How to Get a Base64 Version of a File From Command Line
A while back I wrote an article on how to Convert Image to Data URI with JavaScript. It's a neat trick developers can use for any number of reasons. Instead of abusing canvas, however, why not simply get the base64 data from command line?
You can use base64 and pbcopy to convert a file to base64 and copy it to the clipboard:
# base64 gets data, pbcopy copies to clipboard
base64 -i logo.jpeg | pbcopy
Once you have the file data copied in base64 format, the URL format to use the data is:
# data:{mime-type};base64,{data}
data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgAB......
While base64 data and data URIs do look cryptic, they're useful to avoid making requests to other files. I use them when creating presentations or when I can't count on a decent internet connection.
![9 Mind-Blowing Canvas Demos]()
The <canvas> element has been a revelation for the visual experts among our ranks. Canvas provides the means for incredible and efficient animations with the added bonus of no Flash; these developers can flash their awesome JavaScript skills instead. Here are nine unbelievable canvas demos that...
![CSS Animations Between Media Queries]()
CSS animations are right up there with sliced bread. CSS animations are efficient because they can be hardware accelerated, they require no JavaScript overhead, and they are composed of very little CSS code. Quite often we add CSS transforms to elements via CSS during...
![Highlighter: A MooTools Search & Highlight Plugin]()
Searching within the page is a major browser functionality, but what if we could code a search box in JavaScript that would do the same thing? I set out to do that using MooTools and ended up with a pretty decent solution.
The MooTools JavaScript Class
The...
![Sexy Opacity Animation with MooTools or jQuery]()
A big part of the sexiness that is Apple software is Apple's use of opacity. Like seemingly every other Apple user interface technique, it needs to be ported to the web (</fanboy>). I've put together an example of a sexy opacity animation technique...
