Upgrade to zoom viewer

I've just upgraded the viewer that we use to zoom in on photos. I've noticed three benefits:

1. Zoom in closer

The old version let us zoom in til the resolution of the image matches the resolution of your screen. The new version lets you zoom in further. Of course we're not really getting any more detail as that depends on the image file. But with a sharp photo I find it does help to be able to zoom in further, especially when looking at writing.

2. Bookmark and share your view

This works the same way as the "Sharing maps" we talked about recently, and works well with the added zoom mentioned above.

Let's use one of the recent Kowloon Tong photos as an example:

http://gwulo.com/atom/24469

Debbie mentioned "I think the building hoarding says Baxter Construction but hard to tell as the photo is so faded."

Now she can also show us exactly which part of the photo she is looking at:

http://gwulo.com/atom/24469?x=1457&y=522&z=122

[Update: Looks like I spoke too soon, as this isn't working for me. When I click the link above, the picture always updates to show fully zoomed in. I've written off to the vendor's support to ask for help.]

3. Better error handling

From time to time one of the zoomed images gives the viewer indigestion and it shows an error message, eg: http://gwulo.com/atom/24491

In the new version we still see the error message, but at least it disappears after 2 or 3 seconds. We still need to solve the underlying cause of the problem, but for now the image can at least be seen.

As always, if the upgrade has broken anything, please let me know.

Regards, David