Image and File Uploading
Uploading images and files is an essential web publishing capability. Typically it is tedious and error prone as publishers using form-based web browser uploading struggle to upload large files over slow network connections, or have to send files onto system administrators with the required access permissions to FTP files to the server.
AssetNow NX solves these problems and gives you a number of options for uploading:
- Uploading directly with the XHTML editor
- Uploading with a special java upload applet
- Using traditional web browser form-based uploading
In all cases the types of files you allow to be uploaded can be set by a system setting parameter.
XHTML Editor
Uploading directly with the XHTML editor is quick and intuitive and ideal for publishers.
Just drag/drop or copy/paste individual or multiple images and files directly into the XHTML editor. The editor automatically uploads the images and files to category or page specific directories avoiding any file conflicts. For images the editor prompts for additional accessibility information (alternate text).
When you copy/paste a Microsoft Word document containing images into the editor and the images will be uploaded automatically.
Of course you can also browse and select images and files from your local machine or the AssetNow libraries.
The editor uses an AssetNow NX web service to handle image and file transfers. The editor and web service transfer images and files in compressed packets so uploads are faster and more robust than traditional browser form-based uploading.
While there is no upper limit on the maximum file size you can transfer, editor uploading it is best suited to "web ready" images (GIF, JPG, PNG etc.) and files (PDF, ZIP, SWF, MP3 etc.) typically smaller than 5MB.
The XHTML editor automatically prompts for accessibility information such as image ALT text
Java Upload Applet
The jClientUpload java upload applet is available in the AssetNow NX content publishing, and library tools and provides unique features including:
- Reliable uploading of very large files (>2GB)
- Transfer progress bar and the ability to stop transfers at any time
- Drag/Drop or select individual or multiple files for uploading
- Scaling of jpg images before uploading
The upload applet requires Java (JRE 1.4 or higher) to be installed on your computer. This is commonly installed on most computers, if not you will be prompted to download it for free.
Upload Applet (small window) and file select dialog window with image preview
The upload applet is displayed in a small pop-up window launched by clicking one of the 6 applet icons labeled "j" and 1 through 5.
Clicking "j" launches uploading without any scaling of images files. Clicking any of 1 through 5 launches uploading with one of 5 preset scaling settings for jpg images. the scaling is performed on the local machine before uploading. By default the scaling settings fix the maximum image width and height while retaining the image aspect ratio. You can customize scaling by setting maximum width/height for landscape/portrait images, apply a scaling factor, and setting the image quality.
You can also scale images to one of the preset sizes once they have been uploaded, AssetNow NX will created a resized copy and add an "s" suffix to the file name, leaving the original file intact.
Uploading via the applet can continue independently while you are busy with other AssetNow NX operations.
Web Browser Form-Based Uploading
Most web applications use a traditional form with a upload form field and associated browse button for uploading images and files. AssetNow NX also provides this method essentially as a "fall-back" option if for some reason you are unable to use either of the preceding options.
With this method you can only select one image/file at a time and must wait for uploading to complete before continuing.
When uploading images you can select a ZIP archive file in addition to allowed image file types. AssetNow NX will unzip the archive and make available any images with allowed file types it contains. This allows you to upload a set of images more efficiently. Any folders or invalid images files contained in the ZIP archive, and the ZIP file itself, will be deleted after processing.