Zoomify is a 3rd party integration. There software allows for photo zooming, panning and other advance imaging/picture functions. Zoomify lets you display hi-res images. This gives you the advantage of letting customers see the products in great detail, without having to wait for a large image to load. The basic Zoomify version is free and can be downloaded from their website.
Note: Zoomify is different from the Zoom function in Spark Pay online stores.
You do not need Zoomify for the zoom function in Spark Pay online stores or to use our photo resizer technology. Zoomify is best used with very large hi-res images. It allows your customers to be able to view product pictures in detail with the zoom and pan functions.
Zoomify is a program you have to download, and run your hi-res images through the converter. This creates several resized/cropped tiled images in a folder along with an index file. You would then upload the directory of files to your site. Also you will need to copy the flash player to the root directory. Once done, set the Zoomify path in the product editor to associate the folder with the correct path.
Advantages of using Zoomify:
- Display hi-res product images: and give your customers the ability to view your products in great detail. This helps conversions.
- Display 2-3MB files in seconds: Images
- are displayed in a flash player so hi-res images display quickly.
- Zero Cost to setup Zoomify EZ: The tool is integrated within Spark Pay online stores and Zoomify EZ is free to download.
- No added monthly fees: There are no added monthly fees to use Zoomify. Integration is built into Spark Pay online stores. Although Zoomify is not as robust a rich media solution as Scene7 it is a very cost effective solution for small to medium businesses needing the ability to display hi-res images.
- Flash Player can be customized with company logo: The player can be customized with your company logo. (This requires purchase of a license from Zoomify and customizing the flash player itself). Although this involves a cost, it is inexpensive compared to other solutions.
Below is an example of an image displayed using Zoomify:
Note: For a catalog using a lot of photos, these picture sets can take up a lot of disk space. Bandwidth usage may increase depending on the number of images used and visitors your site receives. You may want to take this into consideration before using this solution.
Since zoomify images can be large, it may be a good idea to store the tiles created with the zoomify program on a 3rd party server. This is to keep bandwidth usage low.
Hosting these files externally is relatively simple.
1. You'll need to create the tiles with the Zoomify tool.
2. Upload the folder it creates to your external server.
I chose to create a folder on my external site called "zoomify" to keep any zoomify imagesets inside of.
The folder you upload should have atleast 2 items inside it -- A folder called "TileGroup#" and a file called "ImageProperties.xml"
3. On your Product add a photo to be used as the thumbnail and/or main product photo if it's the default. You can do this by going to Catalog > Products > Edit Product > Photos you can then select to insert from This Store.
4. Finally in order to allow Zoomify to read the external files you'll need to add a file called "crossdomain.xml" to the root of your external site.
This is an example of what would go in the file you could use.
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<cross-domain-policy>
<allow-access-from domain="*" />
</cross-domain-policy>
NOTE: This is a pretty insecure example and would allow ANY website to make remote calls to your site. It is provided here as an EXAMPLE only.