Showing posts with label Images. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Images. Show all posts

12 June 2008

Blogger Images: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back


from here

Update 12-04 - This issue appears to be resolved on uploaded images now

Aside from the always ongoing image issues that pop up with Blogger most of the time, it seems that in trying to solve one bug, they have introduced another. Just speaking from what I'm seeing.

The Bug
When Blogger introduced the ability to upload a header image directly from the Layouts screen it was a good deal. Makes something that is relatively confusing easy to do. But there has always been a problem with header images uploaded this way when using a Custom Domain and it relates to some of the issues involved with using Picasa Web Albums as the image host for Blogger.

To try and make a long story short, Picasa Web Albums restricts images over 800px in size from displaying on outside domains, EXCEPT apparently blogspot.com is allowed through. PWA defines different images sizes/features by the folder in which images are accessed from (a bit more on that from an earlier post). So when you use the layouts feature to upload a header image, the code generated is using the full original size folder for that image (even if the image is less than 800px). Since this is blocked on outside domains, folks using the custom domain in Blogger and using this feature would find their header images disappearing (To confuse matters more, if it was in the persons browser cache already it would show for a bit, but to everyone else it was no go).

The Fix
So after all this time Blogger finally caught on, and seem to have put in a new folder that can be accessed from outside domains, and now the image header will upload to that directory. Here's an example url.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KFUscpI6LaQ/R0-ljp6nQBI/
AAAAAAAAAkU/SIm-MYc35us/s1600-R/hamster2.jpg

The key part is the s1600-R folder, which is the new one. Previously the folder used was s1600. So the new -R folder apparently is only used by Blogger for the headers, and doesn't suffer the domain restrictions, so it should solve the problem for header images for custom domains. If someone has a problem with one previously uploaded, just reload it and it will use the new folder.

The New Bug
Well, that's all fine and dandy, but now images uploaded to the post editor for posts are using that same s1600-R folder for the large/linked size. Which is incorrect, and due to other oddities of the PWA setup will prompt for a download when accessed like that, instead of showing the image full size. Here's an example.


Click on the hamster and you'll be prompted to download the image.


If you look at the code produced, the linked image again is going to the s1600-R folder. Previously, linked images that should be displayed went to the s1600-h folder. This is all part of the convoluted ways that PWA restricts access to their images. The -h folder is supposed to show a webpage with the image embedded. And that is what was previously used for the large size posted images.

I assume this is system wide, and not a fluke with my account as I'm seeing it other places. At some point I also assume they will correct this.

Update
This is now marked as a Known Issue with a "workaround".
Corrected Image Code

Corrected code via the Known Issue. Hamster will display when clicked
Note the instructions. You not only have to change the -R folder to -h, BUT also have to change the folder before it on the linked image to the same folder the first image used. But Pete and the boys and girls are on the case.
Zemanta Pixie

New Blogger Widget for Picasa Web Albums


Notice - as of May 17, 2007 Picasa Web Albums now offers their own easy to use flash embedded slideshow, effectively making this one obsolete. Picasa Web Albums Now with Slideshows.
Everything here still works, but the native flash presentation from Picasa Web Albums is slicker and probably what you want to use if you want a slideshow.


To follow up on my previous post about Picasa Web Albums now making their data available in JSON, I've gone ahead and worked up a customizable (somewhat) one-click widget creator for the New Blogger.

The widget will work for either displaying your public albums, or for listing images from one particular album. Right now only one of these PWA widgets can be displayed on a page.

I've tried to keep it somewhat simple on the options, but here is the complete rundown of what each option means.

The first input box is where you type in your Picasa Web Albums username. Your Picasa Web Albums username is usually(the first part before the @)of your google account username, but can be changed. If you are unsure, goto Picasa Web Albums and sign in. Click on SETTINGS in the UPPER RIGHT of the page and then scroll down to your Gallery URL. Your current gallery url will be in the format
http://picasaweb.google.com/USERNAME
After you enter in your Picasa Web Albums username, then click the Submit link. The page will then fetch the list of albums and display their names in a drop down menu. Select the album you want to display from that list, or choose the Show All Albums option.

Display the Widgets Title -- Select whether or not to display the actual name of the widget on your blog. Defaults to displayed. The default name is Picasa Web Albums but it can be changed when adding.

Show as SlideShow -- This is a poor man's slideshow. Will display one image at a time, rotating them with their links. Is set to default to the SlideShow.

If the SlideShow is deslected, then two additional options appear. To show as either a Vertical or Horizontal strip. They do what they say. If you want a vertical strip of images choose vertical, if you want the images to line up horizontally, then choose horizontal.

Show Album Title as Header -- This sets whether to display the title at Picasa Web Albums for the selected group as a header. Defaults to displayed.

Show Border Around Image -- Sets whether to show a border around the images.

Slide Show Speed in Seconds(10 max) -- If the slideshow is selected, then this sets the interval for displaying the next image. Defaults to 5 secs. 10 seconds is the max.

Number of Images to Display (20 max) -- Sets how many images (or albums) to display. Default is All but the upper limit is 20.

Size of Thumbnails -- Sets the size of the displayed images, you have 3 choices. The default is 160px, a small 64px size, and an extra small 48px.

Border Color (in Hex) -- Sets the color of the images borders (if shown) in hexadecimal format. Default is black (#000). You can use either 3 or 6 hex numbers. The # should not be entered.

After you are satisfied with the settings, click the "Generate Widget and Code" button. You can view or use the raw code if you want (could be used on any webpage) but if you are in New Blogger then click on the "Add Picasa Web Album Widget" button.

If you have never added a one-click widget before you may want to read first the Blogger Help page "How do I add third-party page elements to my layout?" but it's pretty simple. Once the widget has been added you can drag it wherever it's needed.

The widget creator has been tested to work in will probably work from most browsers, has been tested in IE7, Firefox 2 and Opera 9. The displayed widget tested in all those and appears to work in Safari as well. I don't think it would be an issue for any browser, but you never know. Also I think I've tested just about ever possible combination of options, but I may have missed something.

So if you got this far then here is the widget creator. Widget Creator for Picasa Web Albums and New Blogger

Ricardo Santos has made a Portuguese translation available at Widgets para o blogger - Phydeaux3

Note - May 14, 2007 Post was rewritten to update the instructions for a sligtly updated version of the widget maker

Note - 4-24-07 Moved my personal Widget out of the sidebar into this post, as I need the sidebar real estate for other stuff. :-)

Note Added-3-22-07 Widget Maker Updated to work with new Picasa Web Albums API changes. Widgets made before this date most likely need to be remade to work fully.

Picasa Web Albums Example Widget

Zemanta Pixie