Dynamic Image Generator

[Battler45]

Vihar,

This is a bit of a detour, but here goes:

Quite a while ago (nearly a year ago now) I worked with a programmer to develop a "dynamic image generator" -- the original job description was as follows:

"The job is to create a C#/.Net web application (for ASP.NET 2.0 / Windows Server 2003) that will dynamically create a .png image by modifying a base image using several parameters input by the user.

I have attached a sample of the image to be used as a base image.

I need to be able to pass four color parameters (in hex format) into the application via a querystring. So, the completed application should be able to receive an URL like this:

http://www.mytestapp.com/button_view_details.aspx?buttoncolor=000000

And return the attached image. (Parameters may be different for each image.) I can provide a layer-separated photoshop file (.psd) for the attached image if necessary. "

The programmer seemed very competent and was able to complete the job successfully. He actually built an application which would produce dynamic images for four separate images. From what I understand, the application would accept the query string parameters and create the images and then, once a particular configuration had been created for a given image, it would cache that version on the site so that the next time the same image was requested, the cached version would be served by the website instead of generating a new image from scratch each time.

For a number of reasons, I've never implemented the code this programmer created.

So, would you mind taking a look at this code for me and letting me know first, do you understand the gist of what it is trying to do and, second, what do you think of the overall quality of the code?

I've attached four files to this ticket. The following three each contain separate solutions, one for each image (the FW_BK_Buttons file is set up to create two images), for a total of four images:

• FW_BK_Buttons.zip

• Tabs_Background.zip

• View_Details_Button.zip

The final file, Dynamic_Images.zip, contains a combined solution for all four images. Unfortunately, I only have the compiled version of the solution and don't seem to have uncompiled solution, and the programmer is no longer reachable.

Once you've assessed it, can you let me know what your comfort level would be with reproducing something similar for a few more images in the future?

The purpose of this is that currently our search tools have a number of standard images that are used across all sites, but which much be matched by hand to the color scheme of the site in question. So, each time we set up a new site we have to go into Photoshop to generate a new version of each image by hand.

This type of application would circumvent that completely by allowing us to generate the images simply by feeding a few parameters into a query string for each image, and so it would be very helpful in automating our production process.

FYI, you can get a sense of how the current handlers work by viewing the following:

http://images.sierrainteractivemls.com/fw_button.axd?ic=ff0000

http://images.sierrainteractivemls.com/bk_button.axd?ic=ff0000

http://images.sierrainteractivemls.com/view_details_button/view_details_button.axd?ic=333333&tc=ff0000

http://images.sierrainteractivemls.com/tabs_bg.axd?ic=010080

I hate to interrupt your work on the search application, but if you can take some time at least to get a sense of this and let me know what you think, I would really appreciate it.

[EDIT] Once you have gotten a sense of it, I think it would make most sense to continue working on the search application and get that finished, but at that point we might come back to this to work on a few additional images.

Thanks.

Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Ben,

Per the current implementation, the "image generator" code uses a couple of folders viz. "BaseFolder" and "Cache" (both presented under website root folder). The "BaseFolder" contains all base/template images, which are then changed depending on the specified input params.

As for the "Cache" folder, it physically stores images that are once generated. When a request is made for an image, say back-button (e.g. sierra-images.axd?name=button_bk&ic=ff0000), the code first checks whether an image for the back-button is already created for the specified color. For this, it looks into the "Cache" folder for an image button_bk-65536.png, if that image is found it serves that image. If the image is not yet created, it will be created and stored under the "Cache" folder with the above name.

The naming pattern is [image-name]-[RGB-value-of-image-colors]. image-colors would one or more colors specified in the query-string params (in hex).

Once an image is generated, the server will simply read the image from the physical file and serve it; very much like it is done for static images, however with slight performance impact (which is required for checking presence of images) but it shouldn't significant.

In addition, when an image is served its expiry date is set to 1-year post current-date. Therefore, if the browser already has the cached image into its local cache, it will simply use that copy instead of requesting one from the server. This will also improve performance.

Thanks.

Posted by Shah Vihar(unfuddle username: vshah)

[Battler45]

Ben,

I've updated code to dynamically generate quick-search images.

Please check these images at the following URLs:

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=qs_title&bc=ffffff&ic=954305&tc=ffffff&isc=000000

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=qs_street&bc=ffffff&ic=954305&ibc=fefee1&tc=ffffff&isc=000000

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=qs_mls&bc=ffffff&ic=954305&ibc=fefee1&tc=ffffff&isc=000000

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=qs_agent&bc=ffffff&ic=954305&ibc=fefee1&tc=ffffff&isc=000000

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=qs_zip&bc=ffffff&ic=954305&ibc=fefee1&tc=ffffff&isc=000000

Please note that the parameter "bc" (background fill color) is an optional parameter. If not specified, the image will have transparent background. Please see "Dynamic Image List" document for more details.

Please let me know your feedback.

Thanks Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Ben,

I've checked the images. Please note that,

1-- The bg_body.psd is different than bg_body.gif

2-- I could not find psd file for slideshow_body_bg.jpg. Could you please provide me the same?

A couple of questions:

1-- I believe that the text("Bee Keeton...") in bg_header.png is not part of actual image.

2-- My understanding is that bg_header.psd corresponds to four separate images and will be named as bg_header_01,...,bg_header_04. Same is true for bg_intro.psd and bg_title.psd.

Thanks Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Ben,

I have updated code to generate images for standard-site-H but haven't published yet as it is probably bit late to do. I will upload the changes tomorrow.

Thanks. Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Ben,

RE #79 and #80 - leaving aside the Cloudflare point, you are correct in your hypothesis in that the index / statistics haven't been getting rebuilt since long time - almost two months! This may very well be due to the issue we had with the SoftLayer server a couple of months ago. It appears that in moving the server to new chassis, the SQL Server settings were reset. The index / statistics rebuilding functionality is based on SQL Agent, which was disabled up until now. I've enabled it so the index / statistics should be getting rebuilt from today onwards. Pls note that this operation is very resource intensive so I haven't started it manually. I'll do so after 3-4 hours (around 2 AM EST).

My apologies for not monitoring this periodically. What is really embarrassing is that I didn't check it for such a long period. I think this would be a good time for me to prepare a checklist of tasks to monitor periodically (perhaps weekly or bi-weekly). I'm listing all those tasks here.

1 -- Check index / statistics rebuilding status on the SoftLayer and DEDR65 servers.

2 -- Check Lead-distribution Windows-service status on DEDN173

3 -- Check to make sure that automated backups are moved to the Crystaltech updater server

4 -- Check CAA and Updater logs for possible issues.

Pls let me know if I missed other such tasks.

Thanks.

Posted by Shah Vihar(unfuddle username: vshah)

[Battler45]

Ben,

I've updated code to remove GAMMA chunk from the png images. Please check the same and let me know if it works.

Thanks Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Ben,

I checked the code for dynamic image generation. It is fairly good and quite understandable. I've understood the gist of it and would be comfortable in implementing similar functionality for additional set of images.

Unfortunately the code you've provided appears to be of older version. From what I've understood, the "Dynamic_Images" project contains consolidated code for generating all four types of images. My guess is that after implementing code for all four separate images, the programmer would have implemented the "Dynamic_Images" solution to serve dynamic images from a single place. If and when I work on adding similar functionality for new set images, I think it would be better create a single code-base to dynamically generate all such images. It would be easier to maintain.

Thanks.

Posted by Shah Vihar(unfuddle username: vshah)

[Battler45]

Vihang,

1 - Good point! Please use the attached image instead. Given two color inputs for this image, is it possible to dynamically create a gradient as in this example?

2 - I've attached the PSD for slideshow_body.jpg

Regarding your additional queries:

1 - Yes, correct, sorry about that. For that image, the things that need to be configurable are: 1) the blue background bar with gradient 2) the white square with gradient. For the blue bar, if you could set it up so that it receives one color input, and the opacity gets less from the bottom of the bar to the top, that would be great (as opposed to two separate color inputs). If you can only do it with two color inputs, though, that's fine. Same goes for the white square.

2 - No, actually bg_header.psd should be output as only one single, full-size image -- same goes for both bg_header.png and bg_title.png. The only one that will need to be output as four separate images would be home_buttons.psd -- this will need to be output as four individual images.

Thanks. Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Ben,

I've added a new parameter "itc" (inner text color) to set text in colored area for the sidebar_top image.

Thanks Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Vihang,

As you have time, I've prepared another set of PSD files and Images to be used in creating dynamic images for the next standard site template. Please let me know if you have any questions about these once you've reviewed them. These will be for our "Standard Site A" and so if you can use the same folder naming convention as previous, that would be great.

Thanks. Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Vihar,

Thanks for making these changes. I also think now that the firewall is in place on the DEDN173 server, the resource usage will be lower, and so this should also help the dynamic image manager. Let's keep an eye on it and see if we experience any further problems.

Thanks. Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Vihang,

I'm working on production of a new standard site for template G, and it appears we are having a small problem with one of the dynamic images. If you look at these two images:

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/standard/g/sierra-images.axd?name=home_sidebar_01&bc=dfdfdf&ic=295C95

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/standard/g/sierra-images.axd?name=home_sidebar_04&bc=dfdfdf&ic=295C95

You'll see that the first one (sidebar top) contains a small pattern overlay (small dots) which is absent from the second one (sidebar bottom). Could you replicate the same pattern on the bottom image as on the top image?

Thanks. Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Vihang,

Ah, I see. The current two images that you are using look fine and I will put them into production. Regarding future images, we can see how it goes. I will send you a few more later today.

One question regarding planning for the future -- currently we are only dealing with a small number of images and a small number of clients. Eventually we hope to be dealing with a larger number of images and a much larger number of clients.

With that in mind, anticipating that at some point we may have thousands of cached images, would it be prudent to begin now to separate cached versions of each separate image into a separate folder on the server (if you are not doing so already) in order to improve performance of web server in scanning for an existing version of cached images?

If you don't feel there would be a performance impact, even with a larger number of images, then it's fine to leave it as-is.

Thanks. Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Ben,

I've update the document for remaining images. Please note that I've left the "URLs Where Used" column blank for now. I'll start working on QuickSearch and Sidebar images once I've implemented Dashboard and Market Statistics changes (for map based statistics calculation). I hope this is fine with you.

Thanks Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Vihang,

I ran into a small problem with the body_bg image for standard site G. For some reason, Internet Explorer is displaying the color of this image differently than what it should be (even though other browsers render it properly).

You can see what I mean if you open this site in Internet Explorer and then in another browser:

http://christinegalbreath.sierrainteractivemls.com/

I've done some research online, and it seems there is an issue with the way Internet Explorer sometimes displays PNG images. The problem is referenced in this thread:

http://forum.boagworld.com/discussion/386/does-ie-render-colors-differently/p1

but there is no definitive solution offered. One person does suggest saving the PNG with "no color profile" -- so, I'm wondering if in the application you are using, there are any settings you could change that might accomplish this? Can you play around with it and see if you can work it out?

Thanks. Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Ben,

I have added pattern overlay on the sidebar bottom image.

Thanks Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Ben,

If we are going to have number of images then it would be better to store them in separate folders. I've made necessary changes and uploaded the code.

Thanks Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Ben,

I did in fact try that technique but the resultant image wasn't much different than the one being generated currently. Currently the gradient effect is applied programmatically.

I think the mismatch occurs in this case because of the different effects applied to the actual images (Bevel and Emboss). If we are going to be working on images that have gradient effect only, then I think the current approach of applying gradient programmatically (or maybe by merging a transparent image having gradient) will work.

Please let me know your inputs.

Thanks. Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Vihang,

Looks good. One more small request on the sidebar image, if possible: for the main image background color (not the overall background, but the colored background of the image -- i.e., the light blue area in this image: http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=sidebar_bg&bc=ffffff&ic=caddf6&ibc=cacaca) would it be possible to take the color entered and display it at 25% opacity on a white background?

So, for example, if the ic parameter in the referenced image were 000000 (black) the actual image would display a light gray color (or black at 25% opacity).

This would save me the trouble of needing to add an additional parameter to the MLSSitesCSS table in the admin area.

(Of course, this same thing would need to be done in all places that this image color paramater appears.)

Thanks. Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Vihang,

I've prepared the remaining images we'll need for our first round of dynamic images. These images are all used in our property search tools across all of our sites, and so making them dynamic as you've done for the others will be a huge help for us.

I'm going to warn you in advance that a few of these are somewhat complicated. I've tried to render them in a way that they can (hopefully) be constructed from one or more simple shapes and then integrated to form a complete image as you have done with some of the others.

1 - Quick Search -- This one looks complicated, but I'm hoping it may be fairly simple. The background would be one layer (in this case, white). The text would be another layer. Then I think the background could be constructed of two or possibly three separate images. Rather than using a gradient on this image, I used a transparent overlay of white at 10% opacity. It's a simple shape with a consistent color throughout, and so hopefully this should make it easier to render. The background shape (brownish) is also a solid color, and it has an "Outer Glow" effect similar to what you have been able to do in other images.

One thing that makes this image a little bit different is that we actually need it saved as five different images (in order that each image can be given a different link in the application). Could you name the resulting dynamic images:

qs_title.png qs_street.png qs_mls.png qs_agent.png qs_zip.png

Also, for the backgroud layer (the white fill in the background) would it be possible to create the dynamic image so that the background could be filled with a color if a color is provided in teh querystring, but that the background would be transparent if no color is supplied? Some of our sites have some sort of design or shading in the backgrounds of their content areas, and so it would be nice to be able to specify a transparent background in such cases.

Please have a look at "Quick-Search.zip" and let me know if you have any questions. Thanks.

2 - Sidebar - This one will actually be a number of images as well, and we would need the following dynamic images:

sidebar_top.png (this will be all one image. When you see it you may think that the signup button needs to be separate, but for our purposes it does not.) sidebar_bg.png sidebar_bottom.png sidebar_welcome_top.png sidebar_login_button.png

The corresponding PSD files are provided. If you have trouble with the borders on any of these images let me know and I can work on changing them.

The Login button will probably be the most difficult. In this case we would need the following parameters:

background color (bg) button color (bc) button border color (bbc) text color (tc) drop shadow color (sc)

If this is too difficult, let me know and we can perhaps using something similar to the green buttons we are already using on the dev site. (In addition to needing these images, I'm also interested in seeing what's possible with these images and what you are able to do. I hope you don't find it to be too tedious.)

There are a couple of additional image sets, but I may need to modify those depending on what you are able to do with these.

Thanks. Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Vihang,

Thanks for getting this done so quickly. Everything looks good so far except that I am getting a server error on this image:

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=bg_right_cur_ta&bc=ffffff&ic=ebebeb&ibc=dfdfdf

thanks Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Vihang,

This looks perfect, great work, thanks. Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Vihar,

Through some sleuthing I was able to track down the developer who created the original project. It has been quite a while now since he worked on it, and, since he was not quite sure what I was asking for, he zipped up everything he had and sent it over to me. I've attached what he sent. I looked through it but am not sure if the solution that combined all images into a single project is present in these files, but I'm hoping it will be.

Thanks. Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Ben,

I have added the twitter and foreclosure dynamic images for the Standard Site G. Please check the following Urls:

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/standard/g/sierra-images.axd?name=img_twitter_sidebar&ic=000000&ibc=000000&tlt=ffffff&blt=7fb9ba

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/standard/g/sierra-images.axd?name=img_foreclosures_sidebar&ic=000000&ibc=000000&tlt=ffffff&blt=446ac3

Please note that, while editing Facebook image I was getting missing font (HelveticalNeueLTPro ...) message. So, I have used Arial fonts in the twitter image. Could you please provide me the missing fonts?

Thanks

Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Ben,

I’ve update sidebar image code. Please check this and let me know if it achieves the purpose.

Thanks Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Ben,

My apologies for the delay.

I've updated code to dynamically generate action box images. Please check the following urls:

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=next_steps_buttons_01&bc=746457&tc=f9f1c9

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=next_steps_buttons_02&bc=746457&tc=f9f1c9

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=next_steps_buttons_03&bc=746457&tc=f9f1c9

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=next_steps_buttons_04&bc=746457&tc=f9f1c9

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=next_steps_buttons_05&bc=746457&tc=f9f1c9

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=next_steps_buttons_06&bc=746457&tc=f9f1c9

Please note that the background color (bc) is an optional parameter, if not specified the image will have transparent background.

Regarding tab images, these images are already in place. Please check the following urls:

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=bg_left_cur_tab&bc=746457&ic=8e8e8e&ibc=f9f1c9

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=bg_right_cur_tab&bc=746457&ic=8e8e8e&ibc=f9f1c9

Please let me know if any changes are to be made to tab images.

Thanks

Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Ben,

RE: #78 - I had also encountered similar issues a few times earlier. This happened immediately after I needed to restart the IIS service. I checked the website logs but couldn't find anything specific other than entries with status 500. I'm guessing that there may be some issue in starting / loading the website. That said, I did make a couple of changes:

1 -- to fix an issue in displaying error image (to handle incorrect requests)

2 -- to dispose of resources in creating new images. I double-checked code to make sure that resources (esp. memory) are released correctly.

I'm not sure if either of this will address the issue we are facing but I think we can monitor this for another couple of days. If the issue persists then it would be good to try moving this website to the Updater server.

Pls let me know your thoughts.

Thanks.

Posted by Shah Vihar(unfuddle username: vshah)

[Battler45]

Vihang,

Excellent, it's working great, thanks for figuring this out! Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Ben,

I've explained the dynamic image generator changes to Vihang, and have also explained a possible approach to merge the existing projects into single solution. My thought is that since we are anyway going to create a new solution, and will be adding new images in future, a better approach would be to create a single image handler that could be used for serving all such images.

For example, assuming we've created sierra-images.axd handler we could server various images as follows:

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=back_button&ic=ff0000

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=model&ic=ff0000&tc=ffffff&isc=00ff00&ibc=0000ff

This will allow us to add as many images without having to introduce new handlers. Please let me know your thoughts.

As for serving images via a different url, http://images.sierrainteractive.com/imagename.axd - it would be very much possible and would require very few changes. Pls note that we'll however need to setup a new ASP.NET website to server dynamically generated images. The above url can be bound to this new website to server dynamic images.

Thanks.

Posted by Shah Vihar(unfuddle username: vshah)

[Battler45]

Vihang,

Yes, those look great. They will work as-is, but I am still curious about the gradient issue as that type of effect is something we will probably need on a few other images.

Since you are able to create separate images and then merge them together into a single image, I wonder if the same technique could be used for the gradient. For example, if you look at any of the big green buttons in our admin area ("Add New Lead", "Add New User," etc.) you will see that there is a gradient applied on those buttons, but the gradient is actually a separate image.

There is a background color in the image, and then the transparent-PNG gradient is applied on top of the background color, itself a background image below the text.

So, is it possible the gradient in these situations could be created as a separate file with transparency and then merged with the other elements to create the final image?

Thanks. Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Ben,

1-- The background color is an optional parameter and since it is not passed, the images are generated with transparent background. I am not sure how the background color is applied to these images. I believe the background color appears due to "background-color" set in the "blog_box" class.

2-- The background color is an optional parameter in this image as well.

3-- At present the border color parameter (ibc) value is set to green color (body bg color). If the value of ibc parameter is changed to ffffff (background-color property value in the slider_items class), the images should align properly.

4-- I've increased the height of the "home_sidebar_04" by 1px.

5-- I've updated code to generate another version of bg_body image. The name of the image is "bg_body_2" and it accepts two parameters, top color (tc) and bottom color (bc).

Please check the image at http://images.sierrainteractive.com/standard/g/sierra-images.axd?name=bg_body_2&tc=c9cdcc&bc=000000

6-- I've updated code to smoother the border of the circle.

Please let me know your feedback on above changes.

Thanks

Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Vihang,

I've been working to update a new design to use our Standard Site format -- can you help me to convert another round of static images to dynamic images?

These will be for standard site I. I've attached a zip file to this post, and you can compare the PSD files in the zip file to the actual images used on this development site:

http://angiekoss.sierrainteractivemls.com/

A number of the images use a gradient, and in all cases I have tried to use a solid background color with a gradient that fades from white to transparent to make creation of the images simpler (we only need one color input vs. two). A number of these images also use a small bevel -- I know we have had difficulty with that in the past, so please let me know if it's a problem.

There will probably be one or two additional images coming for this template in the next couple of days, but I wanted to go ahead and give you these in case you'll have time to get started on them sooner. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks. Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Ben,

I've moved the Image Generation to the new website and updated code to generate new images. You can check the same at the following URLs:

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=back_to_map&ic=ffffff&tc=1158a0&ibc=cecece

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=save_search&ic=ffffff&tc=1158a0&ibc=cecece

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=new_search&ic=ffffff&tc=1158a0&ibc=cecece

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=bg_left_cur_tab&bc=ffffff&ic=ebebeb&ibc=dfdfdf

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=bg_right_cur_ta&bc=ffffff&ic=ebebeb&ibc=dfdfdf

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=bg_left_tab&bc=ffffff&ic=8e8e8e&isc=004c99

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=bg_right_tab&bc=ffffff&ic=8e8e8e&isc=004c99

Please let me know your feedback.

Please see the attached xls file listing details about all dynamically generated images and their parameters. Please upload this on google docs and grant access to me and Vihar for the same.

FYI: Vihar has setup a new repository for this project. All changes in this project would be tracked in that directory. Please let me know if you want to clone it on your machine; I'll provide you necessary information.

Thanks Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Ben,

I've updated code for the remaining Standard Site I images. Please check the same and let me know your feedback.

Thanks Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Vihar,

Thanks for looking into this. No need to be embarrassed -- we are all trying to oversee a number of details, and I certainly have allowed more than my fair share to fall through the cracks.

Your initial check list looks good. I have also been thinking along the same lines, actually, for the launching of websites. Today a potential client was examining some of our existing websites and noticed that, on the existing site, when she clicked the "Advanced Search" link, the results were loading within the quick search iframe rather than in the main window -- and apparently it had been this way for months. Very embarrassing!

What this led me to consider was that we could also use a checklist in preparing a website for launch -- which would include a number of small items to check off, such as clicking the Advanced Search link in all Quick Search widgets to make sure they are working properly. Since there are so many small details to cover in the launch of a new site, I think a checklist would be ideal for this purpose.

On that note, I did read a fascinating book about a year ago on this very topic -- it's called "The Checklist Manifesto" -- you can see it here on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-Right/dp/0312430000/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329278507&sr=8-1 It's a fascinating book and well worth the read (I am going to re-read it) -- the basic message being that study after study shows that implementation of simple, clear checklists can dramatically improve results in a variety of cases, from piloting airplanes to performing surgery.

Anyway, all of that is to say -- good idea! I will work on a website launch checklist. Perhaps we can assemble these in the Google Docs repository once they are completed, for reference.

Thanks. Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Ben,

Please find below a few queries:

1-- I could not open bg_map.psd and img_worth.psd properly. I am getting following message when bg_map.psd is opened, Unknown data has been encountered reading layer "map" and will be discarded. It appears that these images are created with latest version of photoshop (FYI, I am using CS2). Would it be possible to provide me separate png images for each layer for these two images?

2-- I could not find bg_box_slide.psd file.

3-- I also wanted to know if the icon colors in img_find_home.png and img_worth.png are configurable.

Thanks.

Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Vihang,

This one is a priority, but hopefully it should be very simple. When you have a chance, can you convert the following to dynamic images:

1 -- http://hometoindy.sierrainteractivedev.com/property-search/res/images/detail_2/bg_right_title_text_content.gif -- this is the short red horizontal line you see on this page: http://www.hometoindy.com/property-search/detail/25/21044808/9565-east-82nd-street-indianapolis-in-46256/ next to "DESCRIPTION" in the Overview area.

It's fine to format it as a png instead of a gif, and it would only need 1 input for color. Please call it "det_data_border_hor"

2 -- http://hometoindy.sierrainteractivedev.com/property-search/res/images/detail_2/bg_text_content.png You can find this image on the same page; it's the vertical red line that connects to the short horizontal image above. Again, only one input is needed (for color). It is basically just a 1px wide vertical line of a single color.

Please call it "det_data_border_vert"

Because these images are so simple, I'm sure you must be wondering why we need dynamic images at all, as opposed to just creating them through CSS. Having them as images allows me to use the background-position properties in ways that are not possible with a border generated through CSS.

Thanks. Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Ben,

I've made changes to dynamically generate "Sidebar" and "Detail Data Border" images.

Please check the following Urls for sidebar images:

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=sidebar_top&bc=ffffff&ic=caddf6&tc=000000&ibc=cacaca&bic=274fa0&btc=ffffff&bbc=caddf6&bsc=000000

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=sidebar_bg&bc=ffffff&ic=caddf6&ibc=cacaca

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=sidebar_bottom&bc=ffffff&ic=caddf6&ibc=cacaca

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=sidebar_welcome&bc=ffffff&tc=000000&ibc=cacaca

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=sidebar_login&bcffffff&ic=274fa0&tc=ffffff&ibc=caddf6&isc=000000

And for detail data border images:

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=det_data_border_hor&ic=d95900

http://images.sierrainteractive.com/sierra-images.axd?name=det_data_border_vert&ic=d95900

Please note that in the sidebar images White BG colour is not replaceable. Also, in the sidebar_top image, White BG and Inner BG (light blue color) texts have same color. Please let me know if these texts should have different color.

I've also updated the document for these images. Please check the smae for more details.

Please let me know your feedback.

Thanks

Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)

[Battler45]

Vihang,

Attached please find the PSD file for bg_box_slide.psd -- for this image please configure three parameters: main image color, shadow color and (optional) background color, and please format as a PNG which is transparent when background color is not specified.

Also please find one additional PSD file -- this is similar to img_worth. For this image, the main image color, top line text color and bottom line text color need to be configurable, but the icon will always stay the same and so does not need to be configurable.

Thanks. Posted by Peskoe Ben(unfuddle username: bpeskoe)

[Battler45]

Ben,

I've updated code to dynamically generate the search-application images and updated the document for the same.

Thanks Posted by Shah Vihang(unfuddle username: vihang)