Some insights about the upcoming version 7.1: updated documentation and samples, NuGet, WebP and PNG

The work on the upcoming version 7.1 is in a full swing and we plan to roll it out in the next month. In this version we have focused on two things: adding web graphics optimization features and improving the experience of Graphics Mill usage.

In particular:

  • NuGet support. Now you can easily install Graphics Mill libraries from NuGet package repository without having to download SDK from our website.
  • Improved documentation. Graphics Mill is in active development and as a result some features are not covered by documentation and code examples. We are working hard to fix that. We have finished updating Ajax Vector Objects documentation, and the documentation about new drawing engine is in a progress.
  • Improved samples. For those years we have a lot of code examples, but they are scattered in different places: documentation, demos, forums, support case system. To make it easier to find proper samples, we have created an account on GitHub and now we are going to fill it with all possible Graphics Mill samples. Few new samples for the new drawing API are already there!
  • Improved online demos. We do have an online demo for Graphics Mill, but unfortunately it does not cover all features. It is also quite difficult to use it as code examples and integrate them into the existing code. So we decided to simplify the demos and add multiple interactive samples to cover the most of Graphics Mill functionality. We have already published first interactive demos of the new drawing API on our site.
  • WebP and indexed PNG with alpha transparence. These image formats are important if you are going to use Graphics Mill to optimize your website graphics to reduce the traffic and improve the download speed. We will include these formats into the next release.