Headline ticker using php gd lib

thanatos

How could I possibly make an animated gif using php gd lib? I wanted to create some sort of headline ticker, like on www.apple.com if you know a solution, please let me know!

Anon

I know this isn't exactly what you want, but it might work... http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex2/mikescroll.htm

I use it on a site I am developing and it pulls the data from a MySQL database without any problems (http://www.goapcon.com) http://www.Dynamicdrive.com may also have other scrollers that may work.

mithril

AFAIK, GD doesn't do animated images. Animated images come in 2 basic types of course, GIF and MNG. GD doesn't support either format. I've no idea if MNG support is planned for future GD releases, but GIF has been dropped and shall never darken GD's door again (as the saying goes🙂. Your best bet is probably to look for a solution like the one Spencer suggested.

-geoff

thanatos

Hey, thanks guys
I bookmarked the site Spencer told me to go to, but I detest DHTML because of it's incompatibility... I've chosen for a Java applet that reads a php outputted file... It does the trick too and offers more special stuff :-)

But how does apple.com do it then? Special server program?!

Greetings and thanks again
Thanatos

Anon

Netcraft doesn't reveal any of the modules running on apple.com, so these are just guesses.....

1) Apple could be having their PR dept. recreate the gif everytime it needs updating.
2) They could be using an internal program that recreates the image then stores it on the server.
3) They could be using <insert script language here> and ImageMagik.
4) They could have a special program as you suggested.

These are just the one's that come to mind. There are lots of different ways of manipulating images. GD and ImageMagik are the 2 most common libraries in the x86 world (I'm not too familiar with Mac so there may be others there).

Why don't you write the Apple webmaster and ask how they're doing it? Never know, they might tell you🙂

-geoff

Anon

Hi!

Don't use GIFs, they will be a bit heavy. Java is still too bulky and a bit unstable on some browsers.
Flash is the way to go. Try using Ming (http://www.opaque.net/ming/) or LibSWF (http://reality.sgi.com/grafica/flash/) and create dynamic banners using their great API (I suggest Ming). Flash is more compact. Try to use version 4's compatible functions as IE4 and Netscape 4.72 are still used by many people.

To get the hang of it, I suggest you to first download Flash itself, play with the controls to see how this is possible using Flash, and then look for compatible functions for the chosen API in the PHP help file.
Or explore samples on the Ming site or do a search.

Best,
Stas