Category: "Notes"

The Name robots.design

robots.design is derived from robots.wizard, which is a robots.txt file generator and editor. There are also robots.spider and robots.checker, which are related to robots.txt.

robots.design is not related to robots.txt, but the term robot is still somewhat applicable. It indicates a machine is being used to support design, as well as being consistent with the naming of software from the same source.

Assisting the visually impaired with colors

Another application of robots.design™ is to allow people who have difficulty differentiating between colors to select those colors that are easiest for them to see. Their selections can then be saved and applied at run time - perhaps through javascript.

Thumbnail

To better show how the image relates to the skin, a thumbnail option was added to robots-design™. By default, no thumbnail will be saved, but if the user elects to include it, it will be presented on the blog skin.

ImageMagick Thumbnail Command

convert input_file.jpg --thumbnail 100 output_file.jpg

100 refers to the width.

Color Palette

robots.design™ now has a color palette, which allows you to choose the colors for the skin.

Easy, fast, social network customization

robots.design™ was initially developed as a tool for more cost-effective skinning of applications, but it can also be used by social network providers to allow non-technical users to use the colors from image to change their profile on the site.

Imagine a button that has a picture of an image. The member could click the button and upload an image. This would change the colors for their profile to match the image. The extent of the change can be managed by the network provider.

This does depend on the site/application architecture. The simplest implementation may be to provide a stylesheet for each user, or some other override mechanism that applies the image colors to the site - perhap through javascript. The complexity will vary greatly and will probably reflect the goals and objectives of the site.

In addition to social networks, any system that would like to enhance the user experience may use a derivative of the approach. The advantage is that no technical experience is required, and it is much easier than hand-coding a profile skin.

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