Modifying an image opacity so the image is semi-transparent is a common requirement when implementing modern graphics design. Reducing image opacity allows background images to feel less dominant. Reducing opacity also allows layering of multiple images one on top of the other, an important step when adding watermarks, badges and textual overlays to images.
Graphic designers often contemplate whether to add borders to their website elements. The decision of whether to add borders around frames, buttons and text elements really depends on the feeling the designer is trying to convey through the design.
When images are involved, web developers have a large set of relevant tools at their disposal. You can display images in your web sites and mobile applications. You can transform and transform such images using image editing and transformation software or cloud-based solutions like Cloudinary. But there are other types of data embedded in image files that can add unique semantic information to the images and are hardly ever used.
When we first started working on Cloudinary we had a very simple goal in mind - offer a complete alternative to a set of rudimentary, repetitive, universally common web dev tasks. Tasks related to a website's image management needs.
*Update (2015): Before you can use a delivery URL such as the ones described in this post, you must first pre-generate the GIF with a call to the multi method of the upload API. The delivery URLs described in this blog post are used to display the pre-generated animated GIFs. For details, see Creating animated GIFs in the Cloudinary documentation.
Different online services, websites and mobile applications have very different image management requirements. Despite the differences, the image management pipeline boils down to the same basic formula - upload the images, normalize them, store them and transform them to create derivatives (thumbnails, effects, watermarks, etc.). Afterwards, prepare them for delivery and make sure they are accessible to your users quickly and efficiently when browsing your website or using your mobile app.
After our recent, somewhat technical posts, we wanted to lighten things up with Cloudinary's latest (cool) semantic image transformation feature. Keeping people privacy in photos by automatically blurring their faces.
UPDATE - Since this post was published, we have added a more advanced solution that allows delivering private and authenticated images to your users. See the documentation on Media access control for more details.
Different web applications have very different requirements when images are involved. A dating website will focus its image-related attention on normalizing and delivering his user uploaded snapshots. A pinterest style service is focused on retrieving external images from around the web and fitting them to its cool layout. An eCommerce website is focused on the effective delivery of the many product thumbnails it depicts.
Websites, blogs and web applications regularly embed video content from various video service providers such as YouTube and Vimeo. Videos are usually depicted using image thumbnails, tweaked to fit the graphics design of the website. When a video thumbnail is clicked, the actual video content starts playing.
As a website owner, you know the importance of having a robust web-based service. When a downtime may result in lost revenues, you strive to keep a highly available online solution.
A major part of having a robust service is a good contingency plan, that ultimately depends on regular backups of your website’s data. Your website’s code is probably backed up regularly, and so is your database, but have you given thought to backing up your dynamic website assets, such as your users’ uploaded images?