Raphael – Introduction by

Raphael: vector graphics.

Browser support for everything from IE6 (really) to Android (post Honeycomb).

20kb gzipped Javascript.

Completely different thing from HTML5 <canvas>.

Raphael has a low z-index, other things will appear in front of it, by default.

Can select by ID.

Can even use the JQuery selector.

Fonts

Can get fonts with Cufon. [Hmm. I think i'd avoid putting any fonts in here, a drawing program, and avoid Cufon in favor of @fontface anyway.)

[Ahh, clarified later in the Q&A: The Cufon tool converts fonts to SVG, and so Raphael can then take them and also use them in animations and such. Other font tools may also export SVG.]

Animation/Effects

Set of effects comparable to Flash.

Making objects interactive

Every object has a 'node' in it which is the DOM reference.

Showed an amazing image of a tiger. Admitted it was probably 200KB because, of course, every

You could call it three times, wouldn't add any other weight.

Very responsive animations

Questions & Answers

Q: Similarities to Processing?
There's also JQuery SVG,

Processing.js is awesome, but it uses the HTML5 canvas.

Q: (me) Can you allow a visitor to zoom?
Yes, you'd have to make that user interface for them.

Tom Turnball had the OpenLayers mapping and Raphael question directed to him: Would be hard, but people are trying, saw them in IRC.

Next session: Integrating Raphael with Drupal.