Actually displaying zoomable images on a web page is relatively straightforward using Flash, however there is a problem, performance. To load a high resolution ‘zoomable’ image into a customer’s web browser would take minutes, and no one is prepared to wait that long for an image to load.

Fortunately there are several technologies which address this problem – such as Adobe’s Flash based Zoomify and Microsoft's Seadragon (great name). They which work around the speed issue by using images which have been pre-processed into a special format, allowing the initial image to load quickly with high performance zoom and pan functionality.

We've settled on Seadragon due to its cross platform rendering (it even works on an iPhone with all the zoom and scan functionality). However both Seadragon and Zoomify come with a technical headache, we need to convert normal images into the pre-processed format quickly and efficiently.

Both of these technologies come with a desktop application that allows you to take a normal JPEG or PNG image and process it into the special quick to load format (SDI – Seadragon image in Microsoft's case). Our ecommerce partners could take a standard image and use the desktop tool to upload the resulting SDI files to our ecommerce system however this process is time consuming and the SDI files are large and complex to upload.

We've recently developed a method to resolve this issue. You can upload a normal image to our ecommerce platform and it will be processed into SDI files so you don't have to worry about the format conversion and upload of the resulting SDI files. This is something we are massively excited about, both because it will sell more product and make image upload and manipulation far more efficient for our ecommerce partners. We are releasing Deep Zoom functionality to our clients this month and in our view it’s an essential upgrade, our ecommerce partners will both sell more product and save staff time uploading images, a double winner!

You can find some examples of Seadragon images produced using our server side technology below, there has been no processing of the images prior to upload.

A Deep Zoom version of the image at the top of this newsletter.

An example of some work we have done for the BikeTreks newsletter.

An test image featured on the Lakeland Flytying website

A little background to Citrus-Lime.

Citrus-Lime offer Epos, Ecommerce and Stock Control to small and medium sized retailers. Our epos, ecommerce and stock control solutions are helping retailers run their businesses more efficiently and with improved profitability. Our ecommerce sites are brilliantly designed and technically advanced - and our focus is on helping our clients develop successful online businesses.

For more information or to arrange an onsite or online demo call 0845 603 9254

Visit our website to find out more about our retail solutions.