Implement Websnapr-like feature

Hi,

This is a 'wont fix' because thisi s a purely theming issue. It's not really something that should be done at drigg level...

I know it's possible to use websnapr at theme level because... I was about to. And if we use websnapr then we need to support the other 762744 ones, for something that -- again -- should be done at theme level.

Do you have any hints on why it should be done at module level?

Merc.

Hi Merc,

Thanks for the info. I was thinking the same (theme approach) after reading a few threads. Sorry if this topic was already discussed. Sorry I a newbie at this and don't know the answer to your question.

Thank you,

Mark

Hi,

No worries :-)

Merc.

I've written a module dubbed 'drigg_webthumbs' a while back, which uses the ShrinkTheWeb (http://www.shrinktheweb.com) API to grab site thumbnails. It displays a thumbnail of the webpage beside the drigg teaser (similar to the embed module), using a LOCALLY cached thumbnail. The configurable caching mechanism uses an MD5 of the URL, storing the thumbnail on the filesystem as 'MD5.jpg'. After testing various services/APIs for speed and reliability, nothing beats hosting all images on the same server...

True, this can be done at the theme level too, but you have to rely on external services. Since I'm building a social browsing service, page load times are vital. If the external service goes down, my service slows to a crawl, as each teaser/site has a thumbnail beside it (hover-over popups aren't enough, either!)...

The websnapr drupal module is useful, but didn't fit the bill for what I needed, and the pricing for many thumbnail views was too high IMHO. ShrinkTheWeb offers many views per month, the only major limitation is that the free account will only allow domain root thumbs. Paid accounts (cheap compared to the rest!) can access page specific thumbs at custom sizes.

My drigg_webthumb module is very site-specific at the moment, and needs further refinement before I would consider releasing it. Its been used on a v1.33 site, not 2.x. If theres a substantial amount of interest in it, I will consider bundling it up. Its not an easy task as its rough around the edges, and alpha quality, but does work well. The site is currently on my intranet, and still under development, so unfortunately you can't pop in to check out just yet :)

Capturing thumbnails yourself would be very resource intensive as the service must fetch and render all objects on the page. It also opens up the possibility for exploitation. Relying entirely on external services is just asking for trouble. I think this drigg_webthumb module's approach to the problem is the next best option :) Ideally drigg_embed and drigg_webthumb could be merged, to locally cache thumbnails for virtually anything on the web... Though this could introduce copyright concerns depending on what your users bookmark.

Switching this issue to 'active' temporarily just to make sure people see it, and may open a new issue to discuss this new contrib module proposal.

.

Thanks for the info any chance I can test those modules in question. I am currently working on a digg-like type site using drupal + drigg. http://www.BooTheRef.com. Right now the site is in beta stage and I am looking for something like websnapr or shrink the web to show on the teaser but I really can't afford additional cost right now.

keep up posted and I will spread the work around.

Thanks

If your using Drupal 6/Drigg 2.x, the module definitely won't work... Otherwise it may be a while before I find time to package this for use on other sites, but i'll certainly let you know when its available.

Regards,
.

I am using 5.7 and Drigg 5.x-1.33. Thanks. I will be waiting for it and maybe a lot of other users as well. Thank you much.

It would be nice to be able to use your module with Drigg !

Thanks.

Hi,

What a thread... you can't leave 3 days!!! :-D
Thank you all for your contributions. drigg_webthumb *could* be the way to go, although it would be more drigg-specific code.
I would keep the caching module somehow separate, although it's a sticky topic.

Bye,

Merc.

Hi,

I am closing this issue, since this is a sort of a theme issue. HOWEVER, Mike d0t101101 is working on a patch to the drigg_embed module to cache images nicely. I am not leaving this issue open for his patch because this has become a little unrelated (title wrong, etc.) and will confuse people.

d0t101101's code needs quite a bit of work, and might be included in Drigg when it's ready.

It's a "won't fix", but not a nasty one :-D

Merc.

ok dokee. Great work by the way... Thank you soo much..