[Oberon] Rembrandt > Scale :html (gif) ?

[John Drake]

--- Peter Easthope <peter_easthope at gulfnet.sd64.bc.ca>
wrote:
> 
> Chris,
> 
> cg> * I've confirmed [in the distsnt past] that
> Rembrandt.Panel can scale
> 'pictures'.
> 
> I've never learned to use Rembrandt.Panel.  Pity
> there 
> isn't an instruction document similar to that for
> Leonardo.

Actually there is an instruction document.  It's
Rembrant.html
 
> cg> Q1. does this only apply to *.Pict ?
> 
> Probably.  Can Rembrandt open any file other than
> Pict?

Yes.  In fact Rembrandt used to be the only tool
for opening gif and other files.  But now by
default ImageDocs is associated with gif files
instead of RembrandtDocs.  In Windows System 3
this is changed using IniEdit.Panel.  I'm not
sure how it's done under N-O.
 
> cg> Q3. Since converting:  *.gif <--> *.Pict is
> possible under n-o
> 
> PictConverters has *.gif --> *.Pict.  Where is
> *.Pict --> *.gif ?

It's right there in the PictConverters.Tool at the
bottom.  The example given is:

PictConverters.PictToGIF Clown.Pict => Clown.gif ~

I use this facility to create graphics from
Leonardo for web projects.  I'll sometimes
create graphics using Leonardo/Vinci and then
export them using PictConverters to GIF or
other formats.
 
> cg> Q3. Since converting:  *.gif <--> *.Pict is
> possible under n-o, can
> I rescale *.gif ?
> 
> Converting to Pict seems too inefficient for Web
> browsing.

I don't think that would be a problem since since
is very fast on modern computers.  But module
Pictures can directly load Gif files anyway.  In
fact that's what I believe the HTML browser is
already doing (converting to Pict on the fly).
Look at the documentation from module Pictures:

(* Open the picture file with name from disk. Any
graphic file format listed in the PictureConverters
section	of the Registry can be loaded (e.g. GIF, JPEG,
XBM, BMP). *)

PROCEDURE Open (P: Picture; name: ARRAY OF CHAR;
color: BOOLEAN);

> How about writing fast scaling commands as part of
> the Images package?

GfxImages does precisely that.  And Images is better
than Pictures/Rembrandt anyway since it supports
more than just 256 colors.
 
> cg> Often the text is good but a diagram is too
> 'course' and overflows 
> the display.
> 
> Web browsing capabilities in Oberon and AOS
> certainly 
> leave many opportunities for improvements.  
> 
> Regards,       Peter E.

True.  The WebNavigator package shows a lot of
promise, but it needs work.  One thing that I
like better about the old web browser is that
it's better integrated into Oberon.  (For 
instance I don't see any way to "cut/paste" 
from WebNavigator).  I think what would be 
nice would be a browser based on the 
WebNavigator HTML parser, but that used 
the LayLa layout engine to create an Oberon
panel on the fly that supported frames and
had better support for tables than the old
Oberon web browser.  Just a thought.

Regards,

John M. Drake

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