Optimizing Websites for Retina Displays How to (2013) by Kyle Larson PDF

Description

Learning simple techniques which will make your website look stunning on high-definition Retina DisplaysOverviewLearn something new in an Instant! A short, fast, focused guide delivering immediate resultsCreate high-resolution graphics for websites.Learn to create scalable graphics using CSS, SVG, and Canvas.Embed fonts from the web for creating unique typography and graphics.Learn how to add high-resolution icons and startup images to your web appsImplement scripting techniques to replace your images with high-resolution versionsIn DetailApple launched its line of high-resolution, retina display products with the iPhone 4 and has continued to integrate the technology into its other products. These beautiful displays take computing to a new level with incredibly sharp text and graphics. As other manufacturers add similar displays to their devices, high-resolution graphics will become the new standard for the apps and websites of the future.”Instant Website Optimization for Retina Displays How-to” is a comprehensive guide to building a website that will look fantastic on high-resolution displays. Helpful insights and simple instructions walk you through all the various methods of optimizing your site for the latest mobile and desktop devices.This book begins by covering the basics of retina images and dives right into practical advice so you can start improving your website’s images. It continues building on the basic techniques with simple recipes covering all the tools you’ll need to make an impressive high-resolution website.We will take a look at the techniques for adding retina backgrounds, sprites, border images, and loading large images only when needed to keep your website running fast. We will create a variety of basic shapes and styles using CSS that can be used instead of graphics in your user interface. We’ll cover scalable image techniques, including using fonts as icons and implementing Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), which make your graphics look great on any device. After reading “Instant Website Optimization for Retina Displays How-to” you’ll have the techniques to make creating high-definition websites easy. You’ll have an arsenal of tools for creating graphics on the web at your disposal, leading to superior websites that are beautiful and fast.What you will learn from this bookCreate retina images, backgrounds, and borders.Use CSS to create shapes and buttons for user interfaces.Design retina image sprites to speed up your site.Embed unique fonts and use them as graphics.Make your web apps high-resolution with icons and startup images.Use JavaScript and PHP to detect retina displays and target them.Create resolution independent images using SVG.Use media queries and the image-set property to provide multiple versions of your images.ApproachFilled with practical, step-by-step instructions and clear explanations for the most important and useful tasks. Get the job done and learn as you go. Written in an accessible and practical manner which quickly imparts the knowledge you want to know. As a How-to book it will use applied examples and teach you to optimize websites for retina displays.

Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Very well written. Lacking (ironically enough) images that would have helped reinforce the written examples. Still solid enough for 4-stars – and I learned a number of things I will implement.

⭐This book offers a concise overview of optimizing graphics for retina displays. I’m always a bit bothered by retina display images because I am basically building two of every image. The author includes alternatives to double images, such as SVGs and HTML5 Canvas, with a full disclosure of the short comings of these methods. Did you know this little bit of javascript can be used for detecting retina displays: if (window.devicePixelRatio >= 2)? I’d like to spend more time working with server side retina display detections. The author goes into this briefly. It would be nice to know if there is a way to get PHP to resize your image for you, rather than creating the two images and having PHP sniff one or the other out. This probably exists but the book didn’t mention it. After finishing, my conclusion is – use fewer images, but make them look good on every device. Good information. Nice, short read – but I think it could have been longer. I was left with some questions…mostly, are those the only solutions available? I am looking forward to seeing where retina display is headed in the future. Will the rest of the non-market world adopt hi-res? And when should I start making this a priority? I’d recommend this title as an appropriate addition to any web developers book shelf, particularly if you like the short books. It took me just over an hour to get through. How many programming books can you say that about??

⭐This is the ultimate guide when it comes to Retina images! It covers all of the various ways you can implement or switch images to be Retina ready. Kyle not only tells you about the techniques, but shows, demonstrates and explains them so that you truly understand what you are doing. If you want to get a general knowledge of how to deal with Retina images or if you want to get an in depth analysis to become an expert, it is all here for you. The best part is, this is a very short but detailed book that you could finish within an hour; this in itself makes this pocket book so much more amazing (and worth it too). It is a must read for all designers and developers!