Notices by Mike Macgirvin (mike@macgirvin.com), page 3

Thumbnail Generation for Photos
Currently we generate all thumbnail images in PHP using the built-in library functions. This is becoming increasingly problematic as the higher pixel densities of modern cellphones is growing faster than typical PHP memory allocations on shared hosting or low-end VPS systems.  This leads to a failure to generate a photo thumbnail and add to the photo library after upload.

There are a couple of possible solutions. The blueimp uploader we use for some photo uploads is able to provide scaling on the client before upload. This however would make it difficult to provide original size photos at all.

Another solution would be a system or plugin function which performed a first level image scale via shell commands in the filesystem using the Imagick 'convert' binary. This would require that package be available on the system and would likely be limited to Linux or Unix-like systems. Configuration and enabling of this feature would be done via the site admin pages. After resizing to this first level scale via a temporary file (probably 1600x1200 to be compatible with the 1024 max photo thumbnail size size as well as the highest quality cover photo scale), the thumbnails and any additional resolutions (including cropping) can easily be generated in memory. Then the temporary file can be removed.

Forms Interface
The Forms Interface is essentially an abstraction layer for the creation of forms. This is critical for content management. At a high level, everything which is needed to create a form must be represented in an array. This allows it to be manipulated and modified prior to rendering. It is only rendered at the time of HTML display. Necessary elements include:

• 
  
• The form submission parameters
  
• various input types
  
• "panels"
  
• descriptive text
  
• submission controls
  
• validation functions and required elements (including JS event handling for those with code permission)
  

The interface should be used to present all or most of the forms provided in the project webpages. It should also be possible to use the forms interface to create custom forms that are embedded in posts or webpages and the results saved in accessible database fields.