> Can people have a play! > > http://images2.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/choose4.pl It works just fine for me too - thanks Dave. > And the New Initiative.... Nice one Bob :o) Regards Mary ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Mayall" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2004 5:02 PM Subject: Addressing the TIFF file problem and a new initiative > Going by the early feedback on the public access to the images, there are five > main gripes; > > 1) Problems with XP and tiff files > 2) Some people have no tiff viewer > 3) People want to resize etc images > 4) Filename when saving > 5) "?" in dropdowns > > 1 and 2 are major issues, whilst 3 and 4 are more a case of "does sir want the > moon on a stick", but hey-ho, if the masses don't get what they want, they > write in with endless suggestions as to how it could be done differently, and > we get no peace. Point 5 is a poor bit of HCI. > > I got some way down the track with doing on the fly tiff>jpg conversions to > resolve 1 and 2 and added the code to fix 4 and 5. > > Unfortunately, it seems that all TIFF files are not equal, and some of ours > are not standards compliant :-( They cause no problems until you try to > convert them to jpgs, where they upset our conversion routines. > > So, a re-think was in order, and I'd like people to take a look at the > prototype of a revised version, which converts all files on the public > interface (but not the transcriber interface) to pdf files. > > This resolves file format problems, and provides a viewer that allows re- > sizing, so might even keep the punters happy. It allso allows us to embed > a "provided by FreeBMD" into the file, to catch naughty people trying to sell > the images. > > Other enhancements; > "?" replaced by "A-Z" in menus > better handling of letter ranges in menus > file name embedded in output > user presented with open/save option box > > Can people have a play! > > http://images2.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/choose4.pl > > And the New Initiative.... > > Is something that I can claim absolutely no credit whatsoever for. > > Bob Phillips has set up a mini project to deal with the very worst scans, in > particular those scans which are so poor on the film that a conventional re- > scan won't help. > > Bob's project is described at > http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robert.phillips40/rescans.htm > > Basically we get volunteers with digital cameras to go to the FRC and > photograph the particularly bad pages from the books. > > It's an idea which is breathtakingly simple, but it needed someone to think it > and to drive it forward, and a big round of applause to Bob for that. > > I know that Bob would like to take the project further, so if you live in > London, have a digital camera, and fancy having a go, please get in touch with > Bod. > > -- > Dave Mayall > > ---------------------------------------------- > This mail sent through http://www.ukonline.net > > > ==== FREEBMD-SYNDICATES Mailing List ==== > Want to help FreeBMD? > Go to http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/Signup.html to find out how. > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 >