Big news! The book I’ve been working on for a long time has been published and is now available to buy. It’s called Practical SVG.
What’s in the book?
The book is a journey through things that I’ve learned about SVG through years of using it on all my production sites. Things I’ve researched. Things I’ve learned from other people. Battles fought, lost, fought again, won. Besides a lovely forward by Val Head, introduction and conclusion and such, this is the structure:
- Chapter 1: The Basics of Using SVG
- Chapter 2: Software
- Chapter 3: Building an Icon System
- Chapter 4: Build Tools
- Chapter 5: Optimizing SVG
- Chapter 6: Sizing and Scaling SVG
- Chapter 7: Animating SVG
- Chapter 8: Some Design Features
- Chapter 9: Fallbacks
And in just 150 pages! It’s meant to digest quickly.
Who is it for?
This book is for front end web designers and developers. Probably like… most of the people who read this site. “Practical” in the title means “Day to day useful stuff for front end folk”.
It’s not really for super experts. I’m not a super expert, so I can’t write that book. I wrote about what it took for me to start taking advantage of SVG and reap what it has to offer. It also certainly doesn’t cover every nook and cranny of SVG. SVG is a huge world onto itself. I’d bet there is more to know about SVG then there is about HTML and CSS combined. But the basics will take you far.
Nor is the book for super beginners. If you’ve never built a website ever before or messed around with HTML/CSS/JavaScript, there are probably too many foreign concepts in here. If you’re looking for a beginner HTML and CSS book, perhaps check out the first two A Book Apart books: HTML5 for Web Designers and CSS3 for Web Designers. Then come back!
What’s the story behind it?
It all started with my interest being peaked in SVG years ago. Peaked for rather obvious reasons: it’s a fascinating technology. Vector graphics on the web! It just makes sense! As I learned about it, as I do, I started writing articles here on CSS-Tricks about it. More and more and more.
Then I started doing conference talks about it. Throughout 2014 and 2015 I did a dozen or so talks like “SVG is for Everybody” and “The Wonderful World of SVG”, including at conferences like An Event Apart. With all that research and writing in hand, it felt like a natural extension to convert it into a book.
Reason #1!
It represents a whole bunch of work.https://t.co/lsHUlJMqVZ pic.twitter.com/FYhoS7M3tV
— Chris Coyier (@chriscoyier) July 27, 2016
It certainly wasn’t easy though. The book format demands more out of you. A clear structure. Intense accuracy. Words that guide you.
Fortunately I had excellent help, like Katel LeDu guiding me through the entire process. Caren Litherland as an editor, keeping my foot out of my mouth and, most valuably, making sure everything read well and were comprehensible. Lisa Maria Martin cleaning house. Jason Santa Maria’s lovely design along with Rob Weychert’s perfect book composition. Chris Lilley’s technical edit. That’s one heck of a superteam if you ask me.
Time to feed your brain?
Got my new book ' Practical #SVG ' ! Time to feed my brain! Thanks @chriscoyier pic.twitter.com/pW5KHT3gFZ
— ieatwebsites (@ieatwebsites) July 31, 2016
Congrats on getting the book out! What a long process. That’s really inspiring.
I got mine! Looks great, Chris. Congrats!
Very nice. This is going to be a must have for any one who plays with SVG
Congrats ! But you guys should really think about distributing your books from local depositories in Europe. About an year ago I purchased all bookapart books, but the shipping, taxes, customs etc made it twice as expensive and I had to wait about two months to receive them.
Congrats one more time.
Well~ I booked one ,but I am in china ,maybe i can’t get the book.because the address that i wrote is chinese character,but the address from the confirm email that “A Book Apart” send to me is english,maybe it’s translated by google translation, the translation maybe incorrect in my opinion.
I just ordered it. Shipping to Austria is a bit expensive but I’m quite certain that the book is worth its money.
Excellent! Can’t wait to pick it up.
On a side note that really doesn’t matter and is probably funny only to me, in a striking coincidence, as I checked out the link above to your book, I literally have Lea Verou’s CSS Secrets open on my desk, Sarah Drasner’s SVG Animation talk open in Safari Books Online, and I just messaged Tab Atkins awhile back regarding the CSS Grid Spec. So I guess if they all think it’s worthwhile, I don’t really have a choice, right?
Very Cool!!! Congrats, Chris!
Felicitaciones, es una buena sorpresa… keep up with the good work!
great news for me also :) thanks
Great Book!
It’s exactly what I want.
Quick little psa/fyi… Interest gets “piqued,” not “peaked” … The latter would mean that the interest had been at its max then and has been waning since. Not trying to be a jerk or grammar nazi, just provide some helpful info. Just last week I saw a store whose permanent wooden sign read that they sold stationary (and as a designer or seller of stationery they should certainly have known the difference)… But at least we know the store isn’t going anywhere! ;)