This has been a side project that I have worked on the last couple of weekends. Thing is, I’m really excited about it because it didn’t really take that long at all to do and the results are pretty impressive.
History: A smiley artist name Laie created a program to generate graphical signatures which ran in DOS. He would take requests from users for signature graphics featuring a smiley spray-painting the letters. Unfortunately, the demand for graphics was more than he could handle. Eventually, he worked with another programmer to create an online version of the utility. However, due to professional differences, Laie and the programmer parted ways and the generator was taken down. The programmer went on to create his own, different version, but many online users desired for the original generator to come back. When I saw the original signatures years ago, I had wanted to write a program to automate it back then. Eventually I learned that the other programmer had already done it, so I never followed-up. Recently, when I learned that original version was disabled, I approached the artist about making a new, improved version based on his original code and concept. I was excited when Laie expressed interest in collaborating on the project.
Laie developed and owned the original DOS source code for the project, as well as the graphics and concept. The source code for the online version was written by someone else and since we did not have permission to use that code, I knew from the beginning I needed to build the new version from the ground-up. That was okay, since I was eager to write my own code for this–not to mention Michelle works for lawyers and wouldn’t have let me re-use the code if I wanted to. The original version was written utilizing Gifsicle to generate the graphics. To differentiate the programs, as well as for personal preference, I decided to write my script utilizing only GD libraries. My work on GifMonkey (a command-line program I wrote for my wife to help her do complex animated gifs) was very useful, as it gave me experience in what to do and not to do in the coding. The source code was not the only thing re-done. All the graphics were updated so that automatic functions, such as changing the letter colors, spacing, and other aspects were refigured and deficiencies corrected. That was probably the hardest and most time-consuming part, and thankfully it was taken care of by the artists: Laie and Mirz.
Aside from re-doing the program, we also added dozens of features. Many were requests from users of the old program, while a good number were things that Michelle had always wanted in the original and felt were good ideas to incorporate. Laie was ever present through the whole process, adding new graphics and input on the layout and functionality. It was a nice collaboration.
Due to the varied ownership of the graphics and original idea, the code will not be sold or distributed. It will remain a free online utility which will be hosted on a few sites owned by the contributors to the script. Nevertheless, it is a project I am very proud of. If you would like to see it in action, you can see it HERE.
