Does anyone know if there is a php library, or if there isnt, have any input on how one would go about generating an image via php, from basic HTML element input settings, and CSS 3 gradient parameters.
To give an example on why this would be useful, I have found as of a couple days ago, that laying out the wireframe for a webpage using basic Css3 gradient styling speeds up my design and development time by, well, alot. I cant design from photoshop, Ill spend hours tweaking stupid little things that only lead to me tweaking more stupid little things to compensate for stupid little changes.
— So, I had an epiphany to stop using photoshop until the end, and just focus on the main styling of elements, text-shadow, and borders for highlights, and I feel I am able to make super clean, more focused layout by being more restricted to the basics of graphic design with just css.
Anyways, so Im planning on after I have the layouts done, to then recreate the graphics in photoshop, so that every browser is able to render the images. This wont take long, but as far as repeating it goes, if I could just do it with PHP, that would be incredible. For instance, take this style for example, which renders a clean looking ipad/pod ish menu/button gradient.
[code] background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #808080, #454545 50%, #313131 51%, #333333);
background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0, #808080), color-stop(.5, #454545), color-stop(.5, #313131), to(#333333));[/code]
Basically what Im looking to do is take one or more inputs that control rendering the image as you see there. Take a width and a height input, and then render the image gradient accordingly, so I can save it, upload it and then use it in my designs.
So ya, I know PHP has some image generation capabilities but I dont know to what extent, any input on the most effective way to go about doing this or whether it already exists, would be appreciated!
It looks like the only documented extension that does gradients is Cairo, and it’s kind of overwhelming. There were a few hits on PHP Classes. Of course, making the gradient is the step after parsing out the colors, and that’s going to be challenging.
Yeah, putting my weight behind the "screencap it" suggestion.
That or just use gradients created in a professional tool for everyone.