So here's the scenario: I have an 800kb Adobe Illustrator file -- it's a topdown diagram of of a mall, with each individual shop marked with some text. Metadata showing square footage, availability, a number.
How would I put this on the web in a way that's interactive? I can simply export a PDF to the web, but that's not a great experience. I'd like to be able to zoom in and see detail (it's a big mall) and maybe be able to click to send an email or a message about an individual space to make an inquiry about it.
If it were 4-8 years ago, the natural answer is Macromedia Adobe Flash of course! But we're now in an era where people want to see these things on their phones.
Is it possible to do this in a way that works reasonably well? I tried loading the file using svgweb, but my browser (any browser) grinds to a halt, I think because of the the size of the file.
What are examples of maps that are cross browser, zoomable, and interactive?
What tools or libraries do people have success with in this area? it feels like GIS tools would be worthwhile here but might be overkill.
If you want to go for a tiled approach similar to google maps, check out polymaps.
If your svg is big then it's probably a good idea to split it somehow, either by level-of-detail / layers, or by tiles. Level of detail can be done with CSS media-queries for example, but note that that by itself doesn't make the filesize smaller. It should however have a positive effect on the look & feel.
If you want some simple zoom&pan controls that should work in all svg-capable browsers here's an example of that.
Adobe Illustrator can export to SVG which might be worth exploring.
Also, have you considered rasterizing and cutting the image into tiles? You could make something that's Google Maps-like.
Related
It has been a long time since I have had to do Image Mapping! Probably like 4-5 years.
The last time I achieved this using the tag and creating tags for polygonal shapes. This of course works, and is still supported html, even in HTML5. Question is though, is this still a good way to go for image mapping? Or should i scrap this direction and aim to use Canvas or SVG techniques instead?
There are a couple of factors in regards to the decision:
The client uses IE7, so the solution has to work with IE7 and IE8, hence me thinking not to use SVG or Canvas, it would be easier I guess to use the old school map tag, at least it will easily work across all platforms.
The Map has quite custom styles (strokes around the areas with a margin gap too)
Each area has a rollover state, with a popup with content unique for each region. This will have to be achieved with JS. Are there any issues using JS to interact with the DOM structure of the map using map tag?
It's not essential, but I would to make the map somewhat responsive to the viewport.
Using the tag frankly feels really old school, dated and dirty. But, to be honest for my case, it seems like the most suited solution. What does everyone think?
Any feedback welcome,
Thanks,
Craig
For your requirements I think best suite is SVG. By some work around you can make use of all time favorite jQuery with SVG and build cool stuff so quickly. I was able to develope a ticket booking tool on theaters with SVG maps within two weeks.
Also now every one needs every thing on mobile and it works on mobile with just no efforts.
Try to convince client to upgrade IE, that will be best for you. All the best.
I want to create not complex interactive web application. It has some pinboard and user can create many simple objects on this pinboard (e.g. many small circles). After this user can:
move these objects
delete some of them or create new ones
make multiple selection and move/rotate elements of selected group
place members of the selected group in some special order (grid, line, circle, etc)
Zoom in/out pinboard
I think that I can use Flash/Flex or JavaScript/SVG/VML for this purpose. Disadvantage of Flash is that user must have plugin. Minus of JS/SVG/VML is that there aren't such powerfull developing tools as in Flash case, but if we use some library (like http://raphaeljs.com/) application won't require flash plug-in.
I'm finding right tool for this aim. So give me some recommendations, please. Thanks in advance.
I believe that you can achieve your goals without Flash using HTML(5), JavaScript and not the least the Canvas element present in HTML5.
Bottomline is, unless you today require your application to animate a lot of objects with framerates approaching three digits, the above should suffice fine and will also pair you with a prospective Web development platform. I am often sceptical of the new stuff, but HTML5 and Canvas are fairly standardized, patent-free and are being actively adopted.
The only benefit of going with Flash that I can think of is being backed by a rich API that does 2D as well as 3D, and the fact that you can later port your ActionScript code to say, JavaScript when you finally decide to go with HTML+JavaScript instead. Aside from having to perhaps rewrite part of your drawing stack, your ActionScript code will require minimal (syntactic mostly) changes.
I would still advise you to go with my first suggestion, unless you need live (camera) video publishing, 3D, sound editing and few features not available easily outside Flash Player. Which I don't think you will need.
You might want to have a look at existing similar projects, such as SVG Edit (MIT license).
I am looking for a Flash based image uploader with resize and possibly rotate function.
I have checked many possibilities, and the very best in simplicity and unser experience I found is Kroppr at a very affordable €29/license.
The downside is, it comes with encrypted PHP code to bind the product to a subdomain. That is understandable, but while I'm perfectly happy to pay money for a tool as great as that, and ready to sign all sorts of legal agreements to protect the license, I am not ready to use encrypted PHP code, especially not from an outlet that doesn't even have a postal address on its web site.
Does anybody know an Open Source or commercial solution that comes close to Kroppr and ships with source, or allow for full customization and free definition of the server-side backend?
The features in detail:
Rectangular selection to crop image, slider or similar to zoom
Optionally: Rotating
"Accept" and "Reset" buttons, "accept" triggers a call to the server and submits the image
Full visual customizability (at least background and text colours)
Possibility to rename all controls
The server side technology would preferably be PHP.
http://deepliquid.com/content/Jcrop.html i love this one, every easy to use and tons of features. i know your searching a flash cropper but this question is tagged with js too so....
I found these three image utilities during my search:
Flex Image Cropping Component
HOW TO CROP AND RESIZE AN IMAGE USED AS BACKGROUND FOR CANVAS
Building an image-viewing widget with ActionScript 3.0
The first one is an open source flex component using an MIT license. The second one is a how to,with full source available. It doesn't have a sizable box, but it seems ok otherwise. The last one is also a how to article from adobe.com with source available.
Here is a list of good javascript based croppers:
Yahoo! UI ImageCropper
Jcrop
MooCrop
UvumiTools
PHP & jQuery Image Upload and Crop
Here is a list of action script based croppers:
Flex Image Cropping Component
Image Crop
http://www.adylevy.com/index.php/2009/07/22/multiple-files-uploader-with-preview-on-client-side/
OR
http://www.resize-before-upload.com/
...took a bit of searching =)
I would take a look at the free pixlr editor and their developers API : http://pixlr.com/wiki/developer
I've used RadActive's I-Load component before, with great success. The UI customisation options are a little limited, but as far as functionality goes, I'm pretty sure it meets all your requirements.
EDIT: You don't specify what server-side technology you're using (if any). I'm pretty sure I-Load is designed for ASP.NET - this may or may not be an issue for you.
This is also a nice once and its only $10.
http://www.shift8creative.com/projects/agile-uploader/index.html
Still doesn't have image rotation/cropping. I most definitely do plan to add that, but after checking out all the things I could find I still wasn't happy. I researched out all the particulars and just ended up building my own. You're welcome to use it if you like and haven't found something else by now. Keep checking the link, I'll update it to include the rotation and crop feature along with multiple image uploads.
Something like this?
http://matrixoft.infunity.com/agents/calvin/tmp/forPekka.html
I'm perfectly happy to pay money for a tool as great as that
To carry out the responsibility of posting the answer for stackoverflow users, here is part of the crop image code:
var tNewImage:BitmapData=new BitmapData(mouseX-vCropX,mouseY-vCropY,true,0);
iImg.getChildAt(0).x = vSize/2 -vCropX;
iImg.getChildAt(0).y = vSize/2 -vCropY;
tNewImage.draw(iImg);
Where iImg is the movieclip containing the image with the image center positioned at (0,0) , vSize is the image dimension, vCropX and vCropY is the top left cropping coordinate. The tNewImage BitmapData is used for constructing the new Cropped Bitmap image
I need to create a flip book/page application. I have seen flash created flip page, can it be done in any other languages, e.g. jquery or javascript? And also, what are some concepts that I am required to have in mind/knowledge on for creating a flip book?
Thanks.
Not quite sure what you mean by "flip book", can you elaborate on this?
If you mean just a digital book, that you can turn the pages of, then I would surgest looking into this AS3 page-flip engine. And here is a list of good (mostly commercial) examples
EDIT* - Not to sure why you would want to create this from scratch, as there are a ton of well made Page-flip libraries out there that are really nicely build, and are either free, or really cheep. Most of the time they are customizable too.
That said, I think they are probably all using a combination of the following:
Preloaded pages - movieclip with either an image or
other graphics preloaded into it
Gradients - to give the illusion of a 3d page that is "turning"
Trigonometry - for dragging effect. To angle the page towards mouse
Masks - to get the page folding effect, when the user start to drag the page, the next page is loaded over the top. Both these page have been masked off based on the users mouse position.
Also the Page-flip engine I linked to above (MegaZine), is open-source. So if you where really keen, then you could dive into there source code and take a look for yourself.
Hope that helps somewhat.
If you need something simple, and don't want to delve into codes, try out pressmo: http://pressmo.com/example3/1
It works faster on slower computers than most of other similar services and what's important you keep your flipbook on your own computer/web server (as online flash or offline executable).
To create a flip page you have to upload your content as a PDF file (which can be easily obtained from Word or Open Office).
Usually a good solution for flipbooks is to keep the number of your pages even, otherside the user will not have the possibility to turn the last site. All pages should be similar size also.
You can use Flex Application
Like this right: Sample Book
Code is here: Source Code
I have integrated various WYSIWYG HTML editors over the past few years, but I think I have hit a brick wall on this one.
We need a way for people to edit text that turns into VML/SVG when rendered, but remains editable, with minimal styling such as bold, italic, font face and size, and if possible, ability to create a text region anywhere on the canvas. Google Docs has what appears to be one in their presentation editor. Something like that would work ~ its very close to what we are looking for.
Does anyone know of a commercial or free editor that does this (must be browser based), and if not, has anyone approached doing this, and if so, what were your results. Any other info, links, suggestions etc are welcome - I seem to have hit a brick wall on this one.
Thanks.
You might try http://svg-edit.googlecode.com/ though we do not translate to VML (we require IE users to install the Google Chrome Frame plugin).
One important question first: Why specifically should the output of the WYSIWYG editor be in VML/SVG?
===
I am not aware of any existing editor that fits your description. You may have to write one yourself. If you are going to roll your own, I have two suggestions; one of which I am less confident about in terms of capability and one where I am not entirely sure about the performance ramifications because of the sheer amount of libraries involved. Either way, these are the two best bets in my opinion:
1) If you're intent upon VML/SVG, one library I know that can bring the two together is RaphaelJS, which has some degree of text support, but I'm really not sure how sophisticated the degree of manipulation of the text is:
Raphael JS lib: http://raphaeljs.com/index.html
2) Can you instead use VML/Canvas? I would recommend using VML/Canvas via the exCanvas library (which allows you to write code using the HTML5 canvas element, which is automagically translated to VML in IE/Trident browsers), in addition to the new canvas-text library.
Generic canvas information (generic drawing api):
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Canvas_tutorial
exCanvas (IE compatability layer for canvas element)
http://excanvas.sourceforge.net/
canvas-text (text-specific extension to browsers with poor canvas text support):
http://ajaxian.com/archives/canvas-text-add-text-functions-to-subpar-canvas-implementations