SVG version of our IMWA symbols
Stuart Thiessen
sw at PASSITONSERVICES.ORG
Thu Apr 26 02:57:51 UTC 2007
AFAIK, on a browser, everything is cached unless the server indicates
it should not be. So I wouldn't be too worried about that.
Thanks,
Stuart
On Apr 25, 2007, at 18:19, Jonathan wrote:
>
>
> Valerie Sutton wrote:
>> SignWriting List
>> April 25, 2007
>>
>> Yes, that is correct. Steve Slevinski asked for the SVG version of
>> our symbols for programming...so I will put that as a
>> priority...it is my responsibility to finish the IMWA so we can
>> move forward with SVG...
>>
>> It will take some time for me to complete the IMWA 1.4 in bitmaps,
>> but I hope to do that this year, the sooner the better, and then
>> the entire IMWA 1.4 will need to be placed into SVG...Machado has
>> already done a lot of the symbols in SVG...so it is a matter of
>> making sure that every new symbol is added to the current set of
>> SVG...
>>
>> And I know there are different typeface designs that can be done
>> in SVG, so there can be different writing styles of the same
>> symbols and it may be that someday there will be different sets of
>> SVG so we can choose typefaces...
>>
>> I read your message below, Jonathan, and the problem is, I am not
>> a programmer. I just want to provide every programmer with what
>> they need, to program using SignWriting.
> Val,
> I am glad you are working on getting the symbols to SVG as
> well. I guess it really is the best option for the online
> community. The project that I am working in my spare time is using
> the PNG format which are working very well for my needs. I'm sure
> that Steve and Sandy will be for of the first to use the SVG
> symbols and I probably will follow not long after.
>>
>> I understand your concerns about SVG taking bandwidth, if you do
>> not have a stable internet connection, and it may be that in
>> countries where that is the norm, another version of the symbols
>> in bitmap form will be necessary...I have to leave that to the
>> programming experts...
> After all, the SVG will probably the better way even if it couldn't
> be cached because only a few or even one symbols needs to be
> downloaded to do all 96 fills and rotations.
>>
>> SVG is easier than creating True Type fonts the old way...so I can
>> see it has value, because the symbols look better on the screen
>> and they reduce with better quality I believe...
> BTW do you know if Stephan ever finished our sign names as fonts?
>>
>> Thanks for all your messages, Jonathan!
>>
>> it is hard to keep up with so many messages these days!
> So many great lists to be eh? :-)
>>
>> Val ;-)
>>
>> ----------
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Apr 25, 2007, at 10:07 AM, Steve Slevinski wrote:
>>
>>> Jonathan,
>>>
>>> I am the one requesting an SVG
>>>
>>> Jonathan wrote:
>>>> An SVG version of the IMWA symbols seems exciting. I was
>>>> wondering we advantages this might have. I know that currently
>>>> the PNG symbols are cacheable so this is better for us that have
>>>> lower bandwidth as we only have to get each symbol once. I
>>>> briefly looked into the SVG and it seems to be inline so it
>>>> comes as part of the web page. I don't think that it would be
>>>> cacheable but I could be wrong. If the SVG is part of the page,
>>>> then the browser wouldn't have to get each symbol one by one, it
>>>> would load faster on the browser but the server would have to
>>>> resend the symbol on each web page refresh so it might be a bit
>>>> longer to load each page for those of us with lower bandwith.
>>>> Though on second thought, if we don't have to get each rotation
>>>> it might even be faster.
>>>> I was thinking on the savings are far as rotations for only
>>>> the handshapes using the SVG. Presently there are about 207
>>>> hand shapes with 6 distinct fills rotated 8 different positions
>>>> then mirrored and rotated another 8 positions. So for each of
>>>> the 207 there are 6 fills X 16 rotations = 96 symbols per hand
>>>> shape. 207 handshapes X 96 symbols each = 19872 handshape
>>>> symbols. Now if we only had to draw the 6 fills for the 207
>>>> handshapes, we would only have to define 207 X 6 = 1242 symbols
>>>> which SVG could easily mirror and rotate all the ways we wanted
>>>> to. So with SVG we would only need to define 6% of the current
>>>> handshape symbols. That's like 94% improvement. Not bad!!! Some
>>>> of the other arrows etc can also be rotated and flipped to make
>>>> up the full set. However there wouldn't be any savings as far as
>>>> the face symbols or some of the punctuation is concerned.
>>>> I guess when we have made a few, we will have a better idea
>>>> how they compare in size to the PNG symbols. I wonder if they
>>>> would be any smaller as many symbols have a lot of parts that
>>>> have to be described. The median PNG symbol file size is only
>>>> 232 bytes. It going to be hard to beat that but with a 90-94%
>>>> savings from rotating them on the SVG I guess it would really be
>>>> worth it.
>>>> I the other more immediate benefit would be that they are
>>>> easily scalable. This would be better for captioning or people
>>>> who have bad eyesight.
>>>> What else have your learned about doing the IMWA in SVG?
>>>> Jonathan
>>>>
>>>>> I am going to step out in the beautiful Springtime air and be
>>>>> back shortly -
>>>>>
>>>>> Val ;-)
>>>>>
>>>>> -----------
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Apr 21, 2007, at 11:29 AM, Cherie Wren wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I volunteer to help...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> cherie
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----
>>>>>> From: Valerie Sutton <sutton at signwriting.org>
>>>>>> To: List SignWriting <sw-l at majordomo.valenciacc.edu>
>>>>>> Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 8:41:27 PM
>>>>>> Subject: [sw-l] Wikipedia American Sign Language
>>>>>>
>>>>>> SignWriting List
>>>>>> April 20, 2007
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hello SW List Members!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As you all know, recently there has been interest in creating a
>>>>>> possible ASL Wikipedia, or at least, the beginning of writing an
>>>>>> Encyclopedia in ASL...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Since we are new to writing and posting documents on the web,
>>>>>> in our
>>>>>> SignPuddle 1.5 Literature Puddle online, I realize that this is a
>>>>>> very big leap forward, to start writing encyclopedia articles
>>>>>> in ASL!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> To write such an article, we would need to either choose an
>>>>>> article
>>>>>> already written in another encyclopedia, and then translate it
>>>>>> from
>>>>>> English to ASL and then write it in SignWriting in SignText...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> or...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> write it directly from our own knowledge of physics, or
>>>>>> geography or
>>>>>> whatever the article is about!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This seems like a big new project, doesn't it?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sooo...here is my thought...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Do we have volunteers to help us write one test-article for a new
>>>>>> encyclopedia written in ASL?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It will be our FIRST article for an encyclopedia in ASL...like
>>>>>> a test
>>>>>> drive. Then we can show the document to those at Wikimedia and to
>>>>>> others too...It will be an historic and interesting adventure...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I know many of you are already overloaded with projects, so only
>>>>>> volunteer if you feel you have the time. We could create an
>>>>>> Encylopedia team of writers, and each person could take a small
>>>>>> section of the translation and writing...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And there is no rush and no deadline.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Plus we need to choose the one article we want to write...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> But before we choose the article, is there anyone interested in
>>>>>> volunteering to write an article for an Encyclopedia?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Once we have a few volunteers, I will write to the Wikimedia
>>>>>> language
>>>>>> committee to suggest that maybe they can choose one article
>>>>>> for us to
>>>>>> translate from the Wikipedia in English online...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Those are my thoughts...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> What are yours?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Val ;-)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
>>>>>> Check out new cars at Yahoo! Autos.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Jonathan & Yolaine Duncan
>>>> 8-) & ;-)
>>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> --
>
> Jonathan & Yolaine Duncan
> 8-) & ;-)
>
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