Image Handler 2 (for ZC v1.3.8 ONLY) Support

[ideasgirl]

Hello Diva and all....

Remember my issue with the large images? I think I found something maybe related to this.

I just read that some features were taken off of the module that I actually use (and many of my customers set up the images the same way). On the ReadMe files says:

(Rev 8) No more image hotzones - The hotzone feature added no real value to Image Handler2, and it has been removed. The configuration settings for hotzones have also been removed from Admin > Configuration > Images. In case anyone is wondering, the image hover feature works just fine WITHOUT hotzones.

It did have real value. See instead of having an annoying popup hover while you browse the shop, the visitor will have control of which images s/he wants to see bigger before going to the product info page. I thought (and I still think) that this was a very nice setting to have more control about the hovering bigger picture.

(Rev 8) The IH zoom medium images configuration setting has also been removed from Admin > Configuration > Images. This feature (zoom on medium images) was a future enhancement that was NEVER IMPLEMENTED in any Image Handler2 release. Continuing to leave this configuration setting in place for non-existent functionality has been a long source of confusion in the Image Handler2 support thread, and therefore it will be removed.

It was implemented and it was working. That's why I'm not getting the new images uploaded by FTP maybe to the right size? In my "old" site with the "old" IH2 those LRG and MED and .thumb images are created. Don't ask me how because I don't know much about coding, but I know that it works and create those additional images and they are "constrained" somehow to the size set on admin.

I also discovered today that if you upload the additional images by FTP besides not being optimized to the large size set, it won't show the watermark if you are using that feature. On the old IH2 you needed to upload a different size image on each folder of root, medium, and large to proper display of it if you want those images to show up the watermark.

So those 2 options were perfectly working, practical and usable (at least for the dozen of IH2 installations I made, and some sites still using it, including mine), and now they are not there anymore.

[DivaVocals]

**deleted**

[DivaVocals]

It did have real value. See instead of having an annoying popup hover while you browse the shop, the visitor will have control of which images s/he wants to see bigger before going to the product info page. I thought (and I still think) that this was a very nice setting to have more control about the hovering bigger picture.

Image hover was not removed.. It's still very much a part of IH2 and it works just fine..

What was removed was image hotzones.. Hotzones was removed because frankly it wasn't working correctly or even consistently, ckosloff and Mano took a crack at trying to get it to work properly. However, ultimately it was felt that this feature was not worth the effort to fix.. (They put a fair amount of time into this effort) **shrug** Anyone is welcome to take a second look at this and provide some insight as to why it didn't work correctly..

From Tim's original documentation. The sections in red is the feature that was removed.

Zooming (fancy hover effect)

When selecting this feature for small images, the medium image pops up whenever you move your mouse cursor over the small image. Those images are branded with an overlay just like a watermark to indicate the pop up ability. You can upload a file to images/zoom.png to have it overlay your image. A small image is included for quick start. If you don’t want the overlay to show but still want the effect, just delete the overlay image


You can select the gravity just like you can with the watermark to configure where the overlay should go. In addition to that you can specify if you want the overlay to act as a hotzone. That means the popup only shows if you move your mouse exactly above the overlay image (hotzone). If it does not, the whole image is the hotzone.

It was implemented and it was working. That's why I'm not getting the new images uploaded by FTP maybe to the right size? In my "old" site with the "old" IH2 those LRG and MED and .thumb images are created. Don't ask me how because I don't know much about coding, but I know that it works and create those additional images and they are "constrained" somehow to the size set on admin.

Medium image hover really was not implemented.. If you look at Tim's documentation he confirms this, and I saw no evidence in the time since Tim stopped actively participating in IH2 development that it was EVER added to the core code. The setting for it did nothing either which is why it was also removed to eliminate question and confusion regarding a non existing feature.

From Tim's original documentation:

Note: Zooming in on medium images is not implemented, yet.

That said, there is a post somewhere in the dark recesses of this support thread which outlines how to implement medium image hover.. However this modification DOES NOT WORK with most lightbox contributions.. We do include a link to this post in the IH2 readme for anyone who wants to add this functionality with all the caveats that it is not recommended or supported because of the lightbox conflicts.. Again.. If someone wants to take a crack at getting this feature to WORK and work with lightbox contributions, that would be awesome.. **shrug**

I also discovered today that if you upload the additional images by FTP besides not being optimized to the large size set, it won't show the watermark if you are using that feature. On the old IH2 you needed to upload a different size image on each folder of root, medium, and large to proper display of it if you want those images to show up the watermark.

Watermarks was not disabled or modified at all and they work perfectly fine as long as you have the watermarks in the correct locations, in the correct format, and named the correct file name

Again from Tim's original documentation:

In order for watermarking to work for every image dimension the specific corresponding watermark images have to be present. That means, you have to upload files to the following specific locations:

• images/watermark.png
• images/medium/watermark_MED.png (or your specified MEDIUM_IMAGE_SUFFIX)
• images/large/watermark_LRG.png (or your specified LARGE_IMAGE_SUFFIX)

I included some demo watermark images for small, medium and large sized images featuring a slightly modified Zen-Cart logo for a quick start. Nothing more to do, switch on, switch off, just as you like. Image Handler takes care of generating images accordingly. You can specify where you want the watermark to appear on the image canvas by selecting NorthWest, North, NorthEast, West, Center, East, SoutWest, South and SouthEast for the Wartermark Gravity setting.

So those 2 options were perfectly working, practical and usable (at least for the dozen of IH2 installations I made, and some sites still using it, including mine), and now they are not there anymore.

Upgrading from an older version of IH2 to the latest versions was a simple matter uninstalling from the admin, FTP over the new files (merging changes to core files as needed -- mostly for lightbox integration), and install from the admin.. All I can say for all those MANY SITES having issues is they should ask for help here..The folks who've vigilantly been helping with troubleshooting images have done a good job of walking folks through issues that may arise from a errant installation.. There are PLENTY of examples of folks who are using this add-on quite successfully..

[DarkAngel]

@ideasgirl:

I have gone thru the various updates to this mod and am using the rev8d with it working perfectly.

I seldom use the IH2 control panel to upload the images I have mine in each vendors image folder with each product having a home of its own housing the images.

I always upload with FTP and have no problem getting any of them to show unless I have accidently uploaded gif's with the jpgs or not numbered them correctly--fact is I totally could never get the images to show additional ones with or without zen lightbox when they had to have the _LRG or _MED extensions.

Now they all show, but the one uploading the IH2 fiels really has to take special care to upload each file to the corresponding server folder, where some have been known to upload the entire mods folder to the same name folder and that will make the mod inoperable...I myself did it in the beginning or even overwrote the main folder too so I know it has been done by quite a few.

If yours still is not working then there must be some other reason other than the items you said are needed...they are not that necessary.

[nigelt74]

aaargh you all beat me to it,

ideas girl

heres a demo page using the Ih2 rev 8

The initial image was uploaded when the product was added, the additional images were ftp'd up later

my large image settings are

IH watermark large images yes
IH large image compression quality 85
IH large image maximum width 750
IH large image maximum height 550

All 3 images have been watermarked by ImageHandler, and one of the additional images that was larger than my maximums was resized to fit within them

this is the raw image I uploaded that was bigger than the maximums
http://grumpykiwi.com/haeana/images/image8_01.jpg

[DarkAngel]

yup, i upload all of them by ftp---main and additional ones and trust me they are all larger than what I have set for the max width which in my case I think is 900

[ideasgirl]

Ok, ok... don't attack me, I was not critizising the module, neither your efforts, we all appreciate the time put into supporting the modules you guys/galls create, edit, and update; but saying my side of view...

First:

No more image hotzones - The hotzone feature added no real value to Image Handler2, and it has been removed.

I said: It did have real value. See... instead of having an annoying popup hover while you browse the shop, the visitor will have control of which images s/he wants to see bigger before going to the product info page. I thought (and I still think) that this was a very nice setting to have more control about the hovering bigger picture.

I never said that it was said that the hover didn't work. Look at my post and check that I was talking about the "HOTZONES". They worked perfectly for me and my customers. Here's an example of them working perfectly: couturebagz.com

Yes, it did have some bugs but they were "workable".

Medium image hover really was not implemented..

Sorry, my bad. I wasn't talking about the medium hover but the optimization into those sizes that I'm mentioning. But, since you mention that... That didn't bother me because it doesn't really make sense that if I'm on the product page and want to see a bigger image hover over it instead of just clicking and seeing the bigger image (but that's my opinion)

Second:
I never said watermark feature was not working, I said that the images uploaded by FTP (like my issue on post #6624) were not showing the watermark.

All my tests and opinions DO NOT INCLUDE LIGHTBOX, so that's why I didn't take that in consideration.

Now @DarkAngel and @nigelt74:
Based on my issue posted (#6624) and from your 2 latest posts, I ask:
When uploading the additional images, to what folder am I supposed to upload? to the large folder? subfolder? because maybe there is the clue. On the old IH2 I can upload just to the same subdirectory the main image is uploaded, and the other images are recreated on the other folders, so I'm doing it the same way on this version... So maybe that's my problem?

[DivaVocals]

Not attacking you at all girl.. I'm just long winded..

You know I love you because I LOVE Puerto Rico.. (Totally JEALOUS that you live in such a beautiful place!!)

I never said that it was said that the hover didn't work. Look at my post and check that I was talking about the "HOTZONES". They worked perfectly for me and my customers. Here's an example of them working perfectly: couturebagz.com

Yes, it did have some bugs but they were "workable".

I understood.. I wanted to make sure that it was CLEAR for everyone following this thread since hotzones was an extension of the on-hover functionality..

Workable bugs unfortunately means that the feature doesn't work consistently, and that only creates support issues..

That said, while you may have gotten it to work, others had issues with it.. In QA testing for Rev 7 we began to look at hotzones and why it failed to work consistently. In Rev 8 development, neither ckosloff or Mano could figure out WHY. Therefore the feature was de-scoped.. From our standpoint there was no point in continuing to try and support a feature which did not work consistently. In the collective opinion of those working on the release in which the function was 1st "de-scoped", hotzones was a MINOR feature and NOT the primary reason to install IH2 in the first place.

There were BIGGER concerns with the Rev 7 and Rev 8 releases that needed to be addressed including PHP 1.53 compatibility, updates to the JS for better browsers compatibility, and updates for Zen Cart v1.3.9 compatibility. Therefore, fixing hotzones became a low priority.

It's removal did not affect the primary functionality of IH2 which is why we were comfortable with making this development scope decision. Like image hover, hotzones are simply a "cool nice to have" feature. IH2's BIGGEST value to a shop owner is in the resizing and image optimization features it offers. When we stated it added no value one way or the other to IH2 this is what we meant by that statement.

Sorry, my bad. I wasn't talking about the medium hover but the optimization into those sizes that I'm mentioning. But, since you mention that... That didn't bother me because it doesn't really make sense that if I'm on the product page and want to see a bigger image hover over it instead of just clicking and seeing the bigger image (but that's my opinion)

I agree.. and I think this and lightbox integration issues is why Tim never went further with developing this feature.. The upcoming version (thanks to Nigel showing the way) allows you to choose medium or large image as the small image hover.. I think this adds more value to the image hover feature than medium image hover.

Second:
I never said watermark feature was not working, I said that the images uploaded by FTP (like my issue on post #6624) were not showing the watermark.

Then this would indicate that the location you upload your images to are the issue... The watermark feature looks for additional images to be in the same folder as the primary product image.

All my tests and opinions DO NOT INCLUDE LIGHTBOX, so that's why I didn't take that in consideration.

Noted.. I included that information because over time I have found that it's incorrectly implement lightbox installs that can cause issues with IH2.

When uploading the additional images, to what folder am I supposed to upload? to the large folder? subfolder? because maybe there is the clue. On the old IH2 I can upload just to the same subdirectory the main image is uploaded, and the other images are recreated on the other folders, so I'm doing it the same way on this version... So maybe that's my problem?

That's exactly how it should work.. The additional images need to be located in the same folder as the primary product image..

[ideasgirl]

Not attacking you at all girl.. I'm just long winded..

You know I love you because I LOVE Puerto Rico.. (Totally JEALOUS that you live in such a beautiful place!!)

==========BOF OFF TOPIC==========
OH! I see...... so you are attacking me because you are jealous I'm from "Enchanted Island", "Pearl of the Caribbean", "Paradise on Earth"... Puerto Rico?
Here you go: youtu.be/CvOLT7fjQ3Q ENJOY!
I customer of mine from Ireland came last June but we couldn't meet because I wasn't here. I arrived a day later than when she left.
On May another customer is coming to attend a wedding, he said I was going to be his and his GF tour-guide.... we will see.
You are invited and we can meet for a coffee anytime :)
==========EOF OFF TOPIC==========

The bug of the hotzones I believe it was on the size settings. I really like it, like you say "not because it was the main purpose of the module, but like a little extra nice option to have", not always less is more. If I don't have that feature, I won't probably use the hover since I find it really annoying when browsing pages. Maybe just because I'm a control freak?! (((not))) it's really annoying.

Oh, and yes, that's where I'm uploading the images, so I don't have a clue of what's going on.

[DivaVocals]

Now you're just being MEAN!!! Go ahead.. rub it in!!

Plan to make a return trip to PR ASAP.. Though dunno when as hubby has just indicated an interest in a trip to the DR.. (I'm sure because he found out they have some drag racing event happening!!)

==========BOF OFF TOPIC==========
OH! I see...... so you are attacking me because you are jealous I'm from "Enchanted Island", "Pearl of the Caribbean", "Paradise on Earth"... Puerto Rico?
Here you go: youtu.be/CvOLT7fjQ3Q ENJOY!
I customer of mine from Ireland came last June but we couldn't meet because I wasn't here. I arrived a day later than when she left.
On May another customer is coming to attend a wedding, he said I was going to be his and his GF tour-guide.... we will see.
You are invited and we can meet for a coffee anytime :)
==========EOF OFF TOPIC==========

The bug of the hotzones I believe it was on the size settings. I really like it, like you say "not because it was the main purpose of the module, but like a little extra nice option to have", not always less is more. If I don't have that feature, I won't probably use the hover since I find it really annoying when browsing pages. Maybe just because I'm a control freak?! (((not))) it's really annoying.

Oh, and yes, that's where I'm uploading the images, so I don't have a clue of what's going on.

I can't remember WHAT about the hot zones was the issue (would have to look for the various e-mail son the topic), but I do know that it did not work as expected consistently.. Hence it was CUT from the team!

I'll PM you later tonight.. Let's see if we can figure out what's going on with you..