Aviary is on a mission to power the world's creativity. We have always been famous for being a suite of powerful editing apps geared towards creative amateur artists. We know it, and we love it. But we also recognize that by focusing on artists alone to date, we are not servicing the creative needs of everyone else in the world. And there is sooooooo much unrealized creative potential happening all over the web outside of Aviary's website every day.
So today, we're doing something a little different:
We're happy to announce that we are launching a super-simple and embeddable HTML5 photo editor (codename: Feather) that will allow users of third party websites to directly fix and retouch their photos without ever leaving those websites.
HTML5 Photo Editor (widget version)
So why did we do it!?!?!?
Portability
Never send users away to edit again! Editing happens across the web, not just at Aviary.com. We realize that the best user experience is not being shuttled across the web to use functionality. So we wanted to provide an editing experience that let them stay in the same spot: Your website.
Functionality
Many third party companies have implemented Aviary's current photo editors on their websites, but we often get requests for a simpler tool, something which contains only the specific functionality that a particular website needs. By offering super powerful do-it-all tools we have not actually been providing something that is easy for the average user to use and learn. And so it was time for a change in our approach... which leads me to our next point:
Simplicity
Our HTML5 editor takes the most popular pieces of Aviary's photo editor and slims them down into a tool which is intuitive for anyone. We even allow 3rd party developers to customize the functionality within the editor, so that you can easily generate exactly the tools your users need.
Open!
All of our advanced web apps to date have been built in Flash. While we love Flash, we decided to build our new editor in HTML5 at the request of third party partner sites who wanted something that could be embedded and used on web and mobile (and we do plan to offer a mobile version of Feather soon as well). Best of all, HTML5 is completely open. In the near future, we're planning on open sourcing our HTML5 editor, which will give users even more customization possibilities!
Customizable
Pick exactly the tools you need, whether it's just a simple crop and rotate, or a collection of tools that is more powerful. You can even choose your editors format - whether it's a floating, draggable widget or a lightbox. Coming soon we will also provide customizable skinning and CSS options!
Features to Look Forward to
In general, our plan is to update this editor with new features every two-three weeks. We plan to inform you in advance of any new feature or option that is available and will provide a testing and feedback platform for you to let us know what works best for your site. We will never introduce a breaking change without giving you ample lead time to make an adjustment and without providing legacy support.
Future releases will include:
-Custom skins and themes (apply your own CSS design to Feather)
-Additional editing tools
-Open source code (host our editor on your own server and develop, edit, modify, and extend the functionality)
-Statistics based on aggregate customer usage
Partners
Our editor will be launching with the following partners: Digital Youth Network, Everloop, Fashism, HowMutch, Hyper Public, Market Publique, rrripple, Saw You At Sinai, and Shopify.
Quotes from some of our launch partners:
Screenshot of HTML5 Photo Editor implemented on Shopify
"A strong visual statement is important to our users, so we try to make it really easy for people to experiment with different ways of showing off their products. It's hard to predict how an image is going to look in the context of your site before you put it there, and sometimes it just needs a few tweaks to make it work. Aviary is a perfect fit for Shopify because it brings powerful image editing tools right into the browser, instead of minor edits being a tedious distraction, they can be done in seconds." -Shopify
"Feather is a perfect tool for us because it allows our users to easily clean up their looks when they are uploading them to Fashism. We are a fashion advice and photo sharing site, so and our users want to put their best foot forward."-Fashism
Screenshot of HTML5 Photo Editor (widget version) implemented on Fashism
Our HTML5 photo editor is free to use and free to implement on your site. If you're a developer and would like to try it out, read the technical documentation or embed it on your site, go to www.aviary.com/html5
