Using Gallery Pictures in a Firefox Add-on

Benjamin

Hi, I have what's probably an unusual query.

I'm a Firefox add-on developer and I've recently published a puzzle add-on: Rotating Tiles Picture Puzzle

Basically, this add-on takes an image, cuts it into tiles, randomly rotates the tiles, and invites you to reassemble the picture. The current version lets the user either use pictures from their own hard drive, or find an image on a web page, right-click, and pass it to the add-on.

I have a newer version of the add-on that can additionally deliver random pictures to the add-on by using these links:

http://dgrin.smugmug.com/photos/random.mg?AlbumID=995228&AlbumKey=rz6s7V&Size=Large
http://dgrin.smugmug.com/photos/random.mg?AlbumID=2241567&AlbumKey=QkTcwD&Size=Large
http://dgrin.smugmug.com/photos/random.mg?AlbumID=4188691&AlbumKey=5jQzFW&Size=Large
http://dgrin.smugmug.com/photos/random.mg?AlbumID=6846171&AlbumKey=VxbVRR&Size=Large
http://dgrin.smugmug.com/photos/random.mg?AlbumID=21023177&AlbumKey=kNzx5V&Size=Large

(These are the Dgrin Photo of The Year galleries).

This is, in effect, automatically 'hot linking' images from Digital Grin picture galleries directly into the add-on.

So, my first question is, does Digital Grin have any objection to my doing this?

My add-on, as with all add-ons hosted by addons.mozilla.org, is open source, and not for commercial use. However, I am aware that 'hot linking' can be a controversial subject so if the administrators of Digital Grin, or SmugMug, have any reservations about my using their random image links I will not use any dgrin.smugmug.com links.

A couple of things: The images cannot be 'ripped' from the add-on - they are temporarily held as a JavaScript image object and there is no mechanism to save the underlying image. As each image is used, I include a link to the corresponding picture gallery.

This add-on is very recently published and only has a preliminary review by Mozilla (this means it's been checked for security issues but is not yet fully listed on the Mozilla add-ons site). With the next release I will be requesting a full review.

My other question is whether any Digital Grin/SmugMug users would like to nominate their own gallery to be included in the add-on. Preferably, any gallery should include a reasonably large number of images (the more the better) but absolutely NOT include any images that are 'unsafe' to be viewed by all ages.

Thanks,
Ben.

ian408

Hi Ben! Just wanted to let you know we haven't forgotten and will get to you shortly.

Benjamin

Thanks for a heads up, Ian.

As I was keen to get to a point where I can submit a finished add-on, in the meantime and following more research, I've dropped the smugmug.com links from my code. Instead I'm using: http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?format=json - this is Flickr's public feed api.

I'm happy this feed satisfies my needs.

Cheers,
Ben.

mbonocore

Benjamin wrote: »

Thanks for a heads up, Ian.

As I was keen to get to a point where I can submit a finished add-on, in the meantime and following more research, I've dropped the smugmug.com links from my code. Instead I'm using: http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?format=json - this is Flickr's public feed api.

I'm happy this feed satisfies my needs.

Cheers,
Ben.

Thanks for the update Ben. My suggestion would have been to reach out and work with the photographers directly, instead of pulling from the gdrin galleries. I am sure the more exposure to the user's actually website, the better!