Architect | (list/personal mail)
Summit Systems, Inc. | bcampbel -at- summithq -dot- com
22 Cortlandt Street | (business mail)
New York, NY 10007 | http://www.summithq.com
