[Clipart] Searching and download graphics

[Alan]

I like your system, it looks good and it sounds efficient.

Primarily, what I'm thinking of is easing the load on the server as much 
as possible, while covering for possible future server overloads or www 
problems.  If the utility is local and thumbnails are local, then there 
is no inconvenience to searching whether online or no, whether the www 
is busy or no.

I like the idea of the flat files and since the local utility needs a 
way to search, when updating it, why not pull the flat files or text 
equivalents into the local utility and use it as a local search 
function.  When updates are obtained, the flat files are updated with 
the thumbnails.  Would this be an improvement on efficiency or an 
unnecessary redundancy?  What about doing both?

Servers have a lot to do, so if we can set them to doing the bare 
minimum, we can support more users.

The more efficient everything runs, the happier your user base will be, 
and the more willing and happy users you will have signing up.  
Efficiency is also money saved.

All of you working on open clipart are doing a great job.  This means 
that as more people get to know more about you you can expect your 
traffic to start going up.

Just to let you know, I've also just signed on with OpenOffice.  If 
there are two projects which are completely complementary, it is Open 
Clip Art and OpenOffice.  I recommended to the mailing list I'm on with 
OpenOffice that they develop svg compatibility in OpenOffice just so the 
user base of both will be broadened.

If I could make a recommendation, if you get more members of this list 
on the OpenOffice list as well, the two projects will be able to grow 
together and help each other out.  Everyone will benefit.

Alan



Greg Bulmash wrote:
> Then again, there's also the option of merely re-evaluating what has to 
> be live and what can be almost live.
>
> Since I add new batches of clipart to my library every 2-3 weeks, I 
> wrote a script that generates HTML indexes on demand.  My master index 
> page...
>
> http://www.fundraw.com/clipart/
>
> ... and category index pages...
>
> http://www.fundraw.com/clipart/categories/Princess_Clip_Art/00000181
>
> ... are all HTML flat files that I generate after a batch update to the 
> clipart database.  Same with the XML indices used by the clipart menu 
> within the FunDraw Art Studio application (the Flash-based design app 
> that all this clipart can be used in).
>
> The server can deliver the straight HTML/XML with a simple disk read (or 
> memory read) instead of a larger database call.  That means lower memory 
> usage, lower disk usage, and fewer CPU cycles consumed.
>
> For an example on the OCL site, the tag cloud is eminently cacheable as 
> a flat file.  Have a cron job update it every 6 hours as a flat file and 
> deliver that.  If you're getting 3,000 hits a day on it, you're saving 
> 2,996 database operations daily (along with their associated increased 
> memory and CPU demands).
>
> With a good analysis of traffic patterns and user preferences, you could 
> determine the best pages to set up as pre-generated on a periodic basis 
> vs. being on-demand, and cut overall server load by double-digit 
> percentages.
>
> Get a good DBA to optimize the queries that remain on-demand and 
> optimize the caching of the query results and you might knock that down 
> by another double-digit percentage.
>
> - Greg
>
>
> Jon Phillips wrote:
>   
>> On Thu, 2007-05-10 at 11:02 -0600, Alan wrote:
>>     
>>> I've been thinking.
>>>
>>> Your server is going to get hammered everytime people do searches on it
>>> for particular graphics.   I like the idea of setting up a thumbnail
>>> database and a search function to find particular photos, or you could
>>> organize by type as well.
>>>
>>> Would it be possible to create a utility which downloads to a users
>>> computer the thumbnail database and other search criteria?  This would
>>> allow searches to take place locally.  When a user has decided what they
>>> want, the utility will connect to the server and download what they
>>> want.  The local utility could be set up to link to a complete download
>>> or a multiple set of chosen graphics or a single picture at a time.
>>>
>>> This will reduce the workload on the server and allow users to browse
>>> through the thumbnail photo collection at their leisure on their own
>>> computer.
>>>       
>> This is a great idea. Would you like to help realize this?
>>
>> Bryce Harrington (on the list) has been working on Inkscape + Open Clip
>> Art Library integration, and this is definitely something we have talked
>> about.
>>
>> Jon!
>>
>>     
> _______________________________________________
> clipart mailing list
> clipart at lists.freedesktop.org
> http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/clipart
>
>