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interactive vinyl lettering?

Rat_Fink

Rat_Fink

New Member
Hello...
I sell a bunch of boat registration numbers & would love to add an interactive page on my site where the customer can enter his reg number, choose a font from a list, add outlines/shadows, choose colors & then see a preview of what his complete set will look like.

I see many sites out there with this feature, but can not find how this is done.

I am fairly apt at web design so I would love to find a tutorial on something like this or even purchase a generic version that I might be able to customize to my website.

Anyone have any experience with this type of coding?
I would appreciate any info.

Thanks
Mike
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
Read the law, in most states registration numbers must be in block letters 3" tall.
We sell any font they want, but I know at the the Lake of the Ozarks, and most resort places, if your lettering is anything but block it is a reason to get pulled over by the boat cops. They look for a reason to pull you over then it is a DUI, most of the time.
 
Rat_Fink

Rat_Fink

New Member
Flame...
Allowing my customer to preview their color & font does not hurt the market in any way. If a customer was at your shop & they have their cash in hand to purchase a set of registration numbers, but want to see a preview - do you refuse? I am not allowing them to design crappy signs online - I am just giving them a way to see how their registration numbers are going to look so I do not have to send out individual emails with design proofs. This app will only be for registration numbers.

Mosh...
I understand your statement. I have been selling registration numbers online for approx 11 years. In that time, I have sold many sets without 1 single complaint about legibility or about a customer pulled over for their numbers. I tell the customers that they are supposed to be plain block letters in a contrasting color of the boat hull, but they still want them different. I am not going to have unreadable fonts available to choose. I may even add a disclaimer to the site to warn that the customer will have to choose their font at their own discretion. Either way - I have been a boater & have dealt with boaters for many years & have never had a problem, but I do appreciate your concern.

So, if anyone would have any advice toward a tutorial or a generic template that can be customized & used to implement this feature into my site, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks
Mike
 
Pat Whatley

Pat Whatley

New Member
]Read the law, in most states registration numbers must be in block letters 3" tall.
Click to expand...

That's what it is here but the only time it's enforced is when somebody smarts off to the marine police. I can't tell you how many guys with jet skis insist on having them cut 1.5" tall and in a color that almost matches the hull color. Very rarely do I get somebody back in to have them recut.
 
B

btropical.com

New Member
Mosh said:
Read the law, in most states registration numbers must be in block letters 3" tall.
We sell any font they want, but I know at the the Lake of the Ozarks, and most resort places, if your lettering is anything but block it is a reason to get pulled over by the boat cops. They look for a reason to pull you over then it is a DUI, most of the time.
Click to expand...
:bushmill::bushmill::bushmill:



BUI
 
SightLine

SightLine

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This is something I'm also very interested in. I've been wanting to add something like this to our site for a couple of years. Just never took the time to look into how I'd set it up and make it work. We sell a lot of boat ID numbers here as well. I actually keep the states regulation printed and posted on the wall in our lobby. Here it's 3" as well and must contrast with the hull color but DNR is very lenient about the specifications. I've never once heard of someone here getting any grief about using a script or other fancy font. We do point out them them though that is we make them anything that is not within the regulations that we cannot be held responsible but at the same time let them know we have never heard of anyone having any problems.
 
Dentafrice

Dentafrice

New Member
Easiest solution is with a PHP GD script. It will take any true type font and using imagettftext, write that text onto an image you create using imagecreatetruecolor or imagecreatefrompng (if you want to use a backing image).

You can specify size and color in imagettftext as well, as well as rotation.
 
L

Locals Find!

New Member
Fast easy way to do this if you have corel is to use zetaprints.com Make a template for each Font takes about 5 minutes per template to setup. Its free to setup and you just pay $1.70 for each order that actually comes through.

I use their system for basic signs & business cards all the time. You can do some cool things with it. I haven't delved into all the features yet myself though.
 
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