Hi

This might interest you
http://lab.arc90.com/2006/07/link_thumbnail.php

and the example page...
http://lab.arc90.com/tools/linkthumb/

Should go in the Plugin Feature Requests forum... (a mod should move it).

Anyway, For someone interested in developing the plugin, you would take a existing renderer plugin, and change the search code to find links, then replace the links with the generated code from project john posted links to by passing over the link i guess.

Should work...

I'll move this to the appropriate forum, but first I have a question about that service. I did not see where they were providing a link to the image, so I sort of thought you were supposed to grab the image and host it yourself. Do you know which way that service expects to be used? Because if they expect you to link to their image a simple renderer would be fairly easy (even for me), but if you are supposed to clip and host the image yourself then it's just uploading the image and using it where you see fit. Or am I missing something?

Well if its the 2nd one, where you will need to host it, just make it do this;

Grab the image, save it somewhere, make a .php file that outputs the image then deletes the image.

So, somehow get the image, put save it somewhere, then have say;
image.php?getimage=imagename

Which would;
1. Set the headers to a image type
2. Output the contents of the image file
3. Delete the image file

It uses this service http://www.websnapr.com/

¥

yeh.. ednong linked to them...

balupton wrote:

Well if its the 2nd one, where you will need to host it, just make it do this;

Grab the image, save it somewhere, make a .php file that outputs the image then deletes the image.

So, somehow get the image, put save it somewhere, then have say;
image.php?getimage=imagename

Which would;
1. Set the headers to a image type
2. Output the contents of the image file
3. Delete the image file

That won't work because it takes them way too long to make the image. I'm figuring if you want to use that service then you wait and wait and wait for them to make the screenshot (which obviously you could do yourself in half the time given some reasonably common tools), then upload it, then link it. Near as I can tell - if you're expected to host the image yourself - the only thing a plugin can do is search a gallery for an image that matches the domain's name and use the image instead of text.

That won't work because it takes them way too long to make the image. I'm figuring if you want to use that service then you wait and wait and wait for them to make the screenshot (which obviously you could do yourself in half the time given some reasonably common tools), then upload it, then link it. Near as I can tell - if you're expected to host the image yourself - the only thing a plugin can do is search a gallery for an image that matches the domain's name and use the image instead of text.

Ahh true, so save the image somewhere when the post is saved, instead of getting it temporarily when the post is rendered.

WebSnapr does not require you to host the image locally, which is good.

I'll write a "LinkShot plugin" for it - perhaps it will support other services later, too.

Now the question is, how such links should get marked up.. should all (external) links get a image assigned (either in front or on hover, which could be a (User)Setting), or should they get encapsulated in special bbcode-like tags, like e.g. [linkshot]URL[/linkshot]?
Of course, this could also be a setting, but it would need a default setting.. (of course, the [linkshot] tag should allow all the attributes that are useful for links, like e.g. "title").

Suggestions?

I think the onhover effect should be a user-selectable feature for those of us who don't expect javascript enabled by our visitors. In any event 'degrading gracefully' is important.

Title tag is a must-have feature to my way of thinking. Plus since websnapr allows 4 different thumb sizes one would hope the plugin has a setting for size and that the setting adds width and height tags to the link.

Installing the plugin should add a credit to the groovy credits feature!

I think it should be location-specific, so the [linkshot]URL[/linkshot] method sounds best, although I would call the tag [websnapr] because that's who's service is being enjoyed.

Following up on that thought, a skin-tag plugin that allows you to link webs you want a visual shot of. Kind of like a linkblog for the eyes eh? Maybe some people would use it for their entire linkblog, but others might choose to use it for only a handful.

I was just thinking of something else but I forget what. ... ... ...

Oh yeah: an option to host locally would be super cool just in case websnapr ever folds or forces a user fee after finding the 'donate' model doesn't work for them. Maybe get that guy who wrote the file manager to help you out with that one ;)