Google Books API returns a JSON object that contains links to three or four different image sizes. Also, regarding CSS, browsers seem to scale the height down proportionally when you use CSS to modify the width.
As a side note about Google Books, the cover images seem to only be available via HTTP, while organizational policy at many institutions requires HTTPS. This causes issues in newer browsers that don't allow HTTP content on an HTTPS site. Does anyone know of a workaround other than saving all the images server-side? Josh Welker -----Original Message----- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Amy Drayer Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 12:02 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] book cover api Dear Kelly et al: I agree to a certain degree with Jonathan that you can use CSS to resize the images if alternate sizes are not available. However, I would not recommend changing the ratio or increasing the size of the original image. With Retina displays (Apple), in order to keep any kind of non-pixelated cover art, you need an original graphic nearly twice the size you plan to display (depending on image quality), and then you could use CSS to scale it down correctly (that's one method and probably the easiest with the images coming from another source). Syndetics and Content Cafe both offer three sizes of covers, but I am unfamiliar with APIs that offer size options. GoodReads seems like it might, but I haven't tried it. In peace, Amy M. Drayer Senior IT Specialist In peace, Amy M. Drayer, MLIS Senior IT Specialist, Web Developer amost...@gmail.com http://www.puzumaki.com On Wed, Dec 4, 2013 at 11:42 AM, Galen Charlton <g...@esilibrary.com> wrote: > Hi, > > On Wed, Dec 4, 2013 at 9:39 AM, Jonathan Rochkind <rochk...@jhu.edu> > wrote: > > > I don't know of any free book cover api that resizes images for you > > to your specifications, they all only offer images at certain sizes. > > I don't know about the commercial services like syndectics etc. > > > As a data point, the last time I checked, Syndetics offers a choice of > "small", "medium", or "large" but doesn't offer on-the-fly scaling to > user-supplied dimensions. > > Regards, > > Galen > -- > Galen Charlton > Manager of Implementation > Equinox Software, Inc. / The Open Source Experts > email: g...@esilibrary.com > direct: +1 770-709-5581 > cell: +1 404-984-4366 > skype: gmcharlt > web: http://www.esilibrary.com/ > Supporting Koha and Evergreen: http://koha-community.org & > http://evergreen-ils.org >