collage

Collage is a Framework for Live Collages

See a live example of Collage at work: samelove.us.

Collage brings together many public APIs, along with a method of presenting media within a limitless two-dimesional space to create memorable and meaningful experiences. It's a mixture between Big Surface, Giant Quadtree, and a public API library.

Use

For plain JavaScript applications, use the dist/collage.js, which will inject the Collage module object to the global scope (i.e. it creates window.Collage). If you're using NodeJS (or any system that uses the export/require pattern), use dist/collage-module.js, it exports the Collage module object.

Depending on which loaders you use, you will need to include these in your HTML doc, before starting the collage:

<!-- Youtube Iframe API -->
<script src="//www.youtube.com/iframe_api"></script>
 
<!-- Twitter API -->
<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
 
<!-- Facebook API -->
<div id="fb-root"></div>
<script>
    (function(d, s, id) {
      var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
      if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
      js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
      js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1";
      fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
    }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));
</script> 

Content Sources

These are referred to as loaders in the codebase.

• Facebook (like boxes)
• Reddit (images and embeds)
• Twitter
• Youtube
• Flickr
• Google News
• Google Plus
• NY Times

Check the loader configurations for how to query them for content.

API

Collage extends Big Surface, all API methods that are available for Big Surface is also available for Collage. In the API Collage (capitalized) refers to the module object and collage (lowercase) refers to a Quadtree instance which is created via Collage.create.

Collage.create(container)

Constructor function which returns a new Collage instance. The container is the element which will contain the collage.

collage.load(tagName, loaderName, loaderConfig)

Loads the media from the given loaderName according to the loaderConfig and assigns the loaded media to the tagName.

var collage = Collage.create(document.body);
collage.load('some fb content', 'facebook', {
    minLikes: 200,
    query: 'popcorn'
}).then(function(){
    // Wait for the loading to be finished, then
    // start the collage (filling the center) and set the active tags
    collage.start('some fb content');
    collage.speed(8);
});

collage.load(tagName, loaderMap)

Loads the media from the given loaderName : loaderConfig mapping and assigns the loaded media to the tagName.

var collage = Collage.create(document.body);
 
collage.load('my content', {
  facebook: [
    {    
      minLikes: 200,
      query: 'popcorn'
    },
    {
      ids: ["110452248983275"]
    }
  ],
  twitter: [
    { query: 'popcorn' },
    { query: 'caramel' }
  ]
}).then(function(){
    // Wait for the loading to be finished, then
    // start the collage (filling the center) and set the active tags
    collage.start('my content');
    collage.speed(8);
});

collage.start(opt_var_args)

Starts the transform loop of the collage (allows for movement) and optionally sets the active tags to the given arguments.

collage.pause(opt_duration)

Brings the collage movement to a halt within the given time duration (or immediately if none provided).

collage.resume(opt_duration)

Resumes collage movement to the state it was in previous to a pause call. If a duration is provided, the speed will tween to the limit within the given time period.

collage.setActiveTags(var_args)

Sets the given tags as the 'active' tags which media for the collage will be pulled from.

collage.add(tagNames, elements)

Adds the given element(s) to the given tag(s).

collage.remove(tagNames, elements)

Removes the given element(s) from the given tag(s).

collage.get(var_args)

Gets the elements for the given tag names.

collage.showElement(element, left, top, show)

Inserts an element directly in the collage surface at left, top (in pixels). If show is set to true, the element is placed visibly, otherwise hidden.

collage.loader

A map of available loaders which you can extend during run-time.

collage.fill()

Fills the visible center of the screen with elements.

Loader Configuration Options

Loaders are where you get the content for the collage from. The content from the loaders are associated with one or more tags, which the collage will use to populate itself with.

Facebook

Adds like boxes for facebook pages to the collage

• query: a search query (not required if providing ids)
• ids: an array of page ids to load (not required if providing a query)
• limit (default 3): max number of results from query search
• width (default 400): width of the like box
• height (default 600): height of the like box
• minLikes (default 0): minimum number of likes for results of the query search
• showFaces (default true): whether to show faces in the like box
• showStream (default true): whether to show the page stream in the like box
• showHeader (default false): whether to show a 'like our page' header in the like box

var collage = Collage.create(document.body);
collage.load('some fb content', 'facebook', {
    minLikes: 200,
    query: 'one man one woman'
}).then(function(){ // wait for the first batch to complete loading
    collage.load('more fb content', {
      facebook: [{    
          minLikes: 200,
          query: 'popcorn'
       },
       {
          ids: ["110452248983275"]
       }]
    }).then(function(){
        // Wait for the loading to be finished, then
        // start the collage (filling the center) and set the active tags
        collage.start('some fb content', 'more fb content');
        collage.speed(8);
    });	
});
 

Reddit

Adds images or reddit embeds to the collage

• type default "photos", can be "embed" or "photos"
• sort default "top", can be "confidence", "top", "new", "hot", "controversial", "old", "random"
• subreddit default "all"
• limit default 20
• time default "all", can be "hour", "day", "week", "month", "year", "all"
• nsfw default "false"
• minComments default 0
• minScore default 0
• width default 500, width of the embed box
• height default 600, height of the embed box

collage.load('reddit popcorn', {
reddit: [
  {
        query: "popcorn site:imgur.com subreddit:funny",
        limit: "10"
  },
  {
  	type: "embed",
  	query: "popcorn"
  }]
}).then(function(){
    // Wait for the loading to be finished, then
    // start the collage (filling the center) and set the active tags
    collage.start('reddit popcorn');
    collage.speed(8);        
});

Twitter

Choose one:

• query a search query for tweets
• ids an array of tweet ids
• id a single tweet id

collage.load('popcorn', {
 twitter: [
  	{ query: "popcorn"}
  ],
}).then(function(){
    // Wait for the loading to be finished, then
    // start the collage (filling the center) and set the active tags
    collage.start('popcorn');
    collage.speed(8);        
});

Youtube

Adds youtube videos to the collage

Choose one:

• query a string to search Youtube with
• videoId a singe video id to load
• videoIds an array of video ids to load

Optional parameters:

• mute default false
• loop default false
• autoplay default false
• callback
• continuousPlay default false. This option determines if the video pauses when it goes out of view or not.
• startTime default 0
• duration default "short"
• key Google api api key
• width default 1060
• height default 650

collage.load('popcorn', {
  youtube: [
    {
  		query: "popcorn",
  		mute: true,
  		loop: true
  	},
    {
  		videoId: 'abcdefgh',
  		mute: true,
  		autoplay: true,
  		loop: true,
  		startTime: 108
  	}
  ]
}).then(function(){
    // Wait for the loading to be finished, then
    // start the collage (filling the center) and set the active tags
    collage.start('popcorn');
    collage.speed(8);        
});

Flickr

Adds images from Flickr to the collage

• tags the search query for tags to load
• sort default "relevance"
• count default 20
• license default "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8" see Flickr API
• apiKey
• tagMode default "all"
• isCommons default false
• contentType default 1 (photos)

collage.load('popcorn', {
  flickr: [
    {  
            tags: "popcorn",
            sort: "interestingness-desc"
        }
  ],
}).then(function(){
    // Wait for the loading to be finished, then
    // start the collage (filling the center) and set the active tags
    collage.start('popcorn');
    collage.speed(8);        
});

Google News

Adds news articles from Google News to the collage.

The loader only accepts a string query.

collage.load('popcorn', {
  googleNews: ["popcorn"]
}).then(function(){
    // Wait for the loading to be finished, then
    // start the collage (filling the center) and set the active tags
    collage.start('popcorn');
    collage.speed(8);        
});

Google Plus

Adds posts from Google Plus to the collage.

The loader only accepts a string query.

collage.load('popcorn', {
  googlePlus: ["popcorn"]
}).then(function(){
    // Wait for the loading to be finished, then
    // start the collage (filling the center) and set the active tags
    collage.start('popcorn');
    collage.speed(8);        
});

New York Times

Adds news articles from the NY Times API. The api endpoint must be proxied locally, since it doesn't allow for JSONP calls to be made.

Choose one:

• query A live query to make to the NY Time api
• data A pre-recorded JSON object to use instead of doing a query

collage.load('popcorn', {
    nyTimes: [{
        query: "popcorn+nytd_des_facet%3A%5BHate+Crimes%5D"
    }]
}).then(function(){
    // Wait for the loading to be finished, then
    // start the collage (filling the center) and set the active tags
    collage.start('popcorn');
    collage.speed(8);        
});

Iframe

Adds an iframe to the collage. Becareful, this is a particularly expensive thing to add, because it embed an entire site in the collage.

• url
• width
• height

collage.load('popcorn', {
  		iframe: [{
                url: "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn",
                width: 800,
                height: 600
            }]
}).then(function(){
    // Wait for the loading to be finished, then
    // start the collage (filling the center) and set the active tags
    collage.start('popcorn');
    collage.speed(8);        
});

Image

Adds a single image to the collage.

The loader only accepts a string src.

collage.load('popcorn', {
  image: ["http://www.popcorn.com/popcorn.jpg"]
}).then(function(){
    // Wait for the loading to be finished, then
    // start the collage (filling the center) and set the active tags
    collage.start('popcorn');
    collage.speed(8);        
});