Zoomable images¶

The Digital Archive supports zoomable images using the web-based viewer OpenSeadragon. It expects tile sources created by the Zoomify desktop program.

To make an image zoomable is simply a matter of using Zoomify to create the tiles from the image’s high resolution file, and then uploading a folder containing the tiles to the appropriate location on the server. When the Digital Archive software detects the existence of tiles for an item’s image, it automatically displays the image using the OpenSeadragon viewer.

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Create tiles¶

• Choose the high resolution file you want to make zoomable.
  Use a TIF image if available instead of a JPEG image.
• Copy the high resolution image to a temporary location such as a folder on your desktop. Do not use a Dropbox folder because doing so will cause Dropbox to start syncing the generated tiles to the Dropbox cloud.
• Run the Zoomify desktop program
• Set:
  • Output Path: Same as input file
  • Output Format: Zoomify folders
  • JPEG Compression Quality: 80
  • Compression Format: JPEG Tile Compression
• Drag the high resolution file from the item’s Dropbox folder onto the converter (or choose Open from the converter’s menu.)
• The conversion begins automatically and typically takes only a few seconds.
• The generated tiles folder will be created in the same folder containing the high resolution image. The tiles folder will have the same name as the image.

Upload tiles to the Server¶

• Rename the newly created tiles folder to the item’s Identifier number.
• Transfer the entire tiles folder to the server. See upload methods below to learn how.
• Delete the temporary folder you created earlier since you no longer need those files.
• View the item in the Digital Archive and verify that the image is zoomable.

Multiple zoomable images¶

• If the item has more than one image, e.g. a newspaper with eight pages, follow the steps above to create separate temporary folders of tiles for each image, and then give each folder a unique name e.g. 1234-001, 1234-002, 1234-003 etc. where 1234 is the item’s identifier
• Create a single folder for the item named using the item’s identifier.
• Move the tile folders into this single folder. The structure should be as shown below.
• Upload the single folder with all of its subfolders to the server as described above. The Digital Archive software will automatically detect that the item has multiple zoomable images and display them appropriately.

    1234  
        1234-001  
        1234-002  
        1234-003

Tag the Item as zoomable¶

• Edit the item and choose the Tags tab.
• In the Add Tags box type Zoomable (it will start to fill in automatically as you type.)
• Click the Add Tags button.
• Click Save Changes.
• Note that the tag simply makes it easier for people to find the image. The image will be zoomable whether you tag it or not.

Zoom tiles upload methods¶

There are two ways to upload image tiles to the web server: FTP and cPanel.

FTP method

A Digital Archive site administrator can follow these steps to upload a tile folder using an FTP program called FileZilla. Connection settings for Filezilla are at the end of this page.

• Run FileZilla
• Choose File > Site Manager from the top menu bar
• On the Site Manager dialog, click the name of your connection for the zoom folder
• Click the Connect button
• In the right panel (remote site):
  • You should see a list of the tile folders that have been previously uploaded
  • Click on the / at the top of the list (see red arrow in screenshot below)
• In the left panel (local site):
  • Right click on the folder you want to upload and choose Upload
• Verify that the uploaded folder now appears in the right panel

cPanel method

A Digital Archive developer can use cPanel to upload a zip file containing the zoom tiles. This method involves more steps, but is faster because uploading one large file takes less time than FTPing several folders that each contain dozens of files.

• Compress the zoom tiles folder into a single zip file
• Upload and extract the zip file into the digitalarchive/files/zoom folder

Filezilla FTP settings¶

Follow the steps below to create a FileZilla connection that will allow you to upload an image tile folder to the Digital Archive zoom folder. For the zoom username and zoom password, use the credentials provided to you by the Digital Archive developer.

• Run FileZilla
• Choose File > Site Manager from the top menu bar
• On the Site Manger dialog click the New site buttons
• Fill in the site name in the My Sites tree
• On the General Tab set:
  • Protocol: FTP - File Transfer Protocol
  • Host: Example: ftp.mydomain.net
  • Port: leave blank
  • Encryption: Use explicit FTP over TLS if available
  • Logon Type: Normal
  • User: zoom username e.g. zoom@mydomain.net
  • Password: zoom password
• Click the Connect button