Book Image

Inkscape 0.48 Essentials for Web Designers

By : Bethany Hiitola
Book Image

Inkscape 0.48 Essentials for Web Designers

By: Bethany Hiitola

Overview of this book

<p>Do you think that your website could do with more visual appeal? Are you looking to spice it up with attractive designs and effects? Enter <i>Inkscape 0.48 Essentials for Web Designers</i>&mdash;the only book specifically tailored to using Inkscape for web design. This book will teach you how to effectively use the fascinating new Inkscape vector graphics editor, which, despite being in version 0.48 <i>and</i> having no dearth of competitors, has already separated itself from the competition. Learn everything you need to know about enhancing your website&mdash;from site layouts to templates and animations&mdash;whether you are looking for a new website design or just some eye-candy.<br /><br />The Inkscape graphics editor is powerful, but getting started is often difficult. <i>Inkscape 0.48 Essentials for Web Designers</i> walks you through the challenge of using Inkscape from a web design perspective in the easiest way possible. <br /><br />The first book to unlock the potential of Inkscape for web design, it begins with an introduction to the basics of Inkscape and then journeys you through implementing them in your website one by one.<br /><br />Learn to build your first website design using Inkscape. Create web page and desktop wallpapers with repeating pattern backgrounds and swirling designs. Incorporate icons and interactive maps on your website. Style and graphically manipulate text&mdash;from simple headings to shadowing, following paths, reflections, 3D effects, and more. Enhance your web pages using flowcharts, diagrams, and site maps and learn how to export them. Spruce it all up using animations. <br /><br />This book will teach you all that and more, in a simple effective manner; and what's more&mdash;you'll have fun doing it.</p>
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
Inkscape 0.48 Essentials for Web Designers
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
Preface
Keyboard Shortcuts
Glossary of Terms
Index

Basics about photo manipulation


Inkscape doesn't allow for extensive photo manipulation, but some filters within the program are best used for photographs or non-vector based images. These are the basics and fun effects for your photographic images. Filters that are photo- and bitmap-friendly are:

  • Blurs

  • Bumps

  • Color

  • Distort

  • Image Effects

  • Image Effects, Transparent

  • Transparency Utilities

  • Overlay filters—For some fun try Scatter and Texture filters and Clip with photographs as well

Let's walk through using one of these filters as an example. Keeping in mind the theme for our travel web site design, we'll work with a photograph of a local lake and see if we can enhance it for use within our design.

  1. Open a new Inkscape document and import a bitmap. From the main menu select File and then Import.

  2. Select the correct bitmap file and click Open. Make sure your imported bitmap is selected, and then select File and then Document Properties. In the Custom Size section, click Resize page to content.

  3. Click Resize...