Zoomify Narratives
Welcome to Zoomify Narratives! Click the "?" button at the bottom of the Narrative Panel to view this Help anytime.
Introduction
The Zoomify Image Viewer enables zoom-and-pan viewing of high-quality images. Zoomify Narratives combine text, high-quality images, and intuitive navigation for better explanations and rewarding exploration.
The Narrative Panel provides an intuitive text editor supporting standard formatting options.[1] It also allows the narrative author to set which initial image and labels to show when a narrative is first opened. And the Panel provides three lists of items that may be linked to: Zoomify Images, Media files, and Labels within an image.[2]
When first opened, the Narrative Panel displays a new narrative with three example links. Use the Preview button at the bottom left of the Narratives Panel to make the links clickable. (You can also pass the cursor over the label link to see the Viewer highlight the related label in the image display.)
To create a link, select the text of a word or phrase in the narrative, then choose an item from one of the three choice lists at the bottom of the Narrative panel. To test the link, first use the Preview button to change to View mode to enable the links so they can be clicked.[3]
Note: when in View mode the Preview button becomes an Edit button. Use it to to return to Edit mode. Also note: if preferred, text can be created in a word processor and pasted into the editor. If an HTML editor is used, the HTML characteristics will be preserved when pasted.
File Management Features
Use the button at the bottom left corner of the Narrative Panel to reveal file management options. Separate storage files are used for Narratives, Zoomable Images, Media files like graphics, video, and audio, and Label files (sets of labels). Simply select the file type to manage, and a list of current files will be displayed. Use the four included buttons to Upload or Download files or to create New files or Delete existing ones. (Note blank Narrative and Label files are automatically created if when starting, however, Zoomable Image files must be created using the separate Zoomify Converter. Create Media files in your tool of choice.)
Additional Features
The Narrative Panel is closely integrated with the Zoomify Viewer to empower intuitive exploration of the image details referred to in a narrative. Clicking a link immediately zooms and pans the view to the right location in the image - changing to the correct image first, if necessary. And simply placing the mouse over any link in the narrative highlights the relevant label in the image - an easy way to quickly preview the important points in an image - try it with the links in the example narrative! [4].
For Narrative use, the Zoomify Viewer includes several optional features in the Viewport. These include the Navigator, Ruler, Image List, Toolbar, Annotation Panel, and Virtual Pointer. Each of these features is intended to be self explanatory, however, detailed information is included in the Zoomify User's Guide.[5]
The Zoomify Viewer and Narrative Panel provide a streamlined, integrated, authoring system. Efficient workflow may begin with initial creation of annotation labels within one or more Zoomify Images and proceed to authoring a narrative referring to the labels. Or, a narrative may be written, with annotation labels created, as needed, on-the-fly.
Zoomable image files (in ZIF format) are created using the Zoomify Converter - an intuitive drag-and-drop process that creates image files in a zoomable file format from source files in standard image formats (tif, png, jpg, or bmp).[6]
As always, features and functionality are intended to meet the needs of real-world uses. Customer feedback is welcomed!
The Zoomify Mission
The ability to capture high-quality images of objects, places, and events is now commonplace - however - reducing the resolution of images prior to use is equally commonplace. Over one trillion images will be down-res'd this year - a waste of useful image data. Zoomify's dynamic imaging technology is a simple way to share and view images of any size. The Zoomify Narratives solution delivers efficient and standard authoring and publishing of text descriptions with links to details in high-quality images. Save the pixels!
Notes
1. Formatting options include Bold, Italic, Font Size, and alignment settings.
2. The link list items are automatically discovered on the web server within folders specified by HTML parameters in the web page.
3. Note: the initial mode of the Narrative pane and the Viewer is determined by HTML parameters in the web page. In typical use, two pages will be created, one for editing by authors, the other for viewing by web site visitors. The View/Edit mode button is not presented if the page begins in View mode.
4. Two arrows labels are presented. The first is implemented as a rollover label - it is not displayed until the mouse moves over it (or at link to it in a narrative).
5. For descriptions of Zoomify Image Viewer optional features and instructions on their use, please see the Zoomify User's Guide as well as the many examples included in the Zoomify products and on the Zoomify website.
6. Standard inputs formats for the Zoomify Converter include JPEG, PNG, TIF, and BMP. Standard output options include Zoomify Folders, Zoomify Image Format (ZIF), and Pyramidal File Format (PFF). Additional input and output formats are available in special editions of the Converter available on the converters page of the Zoomify website.