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The bretteleben.de "Weblinks with Thumbshots" component for Joomla! 1.5 modifys the default Joomla! component "Weblinks" and replaces the default icons with thumbshots (preview images) of the linked website. The link to your thumbshot provider is set in the backend of the default "Weblinks" component.
Why a core hack instead of a separate component? The modification concerns only 3 files of the original component and this is - in my opinion - no reason to reinvent the complete component. In addition - this way allows to go on using the already existent links and takes just a few clicks to install/uninstall.
Features:
- replaces the icons of the weblinks with thumbshots
- free to choose thumbshot provider
Installation and Usage
The component gets installed via the Joomla! backend and accessed via the menu item Components > Weblinks with Thumbshots.
The interface of the component offers just 1 option at a time:
- enable
(if the component is disabled)
Enabling the component makes a backup of the concerned original files and than replaces them with the midified ones. In addition the parameters plus default values get saved to the database.
- disable
(if the component is enabled)
Disabling the component rereplaces the modified files with the original ones.
As soon as the component is enabled tha configuration panel (Link: Parameters) of the default component "Weblinks" (Joomla! Backend > Components > Weblinks) contains two additional parameters. The first one is the link to your thumbshot provider (thumbshots.com, websnapr, ...), the second the width of the thumbshots. The part "#URL#" has to be present in any case, it gets replaced by the component with the URL of the current weblinks.
A step by step tutorial will follow soon.
Demo
A sample of the component in action: Links > AdNetworks
Limitations/Preview
This is the first version of the component, bugs are possible/likely, bugreports and suggestions highly welcome.
Requirements
The default Joomla! component "Weblinks" has to be installed and activated.
Compatibility
Tested Joomla! versions:
- 1.5.15
- 1.5.14 - thanks to Orazio for reporting
Successfully tested thumbshot providers:
- thumbshots.com
- websnapr.com - 20110223: new code does not allow to use this service
- fadeout.de
- thumbalizr.com
- snapcasa.com
- picoshot.com
- bitpixels.com
- thumber.de
- websnapr.com
- snapr.seekxl.de
- thumbnails.iwebtool.com
- shrinktheweb.com
Sample for the parameter "Thumbshot URL" using ShrinkTheWeb:
http://images.shrinktheweb.com/xino.php?stwembed=1&stwxmax=320&stwymax=240&stwaccesskeyid=YOURACCESSCODE&stwurl=#URL#
Replace "YOURACCESSCODE" with the respective Code
Thanks to Chris Iles for his report!
Additional tests will follow, reports (works/doesn't) are highly welcome!
Licence
The component is licensed under the GNU Public License (www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html).
update Version: 1.0.0
Support
If you have questions or suggestions, please use the comment-function.
If you use this extensions, please post a rating and a review at extensions.joomla.org. Furthermore I appreciate everyone, supporting me by including www.bretteleben.de in his/her weblink repository. The layout of the component comes intentionally without a mandatory link.
If you need additional features or customizations for your project that exceed the scope of support offered through the comments, you are invited to submit your requirements specification and the planned budget by email (menu item "Contact" in the menu at the top).
Download
The ZIP-archive contains the component, by downloading it you agree to the terms of the GNU Public License.
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com_weblinkswt.1.0.0.zip
Hallo!
Immer wieder komm ich gern hier vorbei, weil es so tolle Extensions gibt. Jetzt suche ich wiedermal und stelle fest, dass ich das, was ich suche, erneut hier finde. Allerdings "nur" für J1.5
Gibt es irgend welche Pläne die Komponente für Jommla 2.5 verfügbar zu machen?
Danke!
Chris
Hallo Chris!
Ja, gibt es. Scheitert bislang nur an der Zeit.
Gruß
Andreas
Congratulations with a simple but useful component!
We have successfully implemented the "Weblinks with thumbshots" component to our site. However we would like the text to start at the top, same hight, next to the thumbshot.
Any support on this ?
Thanks
Hi Derek!
You could check if the template you are using comes with a template override for the weblink component and if so - disable (rename the subfolder) this override. Maybe this solves the problem. If this does not solve the problem or there is no override in place, you could try to solve the problem by adapting the stylesheet of your template to fit your needs.
Best regards
Andreas
Try http://www.homepagesarchive.org - is free, no membership, backlink and watermark at all.
Hi nochmals,
wie kann ich einen Rahmen um die Thumbshots legen, ohne dabei die CSS-Datei meines Templates zu verändern? Ein CSS-sheet gibt es ja nicht, deshalb bin ich etwas ratlos, welche Datei ich dazu modifizieren müsste.
Danke,
Andrea
Hallo Andrea!
Die einzige Aufgabe dieser Komponente ist es, die Anzeige der Originalkomponente zu modifizieren. Alle anderen Aufgaben bleiben bei der originalen Komponente "Weblinks". Deren Ausgabe wiederum wird vom Stylesheet des jeweiligen Templates geregelt. Es gibt also keinen Grund, die CSS Eigenschaften der Thumbshots selbst irgendwo anders festzulegen als auch dort: im Stylesheet des Templates.
Gruß
Andreas
Hi,
thank you for a great little plugin.
Just to let you know:
I am not able to change the parameters (either thumbshot provider or thumbnail size) on neither of the two sites I have installed the component on.
(It works fine to change the settings, they are just not reflected on the live site. The standard default is working though. ) And yes - I have read you previous replies about the menu item settings - but those changes are not reflected there either. And I cleared the cache as well. But no luck.
Is it possible that some of the last updates of Joomla 1.5 broke this?
/anders
Hi Anders!
You are right - thanks for reporting this! It seems that - at the least - Joomla!1.5.24 does not allow the component parameters within a menu item to get "refilled" from the current setting of the component itself when saved empty.
I will run further checks, but for the moment the solution is to paste the new string into the parameter field in the respective menu items manually.
Best regards
Andreas
Hi Andreas,
I have been using your great component for some time now, using ShrinkTheWeb.com as the shots provider.
Turns out that these guys now implement some sort of a procedure to avoid spammers and people using their service without any restriction...This led them to add some javascript stuff. See details here:
http://www.shrinktheweb.com/support/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/38/1/how-do-i-install-or-integrate-the-stw-preview-verification-code
I have asked them to decribe how to implement it but woner if you could also point me to the file in your component where I could add this, otherwise they claim that the service will be stopped...
Thanks for your help on this as I'm not a Joomla dev expert, even if I can find my way in its philosophy and can handle php and js...
Best regards from Paris
Philippe
Hi Philippe!
To avoid the abuse of such a service it would be sufficient to add a code/identity to the link that calls the thumbshot, other companies are doing this for years. Anyway, at the moment the component "Weblinks with Thumbshots" works with services that add the URL to display and additional settings as GET-parameters to a specified link only.
I will check the possibility to use services like ShrinkTheWeb too, but for the moment there is no possibility to use it with my extension.
Best regards
Andreas
ps.: ShrinkTheWeb-Support - following your suggestion - already contacted me. We'll see. :)
Hi und danke für die großartige Möglichkeit, Thumbshots in die Linkliste zu integrieren. Hab nur grade ein Problem. Hab das Template gewechselt und nun wird mir der Text unter den Thumbshots angezeigt, anstatt wie bisher daneben. (www.puchteam.at). Wo muss ich das ändern?
Danke für eure Hilfe!!!
Andrea
Hallo Andrea!
Also bei mir (Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 7.01, Chrome 15.0.xxx und Opera 11.52 - alle unter Windows Vista) ist der Text neben den Thumbshots.
Gruß
Andreas
Hi @ all
do you have any shedule for this component to be ready for J1.7?
Would be nice to have. Great work anyway.
Regards Mike
Hi Mike!
I'm hell-bent on providing a version for Joomla!1.7 in preparation for the next long term support release 2.5, but no - there is no fixed date for it.
Best regards
Andreas
thank you very good
Hallo,
sorry aber wie aktiviere ich die Komponente.
Sie steht auf "published", jedoch klappts noch nicht.
Habe in "Weblinks" eine Kategorie erstellt, einen Link eingegeben aber leider gibts kein Image.
Was sehe ich icht???
Danke im Voraus für die Unterstützung.
Beste Grüße
Ralf
Hallo Ralf!
Sorry für die späte Antwort! Um die Komponente zu aktivieren klickst Du im Joomla! backend auf "Komponenten" > "Weblinks with Thumbshots" und dort auf den Textlink "enable it".
Gruß
Andreas