IDEA: Media Link Catalog

[Nzyme]

I have been searching for a program / web service which can be used to catalog media web links. Let me explain what I mean.

I download lots of stuff (audio / video / photos) from the web and have it properly organized on my PC in their appropriate folders ( I am sure most of us do this ). You would agree that in no time, your hard disk would be occupied with all the stuff.

Now, think about this. How about a program in which you initially create folders (like Music, Photos, Videos, etc) and then in a particular folder (say photos), you only provide the weblink to the image (For example: http://www.example.com/image01.jpg) and then the program automatically shows the thumbnail of that photo (Just like Facebook shows the thumbnail of the photo after you paste the weblink on the wall)?

Similarly, in our "would be" program's video folder, the user would just provide the weblink to the video (For example: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v7z-sdFVqU) and the program would show the thumbnail of the video (again just like in Facebook). On pages with multiple media content (Example, a page with a youtube video, couple of images and audio player) the program should "step through" each and every media content and allow the user to select the appropriate one (Yet again, just like in Facebook).

Note that the program should not actually download any photos, videos or audio but should only catalog the respective links in the appropriate folder with their thumbnails. Thumbnails here are a must for the user to identify which media file to open in the future.

Moreover, unlike other "Favorite Managers" which take a snapshot of the whole webpage, our program would "grab" the thumbnail of the file. In this way, all the content is on the web but we still have the links to them properly categorized with their thumbnails with us on our PC.

Think about it guys. Is it a good coding snack?

Nzyme

[c.gingerich]

Sounds like you are talking about something like Pinterest but as a local app. Would Pinterest not work for what you are requesting?

[Nzyme]

Sounds like you are talking about something like Pinterest but as a local app. Would Pinterest not work for what you are requesting?

-c.gingerich (May 11, 2012, 08:31 AM)

I have tried Pinterest but it is not what I am looking for. Pinterest shares all the pinned content with others which I do not want to. I have even tried a better alternative than Pinterest which is Memonic, but this does not work on all pages.

Why don't we make a program which uses scripts that are used in Facebook to save links to media content? Please refer the attached image which explains an idea for designing the program. The whole idea is to catalog links (and not save the files directly) properly.

[Nzyme]

Any ideas from anyone? I have searched for such a program on the web but could not find any. Such a program would be the first of its kind. This could as well be a nominee for N.A.N.Y.

Please drop me a message if anyone is willing to code this program for a fee?

Thanks!

[c.gingerich]

I am still thinking about if/how I would be able to make this app. I have been very busy with my job and the other apps I have (Color My Folder, FastUnzip Snack and others) that I have not had too much time as of yet to completely get into this.

[Nzyme]

I am still thinking about if/how I would be able to make this app. I have been very busy with my job and the other apps I have (Color My Folder, FastUnzip Snack and others) that I have not had too much time as of yet to completely get into this.

-c.gingerich (May 17, 2012, 07:17 AM)

Have you thought about it?

[c.gingerich]

Yes, and still thinking on interface elements and how to put them together. I hope soon to make a proof of concept test app. Getting closer to starting on it. Thanks for being patient with me.

[c.gingerich]

I think the best that I can do, is make it so the web address can be drag/drop onto a fields that will then show the web page in a window. Then the user would have to make a screen shot of a section of the web page for the thumbnail. Then I would associate the web address with the thumbnail. Clicking on the thumbnail would then open the web page in the default browser.

[Nzyme]

In the mean time, I was checking few bookmark managers and found that some of them have the ability to grab information (Title, Description, Web page icon, etc.) from the entered URL automatically but lack in the "view" feature (We are looking for thumbnail view just like Explorer view)

Basically, I look at it like this. The user first launches the program and then it prompts the user to create an initial "Collection" (just like a folder) with the ability to create sub-folders (like Images, Videos, Audio, Documents, etc.).

For images, the user would first select the respective image folder and then click on some icon (maybe on toolbar) or a button like "Add bookmark". The program would then open up a window (like a wizard) where it provides the user to either (a) automatically grab the information of the page after we enter the URL or (b) manually provide information for the following fields: URL, Name, Description, screenshot of image, etc. After many such image bookmarks have been added, the user should be able to select the view as List, Detail, Thumbnail (just like explorer view). When the user double-clicks on the image, it should open the image in the web browser.

For videos, the user would specify the link to the video and also the ability for the user to select the image from the webpage. For images, this does not pose any issues, but coming to online video, currently we see videos either as links (Ex: www.example.com/vid_001.wmv) or flash videos like in YouTube. If the video is a flash video, will the program be intelligent enough to take a thumbnail image of the video?

The same concept can be applied to entire webpages and documents.

[c.gingerich]

Hmmm, well I think I may have to pass this off to someone else. The programming language i use is not powerful enough to be able to grab info from a page or make a thumbnail of a flash video. That is why I has said about the screen cap. Sorry, just a little more that I can do. 

[Nzyme]

Hmmm, well I think I may have to pass this off to someone else. The programming language i use is not powerful enough to be able to grab info from a page or make a thumbnail of a flash video. That is why I has said about the screen cap. Sorry, just a little more that I can do. 

-c.gingerich (May 30, 2012, 10:36 AM)

So in your design, how exactly will the screenshot be taken? Will the program have the capability for that or will the user have to do it the old fashioned way (Print Screen). The URL and other information could be entered manually if grabbing is not supported...

[c.gingerich]

The screenshot function would be built in, I do have the ability to make that. 

[Nzyme]

The screenshot function would be built in, I do have the ability to make that. 

-c.gingerich (June 01, 2012, 07:10 AM)

Sounds great!

[c.gingerich]

Ha!  Ok I'll see what I can whip up. It might take me a bit, but I'll work on it as much as I can.

[Nzyme]

Ha!   Ok I'll see what I can whip up. It might take me a bit, but I'll work on it as much as I can.

-c.gingerich (June 02, 2012, 01:15 PM)

Any progress?

[Nzyme]

I have found an add-on for Firefox (ViewMarks) which can do most of what I want, except that it does not produce perfect thumbnails for video sites like Youtube, just like Facebook does...

[psionics]

im looking for this too.. to be used for sports betting arbitrage.. i think you need to dedicate a server for this to take a screenshot etc...

particular screencapture: http://patrice-zweng...c/CaptureScreen.html