Image design online
With any online design process, you're always going to need a speedy response on the client side. While the finished product is going to require a high quality print ready file for its production.
I used to work for ControlP PLC (in a former existence), and they developed an online business card template system, that could literally 'break apart' a PDF file into its constituent parts, and rebuild it 'on the fly'. This would all happen through a standard browser window. The client would be presented with a fairly low-res representation on screen, whilst the print-ready PDF file was being prepared in the background from fields stored dynamically.
This was a hugely expensive project, that was eventually sold off with most of the company's assets a year or two ago. Recent attempts I've seen by other competitiors have involved client side DHTML that has used text descriptions for positioning font, color, etc. These have then been outputted using Xdata files and QuarkXpress.
I think that many of the lower-end budget priced systems tend to rely on pre-defined design templates, with the user restricted to certain fields... using ColdFusion or ASP to store database info as the design is being constructed.
There has been so much interest in this area, that there is now little return on investment.. and I for one am glad I'm no longer involved! :c)
Paul
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