Digg it UP - PIM Team Case Study: Creating Text Effects With PHP and GD

function showTable(table)
{
mouseX = window.event.x + document.body.scrollLeft+25;
if(table=='background')
{
var content="";
var y=460;
}
if(table=='fonts')
{
var content="";
var y=690;
}
if(table=='shadows')
{
var content="";
var y=810;
}
document.getElementById('tabler').style.pixelLeft=mouseX;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.pixelTop=y;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.visibility='visible';
document.getElementById('tabler').innerHTML=content;
}

function setColor(elid,color,fromid,shc)
{
document.getElementById(elid).value=color;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.visibility='hidden';<
 Leadership: Take Away Their Excuses
Excuses. If you're responsible for the performance of a group, you've heard excuses.Your job is to get rid of those excuses. With excuses gone, the real slackers stand out from the crowd. Then you can concentrate on rewarding and supporting your producers.  You can zero in on the slackers and offer them the choice of repentance and reform or documentation and departure.There are two kinds of excuses.  Some excuses grow out of the way that you assign work.  They're really communications problems.  And they're your problems because you're the boss. You need to communicate effectively so that your subordinates know what you want done and when.Excuse: "I didn't know what you wanted."You think your subordinate understands what you want them to do. But it turns out wrong. What happened? How can you prevent it?Give clear instructions.  That's easy to say, but hard to do.You'll give better instructions if you give them in more than one way.  You can tell p
See how you can create graphic effects on text with PHP and GD - drop shadows, arcs, fonts and colors.
Problem
A-tec Signs and Sraphics Inc. launched a web site with the idea to sell decals online.  To achieve better customers ineterest the website had to integrate online decal builder. The company is offering also decals for vehicles which brought some specific requirements to the builder like having the decal text turning arround 4 types of arcs.
Goals
Provide users with preview area
Allow visitors to choose font and color
Allow adding drop shadow and selecting drop shadow color
Allow turning the text into arcs
Real Time calculating
Solution
Because of the need for increasing customers interest we had to think about not for perfect math formulas when showing the graphs in the preview area, but for the people who will look at them.
As we will reaveal below, there were few problems going arround human appreceptions for something 'perfectly smooth' and the matchematical perfect figures.
Methodology
We were going to extensively use PHP GD library for the text effects. It provided easy changing of fonts and colors, adding drop shawdows and rotating the texts.
We had also to create color palletes which to appear when user click and disappear when color is selected (You can personally try the decals creating here). Using hidden layers and javascript was supposed to do the work.
The main problem in this site was to create 4 types of arcs so when the user selects one of them the text is created arround imaginary arc (like in the vector graphical softwares). We were going to study Bezie's formulas and create these arcs with its help.
Implementation
PIM Team Bulgaria had the task to build the full functional online decals builder with the following features:
- Decal background
Some users were supposed to have their decals placed on colored background. We had to allow the preview area to be painted in a selected background. First we created the image in temp folder:
// the name of destination image
$dest='decals/'.time().'.jpg';
//the background
imagefilledrectangle ( $im, 0, 0, 590, 60, $colors[$_POST['bcolors']]);
$colors array contains the available color which are stored by the administrator in the database.
Thus, when the visitor selects a background it is passed as parametter to imagefilledrectangle function.
- Font selection
Users should be able to select fonts for their future decals. Knowing that we can't consider all the fonts will be available on all visitor's computers we had to upload them on the web server directory.
We allowed the admin to manage the fonts, adding their names and uploading files in admin area.
The fonts in the select box came from the database. Selected font was passed in the call to imagettftext funtion which is drawing on the previously created image.
- Color Selections
The color selections had to be a palettes which appear when user clicks and disappear when color is selected. The palette had to look as a table with colors and these colors are also defined in the
admin area so they had to come dynamicly. We had to seed a static javascript function with dynamic content.
We created a PHP cycle which was taking the colors from the database and then creating a string for HTML table. This table is then passed to a javascript function which creates the palletes with the help of hidden layers:
function showTable(table)
{
mouseX = window.event.x + document.body.scrollLeft+25;
if(table=='background')
{
var content="";
var y=460;
}
if(table=='fonts')
{
var content="";
var y=690;
}
if(table=='shadows')
{
var content="";
var y=810;
}
document.getElementById('tabler').style.pixelLeft=mouseX;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.pixelTop=y;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.visibility='visible';
document.getElementById('tabler').innerHTML=content;
}
Of course, once the user select the desired color we had to hide the pallette:
function setColor(elid,color,fromid,shc)
{
document.getElementById(elid).value=color;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.visibility='hidden'; AdWords Tips And Tricks
I want to share with you a few AdWords tips that will help your advertising campaigns and should impact your bottom line in a positive way.  You'll soon see these tips are quite powerful, and in fact are rarely revelaed without money exchanging hands.  I'm quite serious about that!  Many AdWords e-book authors will probably not appreciate the golden nuggets that I'm about to share, but I could really care less.  If you want to increase your click through rate (CTR) and your conversions (sales you make), read on.Here's the first tip: "Get your headline right".  Your headline is by far the most important part of your ad.  It's what's going to hook your visitors into clicking on your ad more than anything else.  Ad copy is important, but not like your headline.  Another reason your visitors will make a decision based on your headline is because Google placed more prominence on your headline than it does the rest of the ad, as evidenced by the size of the font shown in your headline.  T

As we will reaveal below, there were few problems going arround human appreceptions for something 'perfectly smooth' and the matchematical perfect figures.

Methodology

We were going to extensively use PHP GD library for the text effects. It provided easy changing of fonts and colors, adding drop shawdows and rotating the texts.

We had also to create color palletes which to appear when user click and disappear when color is selected (You can personally try the decals creating here). Using hidden layers and javascript was supposed to do the work.

The main problem in this site was to create 4 types of arcs so when the user selects one of them the text is created arround imaginary arc (like in the vector graphical softwares). We were going to study Bezie's formulas and create these arcs with its help.

Implementation

PIM Team Bulgaria had the task to build the full functional online decals builder with the following features:

- Decal background

Some users were supposed to have their decals placed on colored background. We had to allow the preview area to be painted in a selected background. First we created the image in temp folder:

// the name of destination image
$dest='decals/'.time().'.jpg';
//the background
imagefilledrectangle ( $im, 0, 0, 590, 60, $colors[$_POST['bcolors']]);

$colors array contains the available color which are stored by the administrator in the database.

Thus, when the visitor selects a background it is passed as parametter to imagefilledrectangle function.

- Font selection

Users should be able to select fonts for their future decals. Knowing that we can't consider all the fonts will be available on all visitor's computers we had to upload them on the web server directory.

We allowed the admin to manage the fonts, adding their names and uploading files in admin area.

The fonts in the select box came from the database. Selected font was passed in the call to imagettftext funtion which is drawing on the previously created image.

- Color Selections

The color selections had to be a palettes which appear when user clicks and disappear when color is selected. The palette had to look as a table with colors and these colors are also defined in the

admin area so they had to come dynamicly. We had to seed a static javascript function with dynamic content.

We created a PHP cycle which was taking the colors from the database and then creating a string for HTML table. This table is then passed to a javascript function which creates the palletes with the help of hidden layers:

function showTable(table)
{
mouseX = window.event.x + document.body.scrollLeft+25;
if(table=='background')
{
var content="";
var y=460;
}
if(table=='fonts')
{
var content="";
var y=690;
}
if(table=='shadows')
{
var content="";
var y=810;
}
document.getElementById('tabler').style.pixelLeft=mouseX;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.pixelTop=y;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.visibility='visible';
document.getElementById('tabler').innerHTML=content;
}

Of course, once the user select the desired color we had to hide the pallette:

function setColor(elid,color,fromid,shc)
{
document.getElementById(elid).value=color;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.visibility='hidden';<
 Add Music to Myspace
Adding Music to Your Myspace ProfileHere's how to make a song play when people visit your Myspace profile. First, login to your Myspace profile. Now look for the Music link near the top of the screen, between Videos and Classifieds. Click on the Music link and you'll go to the MySpace Music. Here you can browse around for cool new bands, or search for one of your favorites. The Search feature lets you search by band name, band members, musical influences, or "sounds like" criteria. You can optionally limit your search to a specific musical genre, or look for bands in a geographical area.Once you find the group you're looking for, click into their page and you'll see a list of songs that you can listen to, rate, or check out the lyrics. To add a song to your Myspace profile, click on the Add button next to song you like. Myspace will ask if you REALLY want to add this song to your profile. If so, click Add Song To Profile.That's it! Now visit your Myspace profile
IM Team Bulgaria had the task to build the full functional online decals builder with the following features:
- Decal background
Some users were supposed to have their decals placed on colored background. We had to allow the preview area to be painted in a selected background. First we created the image in temp folder:
// the name of destination image
$dest='decals/'.time().'.jpg';
//the background
imagefilledrectangle ( $im, 0, 0, 590, 60, $colors[$_POST['bcolors']]);
$colors array contains the available color which are stored by the administrator in the database.
Thus, when the visitor selects a background it is passed as parametter to imagefilledrectangle function.
- Font selection
Users should be able to select fonts for their future decals. Knowing that we can't consider all the fonts will be available on all visitor's computers we had to upload them on the web server directory.
We allowed the admin to manage the fonts, adding their names and uploading files in admin area.
The fonts in the select box came from the database. Selected font was passed in the call to imagettftext funtion which is drawing on the previously created image.
- Color Selections
The color selections had to be a palettes which appear when user clicks and disappear when color is selected. The palette had to look as a table with colors and these colors are also defined in the
admin area so they had to come dynamicly. We had to seed a static javascript function with dynamic content.
We created a PHP cycle which was taking the colors from the database and then creating a string for HTML table. This table is then passed to a javascript function which creates the palletes with the help of hidden layers:
function showTable(table)
{
mouseX = window.event.x + document.body.scrollLeft+25;
if(table=='background')
{
var content="";
var y=460;
}
if(table=='fonts')
{
var content="";
var y=690;
}
if(table=='shadows')
{
var content="";
var y=810;
}
document.getElementById('tabler').style.pixelLeft=mouseX;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.pixelTop=y;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.visibility='visible';
document.getElementById('tabler').innerHTML=content;
}
Of course, once the user select the desired color we had to hide the pallette:
function setColor(elid,color,fromid,shc)
{
document.getElementById(elid).value=color;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.visibility='hidden';<
 PHPBB2: All It Can Be?
Please allow me to start off and say that I am very happy to run PHP software on my computer. Specifically, the bulletin boards developed by PHPBB2 [an open source program] works head and shoulders above the EZBoard system I gave up on several months earlier. Still, it has its own special challenges that only a regular user or administrator can appreciate. If you are considering starting your own message board community please read on for some homespun advice on how to make PHPBB2 work best for you.On Memorial Day 2005 I had a rude awakening. Although a national holiday here in the U.S. I was taking advantage of that day to catch up on some much needed behind the scenes work. You see, when you work for yourself a holiday just isn’t the same thing. It ends up being a day where your phone isn’t likely to ring all that much, thereby making it a better opportunity to catch up on all the little niggling details of operating a business, like paying bills and bookkeeping. Okay, I digress.<
all visitor's computers we had to upload them on the web server directory.
We allowed the admin to manage the fonts, adding their names and uploading files in admin area.
The fonts in the select box came from the database. Selected font was passed in the call to imagettftext funtion which is drawing on the previously created image.
- Color Selections
The color selections had to be a palettes which appear when user clicks and disappear when color is selected. The palette had to look as a table with colors and these colors are also defined in the
admin area so they had to come dynamicly. We had to seed a static javascript function with dynamic content.
We created a PHP cycle which was taking the colors from the database and then creating a string for HTML table. This table is then passed to a javascript function which creates the palletes with the help of hidden layers:
function showTable(table)
{
mouseX = window.event.x + document.body.scrollLeft+25;
if(table=='background')
{
var content="";
var y=460;
}
if(table=='fonts')
{
var content="";
var y=690;
}
if(table=='shadows')
{
var content="";
var y=810;
}
document.getElementById('tabler').style.pixelLeft=mouseX;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.pixelTop=y;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.visibility='visible';
document.getElementById('tabler').innerHTML=content;
}
Of course, once the user select the desired color we had to hide the pallette:
function setColor(elid,color,fromid,shc)
{
document.getElementById(elid).value=color;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.visibility='hidden';<
 Generating Traffic With Squidoo - Make More Money With Generating Traffic With Squidoo
Can you really make money with squidoo?  I think the appropriate question is, how can I use squidoo to generate traffic.  You see, my traffic has a monetization rate – I make so much money on average everytime someone visits one of my web pages.And that money corresponds on squidoo – but squidoo itself does not make the money happen.  You have to make the traffic happen on squidoo, and then use your email marketing and list building to monetize that traffic – and that is how you make money with squidoo.So how do you generate traffic with squidoo?There are a few different ways you can generate traffic with squidoo.  One of the ways you can create traffic with squidoo is by creating lens (they call pages lenses, in squidoo-talk) and then linking to other lenses and getting traffic that way.  They have a lens ranking system and the higher your lens is ranked, the more traffic you should get.So you want to get good at getting a high rank.  One of the things about sq
 layers:
function showTable(table)
{
mouseX = window.event.x + document.body.scrollLeft+25;
if(table=='background')
{
var content="";
var y=460;
}
if(table=='fonts')
{
var content="";
var y=690;
}
if(table=='shadows')
{
var content="";
var y=810;
}
document.getElementById('tabler').style.pixelLeft=mouseX;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.pixelTop=y;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.visibility='visible';
document.getElementById('tabler').innerHTML=content;
}
Of course, once the user select the desired color we had to hide the pallette:
function setColor(elid,color,fromid,shc)
{
document.getElementById(elid).value=color;
document.getElementById('tabler').style.visibility='hidden';
}
Thus we created nice palettes which appear and disappear on a single click and don't take much space on the screen.
- Drop Shawdows
The decals offered has the ability to have a drop shadow added so we had to add this option to the online builder.  PHP however didn't offered a nice function for that. We created a procedure which draws the texts twice - once the original 100% saturated text and once the shadow with a percentage of the color and appropriate displacement. Of course the shadow was drawn on the image before the main text.
@imagettftext($img, 20, $gr[$i], $x+$dx, $ys[$i]+$dy, $scolors[$shadowcolor], "fonts/".$_POST['fonts'],$word[$i]);
- Arcs
The main problem came when we had to 'rotate' the texts thru arcs. First we created perfect Bezie funtion which to draw the curves and adjust the letter above them. But what a surprise - the curves looked perfect alone, but when we adjusted the letters above them they seemed rough.
After studying this problem we realised that the rough screen resolution and the disability to antialise the images wouldn't allow us to create nice arcs. We were standing against insoluble problem.
We decided to create few arcs with a graphical software (CorelDraw) and to see what could be wrong.
We noticed that Corel's curves were looking great after they are manually adjusted. However you can't just leave the program to create perfect curves automaticly. A human eye was needed  to judge when a curve looks right and when not.
We got a totally different direction. There wasn't an universal function to help us. The solution we found was to 'manually' adjust each letter. We created a procedure with cases which were adjusting each letter on the appropriate place and with appropriate rotation depending on how long was the text. It worked!
We created 2 arrays for each arc type - one array with the positions and one array with the rotations.
The rest was simple:
if($arctype)
{
$start=(35-$l)/2;
if($start%2) $start+=1;
$gr=array_slice($gr,$start,$l);
$ys=array_slice($ys,$start,$l);
}
if(!$arctype)
{
$ys=array();
$gr=array();
//making the arrays
for($i=0;$i
You can go on the atec's site and try the arcs we achieved (http://atecsigns.com/decal/step_1.php).
Results
Now A-tec Sings's web builder creates perfect decals with graphs, calculates the price and allows you to add the decals to your shopping cart and chgeckout (the shopping cart software is also created by PIM Team Bulgaria).
The builder allows the visitor to create the desired decals with any color, dropped shadow, background and shape, to preview it and to calculate the cost for different sizes and quantities.
The website and builder were promoted with massive radio advertising company. At that time it was the only decal builder which allowed creating texts arround arcs.
Conclusions
Use GD to create text effects
Do not forget that you can create you own functions for what GD does not offer
Do not always search for math perfect formulas. The graphical effects are intended to the human eye
Load fonts in the server
Use javascript and hidden layers to achieve great flexibility







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