News archive
JPEG Saver 4.5
It might not look like much has changed in this version, but I've done quite a bit of work on the dialog, trying to make things work better and also to replace code that means I am stuck using a 9-year old compiler to build the software. There's still a long way to go before I can change compiler, but this is a big step in the right direction.
Apart from that, I've also fixed a bug that could cause a crash when filter groups were added, then some removed, then some more added. To make the new version slightly more exciting I've added three new transitions too: "Multi Radar", which is like Radar but with multiple rays, "Blob", which is a bit like the Star transition but without sharp points, and "Blur" which makes my eyes feel like they are trying to climb out of my head if I spend too much time looking at it.
The updated installer is available from the downloads page.
TagCanvas 1.17
This is a bugfix release - I had one bug reported to me that click events
added to tags using jQuery were not firing in IE9, so this version fixes
that. I've also fixed some bugs I found in handling of the
imageScale option when the size of the image was set without
using both the width and height HTML attributes, and an older bug where
images might not be drawn until the cloud moves.
In case anyone was wondering if you could use web fonts with TagCanvas, I've made this example (click on a font name to change the font - the current font is shown in the bottom left):
I'm using Google Web Fonts for this, though you should be able to use any web fonts. The important point to note about using web fonts with TagCanvas is that the font must be loaded before TagCanvas is started. If the font is not loaded when TagCanvas starts, you will either end up with a cloud of small, blank tags, or tags rendered in the browser's default font, depending on the browser.
CRCDropper 3.3
After receiving some constructive user feedback, this update to CRCDropper should make it a bit easier to use. Instead of the drop-down list of files, it now has a list view to show the filename, file size, checksum and algorithm used to generate it. You can resize the window to fit more files on, and I've also added a "Stop" button so that you can pause or abort processing of the list of files.
I've also added SHA256, SHA384 and SHA512 to the drop-down list of methods available, since they are part of the Windows Crypto API that CRCDropper already uses for the MD2, MD4, MD5 and SHA1 algorithms. I don't know if they will much use to anyone, but it was easy enough to add support anyway.
TagCanvas 1.16
Yes, a new version of TagCanvas just a few days after the last one was
released. This time I've properly fixed the tags remaining selected when
the cursor leaves the canvas bug, and added a new option,
imageScale, for setting the size of images.
Up until now, images were loaded and displayed at their full size, ignoring
any width=x, height=y or CSS that set their size
on the HTML page. The new imageScale option has a default value
of 1, which means to use the image at the size it appears on the page. You
can increase or decrease the value to scale the images up or down.
This does mean that for some browsers there may be a slight delay before the images are loaded into the cloud, as TagCanvas has to wait for the page to be fully loaded before it can tell how large the images should be.
TagCanvas 1.15
Lots of people have been asking me how to change the shape of the cloud TagCanvas produces recently, and since there were no options for doing that I have had to explain where to change things in the Javascript file to get the desired results. This new version incorporates a few new options that provide some of the changes that people have asked me about (and a couple of other changes).
The first new options change the shape of the cloud that is generated when
the script starts up. The radiusX, radiusY and
radiusZ options stretch or compress the cloud in the left-right,
up-down and in-out directions respectively. So if you want your cloud to
look like the tags are pinned to a rugby ball, you should keep the sphere
shape and set radiusX to 1.5 to elongate it horizontally. Or
you could change either the radiusY or radiusZ,
depending on which way up you want the ball to start off.
The radius[XYZ] options are fine if you want the cloud to tumble
(or if you lock the X or Y axis) but if you want the shape to remain in place
while the tags move across it, you will need the stretchX and
stretchY options. These affect the way that the cloud is drawn
when the 3D tag positions are converted to 2D canvas positions. The cloud
will normally fit best in a square canvas, so if for example you want to
fill a canvas with dimensions of 600x300, then using a
stretchX of 2 should do the trick.