Happy Friday from #rdcHQ! The SVG track met on Thursday to sync up the repository with new work. We made a lot of progress on Simple Schematics without moving to Google Sketchup. This particular worksheet is giving us some insight on typographic and layer controls in the Inkscape environment.

SVG: Typography 101

As part of improving the collection, we are defining a style guide to create a more consistent look to the typography used in the graphics. We are still in the process of finalizing those standards, and will post them to our SVG Track page when we do. It will most certainly take some fine-tuning in our post-production pass to perfect this.

Ideally, our goal is to convert the type to paths using Path → Object to Path before saving the final SVG, as cross-platform font issues can be problematic (especially in Inkscape). This is simple enough on graphics with minimal type, and can be accomplished using the following technique:

We are encountering problems with SVG files that are text-heavy such as the example shown in our video. The final SVG files generate an XML parsing error which may be the result of too many nodes in the vector illustration once the type is converted. Until we determine the cause, we will not convert to paths which means our graphics will render but our final type selections will not in most circumstances (as illustrated in this example used in our tutorial).

Although there are a lot of nits to pick about how Inkscape handles typography in general (the inability to define a default font is frustrating), there are a few very specific things that the program does quite well. We were particularly impressed with the level of control for glyphs as the illustrations we are working with often require mathematical symbols. Once we found a font with good Unicode support for equations (we chose the STIX Font Project), sorting through specific characters is easy in Inkscape (using Text → Glyphs).

SVG: A Quick Look at Layers

We will be using the Layer feature quite a bit in the coming weeks as we move into the more advanced illustrations. As it stands, we have only been using it for simple techniques such as moving elements to a layer above or below. Levi introduced us to a very useful time-saving trick that establishes a root layer for the template graphic. If the original .JPG is opened from the Inkscape application (using File → Open opposed to being imported using File → Import), it will automatically be placed on a root layer and the document will be sized to the exact dimensions of the drawing as shown below:

We ended the session splitting up the remaining illustrations in the EASY level between the three members of the team. We’ll be updating the worksheets as we go, highlighting completed graphics in yellow).

MathML: Repository Update

We updated the repository with 150 equations that Jasper has written in Presentation MathML. The code for each equation is presented underneath the original graphic for now until we begin work on cross-browser rendering issues. We’re also adding permalinks so you can see the equation in context in the original Title 24 document. Great work, Jasper!