Not sure which section to post this in but I suppose it does come under the general heading of 'Software.'

It a little web app I coded myself using some JavaScript on the client (browser) side and some PHP on the back-end (server) side. It's for my daughter, who sells sweet boxes on ebay.

She is selling boxes with printed inserts. We used to print all of these from Photoshop but with the help of a little programming the whole thing can be done from the browser in a few clicks.

All of her advertised designs are referenced with code numbers so it's now simply a matter of picking the design style (Birthday, Mother's day, etc) from a dropdown list and entering the required code for the design that needs to be printed. The app then goes to the back-end and retrieves the designs and lays them out in a PD,F complete with crop marks, to the exact size required for printing. The PDF is opened in another tab and we can print straight from the PDF.

Here's a screenshot. The PDF tab has been opened in my 2nd monitor ...



pdf_request_demo.jpg


This is saving us a lot of time and has been worth the effort. I'm sure the process could be used in other areas. The other main advantage is that these can be printed from any computer, anywhere, without needing Photoshop installed.

I've written another web app to make her product mockups that distort the image to fit the mockup of the box. So much easier!