populate thumbnails for each link.

[grayeminence]

I saw the very interesting thread about populating indexu with thumbnails from alexa (http://www.nicecoder.com/community/b...-link-mod.html)

But it seems that this mod stopped since alexa request a AWS code. Is someone succeed to use this method with the AWS code?

Is there still a way to populate indexu 5.4 with thumbnails for each site like it seems to be in Directory of niche and regional/local directories only - IndexU Directory ??


on the other side, INSPIRE ME wrote that but I have a hard time to follow everything
1) generate a list of urls for websites on the directory (automatic) >>> How to do that?
2) Copy this list into a program html2image (cost about $40 i think)
3) Press go, and leave it making thumbs. takes about 2hours / 1000
4) Use a program called MIR (multiple image resizer) to generate theumbnails, create borders and add copyright info (takes 2 mins)
5) Uplaod the thumbnails (30mins) >> in which directory?
6) Run a script i made to change the screenshot name to somehtign more search engine optomised. >> where is the script you are talking about?

Thank you by advance!

[inspireme]

finish reading the thread, in particualr post 38, 40

[enginerunup]

Here is a summary of that post that kind of turned into a mess over time. I got bored one night and typed this out. I believe it is complete. Please reference this with the post inspireme mentioned. I use it on my site, and it works great.




This is for Indexu Version 5.4

In lib/link.class added this just before the ?> at the end of the file:


// method to go to url
// input : $id
// --------------------------------

function Go($id) {

global $dbConn;

$query = "select url from idx_link where link_id=$id";
$result = $dbConn->Execute($query);
$url = $result->Fields("url");

// header("Location: $url");
print "<meta http-equiv=\"Refresh\" content=\"0; URL=$url\">";

}

Then, open go.php and replace the entire code with this:

<?php

include("application.php");

// method to go to url
// input : $id
// --------------------------------


$id=$HTTP_GET_VARS["id"];
echo ($id);
echo ("<h1>No screen shot available yet</h1>");


global $dbConn;

$query = "select url from idx_link where link_id=$id";
$result = $dbConn->Execute($query);
$url = $result->Fields("url");

// header("Location: $url");
print "<meta http-equiv=\"Refresh\" content=\"0; URL=$url\">";


?>


You will need to add a new field to your database. This is very ease to do. In your admin panel of your directory, click Custom Field under the Links section on the left. In the form that opens, enter ‘screen’, without the quotes, in the Field box. Leave the Text box empty, and in the Type drop down menu, select TEXT. Then, click to NOT make the field required, and yes to it being searchable. That’s it, database modification complete.

Create a folder called thumbs. It will be in the root directory, such as yourdomain.com/thumbs. Then create a folder Sites in the Thumbs folder, like yourdomain.com/thumbs/sites. Then, download the .zip file at the bottom of this post, unzip it, and then upload those files (4 total) to your new thumbs folder. Three of the files (seoimages.php, getidsdate.php, and getids.php) need to be updated with your database info (user name, password, etc...). This can be done either before you upload them or after, it does not matter. When you open one of the files, such as with an FTP program, you will see where your database info goes at the beginning of each of the three files.

Changemod the permissions for the /thumbs folder to 777. Be sure to check the box that applies this change to all sub files and folders.

Now, you need to make the thumbnails and file names. This part might sound complicated, but it is easy once you do it. To start, go to www.yourdomain.com/thumbs. A simple screen will come up. Click on 'Get IDS ready for entire Database'. You will see a bunch of file names aligned top to bottom. Highlight the entire list, copy it, and then paste it in a notepad document. This is the url list for all the images needed. Now you will need to turn those urls into thumbnails. I recommend the program Webswoon, it is free and easy to use. Once you download the program, run it. At the top of the Webswoon program, click File, then import URLs from File. Then, select the notepad document you made in the previous step.

This process takes a while, roughly 5-10 seconds per website, so go get some food and check back in a while.

The images will be saved in my computer/c:/program files/webswoon/capture/. You can change this destination before you start the above step to make an easier location.

Now, you need to rename all the files. This will be done automatically, using a program called Explorer XP. Download it, and open it. Click File, then New Tab. Navigate through the window that opens to find where you saved all of your thumbnail images. Once you see all of your images in the window, highlight all of the files by clicking Select, and then Select All. Then click Command, and then Rename. In the upper left of the window that just opend, you have four options: Replace, Re-Number, Trim and Insert. Click Trim. Then, click the Up Arrow on Count, until all that remains is the file ID number, such as 875.jpg. Click OK, and that's it, all of the long file names were just trimmed down and saved with just the ID name.

Upload all these images to the thumbs folder you created earlier (www.yourdomain.com/thumbs/). Navigate to www.yourdomain.com/thumbs again. Now click on 'Get files Search engine ready'. This will rename the files you just uploaded with the title of every link, making it very SEO friendly. It will automatically save the new files to the /thumbs/sites folder you created earlier.

To call the thumbnails up, you will need to place this code on the pages you want them to come up on. I am sure many here will add files to this part, because I only put thumbnails on the Updated websites on my main page (/themes/your theme/blocks/block.new_and_updated_listing_rows.html), and on all the websites when you view them in the category view (/themes/your theme/rows.html), the code for the Details page for a website was done earlier (/themes/your theme/details_link.html). Here is the code to call up the thumbnails:

<% if $screen !='' %>
<a href="<%$url%>" target="_blank" name="link_<%$link_id%>"><img src="http://www.iknowauto.com/thumbs/<%$screen%>" border="0" alt="<%$title%>"></a>
<%else%> <%$url%> </a> (Screenshot Pending)
<%/if%>

If you want to align it to the left, like most of you do, modify that code a little, and use this instead:

<div class="row_left">
<% if $screen !='' %>
<a href="<%$url%>" target="_blank" name="link_<%$link_id%>"><img src="http://www.iknowauto.com/thumbs/<%$screen%>" border="0" alt="<%$title%>"></a>
<%else%> <%$url%> </a> (Screenshot Pending)
<%/if%>
</div>

This will be placed just before:

<div class="row_right"> <%$description%>

[inspireme]

nice job, your right the original post is a mess, im sure this will help

[enginerunup]

I just realized that when a user clicks the thumbnails, it does not count towards the Hits for the site, so I fixed the above post changing the code that calls the website to:

<a href="<%$url%>" target="_blank" name="link_<%$link_id%>">

Now, the hit counter will increase when the thumbnails are clicked.

[enginerunup]

Also, on mine, I use an image rather than words when a thumbnail is not yet created for viewing. You can go to here to save the picture and use it on your site.

To see a site with this thumbnail mod in action, go to my directory. Be sure to put your mouse over an image, which will bring up the name that Google will label it as (comes from the sites title). This is what separates this mod from the other thumbnail mods.

[linksor.com]

You don't need to buy any html2image software - just install webswoon

[enginerunup]

I agree, no need to pay for anything, it is a mod that can be done totally for free, including the two software programs used to get the thumbnail and then rename the thumbnail.

[landuyt]

is it me, or is there no download link to the zip file anymore?greetings

[inspireme]

what zip file? when i looked i found one attached ot post 38 which is working ok...

[landuyt]

ok, my mistake i 've got him now.

[inspireme]

a lot of the stuff has changed in 5.4 - some people seem to have it working fine using the instructions though, give it a go. By the way, go.php was reincluded in version 5.4, so you dont need to add that code back in.

[FSGDAG]

Also, on mine, I use an image rather than words when a thumbnail is not yet created for viewing. You can go to here to save the picture and use it on your site.

Does anything need to be done to modify the code, so that if an image isn't made, that it will default and use screenshotpending.jpg??

Thanks!

[inspireme]

Does anything need to be done to modify the code, so that if an image isn't made, that it will default and use screenshotpending.jpg??

Thanks!

nt really the code in the zip file has a <if screenshot > display code <else> no screenshot </if> jsut change the words "no screenshot" to display a error image.

[FSGDAG]

Does anyone know the best way to protect the /thumbs directory??? I dont want just anyone being able to get to it... But because the thumbnails are sitting in /thumbs/sites then I cant password protect /thumbs.

Any ideas