Micrografx QuickVector™ Specifics

Micrografx QuickVector versions 3.0 work as ActiveX™ controls for the shipping version of the Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 browser and as plug-ins to the Netscape Navigator™ 3.0 Web browser. Micrografx QuickVector 1.0 works as a plug-in to the Netscape Navigator ™ 2.x Web browser. Once you have installed Micrografx QuickVector, either browser can display the vector-based objects in Micrografx Designer™ drawings.

The Micrografx QuickVector plug-in lets Web developers use Designer to create and display vector graphics instead of raster graphics on the Web. Besides the numerous advantages vector graphics have over the traditional raster graphics used in most Web pages, Micrografx QuickVector makes these Designer files interactive within Web pages.

In addition, Micrografx QuickVector 3.0 lets Web developers display WMF and EMF graphics on the Web.

Vector vs. Raster files

It's important to know the difference between vector and raster graphics to understand why Micrografx QuickVector is so powerful.

Vector files contain a mathematical description of the lines, curves, fills, and patterns needed to draw the picture. Athough they typically do not have the rich detail of raster images, vector graphics have two advantages over raster graphics

They're typically smaller, thus taking up less disk space and memory so they can be downloaded faster
You can scale them without image degradation.

Raster (image or bitmapped) graphics are based on a bitmap, a grid of dots of specific colors. Although a bitmap can accurately reproduce photographs and other artwork, it takes up considerably more disk space and memory. Therefore, larger raster graphics take a lot longer to download.

Unlike raster graphics, vector graphics are device independent--the graphic is always the correct size and displays with the maximum number of colors supported by the video display card. A vector drawing can display with maximum quality on both a standard SVGA monitor (256 color, 800x600) or on a 24-bit color 1024x768 monitor.

In addition, the same vector file can be downloaded one time, cached, and then displayed at different sizes on the same or different Web pages. If you were to use raster files, you would need a different raster file for every size graphic displayed.

Designer Objects

You can make objects within a Designer drawing respond to user-initiated events (such as a mouse click) and make the object perform subsequent actions. The actions can include jumping to new pages, changing the browser status line, or changing the appearance of objects in the drawing. These actions are triggered by commands associated with each event.

To make an object respond to an event, you must give the object a property within Designer using a standard event name. An example of an event is OnMouseEnter, which triggers an action when the mouse pointer enters an object.

The value for an event property is the property's command list (which specifies the action or actions to be taken). Each command list is made up of one or more commands you associate with the object's event property in Designer. An example of a command is StatusLine, which displays "hint" text in the browser's status line.

Property corresponds to User Event

Example: OnMouseEnter

Value
corresponds to Resulting Action

Example: StatusLine

For example, using the StatusLine command for the event OnMouseEnter, a Designer object (a circle, square, logo, etc.) can display a message in the browser's status line, such as "Click here to buy tickets for the game." If the drawing were a map, the message could provide information that does not fit neatly on the map, such as "Creede, Colorado. Elevation: 8,812 feet."

Web Benefits of Using Designer Objects

Fast downloading. You don't have to limit the number or size of graphics on your Web pages in order to minimize the download time.
Vector drawings created with Designer and displayed with Micrografx QuickVector 3.0 display in real-time because of Progressive Vector Smoothing. This technology renders anti-aliased vector objects in real-time sequential order. This lets Web browsers and Object Viewers display complex objects as soon as the first piece of the drawing is ready to be displayed.
Enlarge objects without losing image quality.
The "hot" area of a Designer object conforms to the object's shape. You are not limited to predefined hotspot shapes such as rectangles and circles.
You can update the Designer objects in your Web pages in real time, on an object-by-object basis. Your users don't have to wait while the browser reloads the entire page.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator) Links

You also can associate URL links (for example, http://www.micrografx.com) with objects in the Designer drawing. This provides a simple way to do "hot-linking" without having to know HTML. Just associate the URL with the object through an event property and command value in Designer, save the file, and the link is created.

Cataloging Objects

Assigned properties and values remain with the Designer objects, even when they are added to another Designer file or copied through the Windows Clipboard. This lets you organize and store these objects and properties in Micrografx Media Manager for use in the creation of other Web pages. For example, you could catalog a collection of popular Web site icons containing URL links in Micrografx Media Manager. You could then drag and drop these into a new Designer drawing to speed up the process of creating a Web page.

Generating Graphics "On The Fly"

Current Web technology relies on the Web server almost exclusively, resulting in a need to download a picture every time it changes. Micrografx QuickVector, however, generates graphics "on the fly," so graphic updates can be done without the Web server. Data can be collected locally from the Internet (or Intranet), and then can be used to update the graphic almost instantly.

You can determine an object's color, position and more within an HTML page, and depending on a user's event, completely change that object's color and position without accessing the Web server. And you can modify the graphics quickly and simply using only Designer.

Micrografx QuickVector is not only device independent when viewing graphics, but when printing them, too. The printed graphics not only look great, but they print very quickly.

Micrografx QuickVector brings the world of dynamic graphic interactivity to the Web using the latest technology coupled with one of the leading names in graphic design.

LiveConnect Compatibility

Web authors and developers using Netscape Navigator 3.0 can call up and execute commands from a Java applet or Javascript module into the Micrografx QuickVector 3.0 plug-ins through LiveConnect.

LiveConnect is a family of technologies for developing Internet and Intranet applications. LiveConnect encompasses Netscape Navigator plug-ins as well as facilities for integrating plug-ins with Java and Javascript. Plug-ins can be controlled by Java applets and by Javascript that is part of the containing HTML page.

Learning with Samples | Developing Web Content with Micrografx QuickVector™ | Preparing Graphics for the Internet |
Frequently Asked Questions