Flickr searches can be slow, so one man decided to speed things up. Doc Rogers talks to ‘Houser’ inventor of FlickrLeech … is it life in the fast lane?
Doc: I’m always surfing the web looking for new and interesting sites for this and my own blog (www.docrogers.co.uk). I stumbled across FlickrLeech last year and thought it was a pretty cool piece of programming. I emailed ‘Houser’ who created the site, and caught him half way through a Beta launch.
Hi Houser, good to speak to you … what’s FlickrLeech all about for those who haven’t seen it?
Houser: Initially it started out as a little tool I used to check the ‘Interestingness’ photos on Flickr for a particular day. Because that feature is a real-time moving target (it potentially changes every minute).
It is possible to start browsing through the pages of photos and by the time you get to page three, you’re seeing a photo that was on page one, or even worse, miss some content. So it was built to take an instant snapshot of the ‘Interestingness’ photos. Over time, more features were added, like the ability to see the images in a user’s stream, or the photos someone has ‘Favorited’ etc. If you think of Flickr as just a massive database of photos, FlickrLeech is simply a tool built to search those photos much faster than the default interface.
Doc: What was the trickiest part of putting something together like this, did you get a lot of support from Flickr?
Houser: I didn’t get any direct support, but they were a HUGE help by providing a public API to their image database. An API allows programmers to call upon a site like Flickr and pull back information or even push information to the site. In that respect, a big hats off to the developers at Flickr. Without them, FlickrLeech would probably still be possible, but at a vastly different effort level. As far as the tricky parts, FlickrLeech is fairly simple in it’s current version. I can’t think of anything I would really call out as a hurdle to competent developers. The tricky part comes in the next version 
Doc: General Internet chatter about the site seems good, do you get much feedback from users?
Houser: Absolutely. As you noted, initial response was much more favorable than I expected. For some people, it’s become an integral tool in how they search Flickr. I also accept donations to help maintain the server, and I have to say FlickrLeech users are among the best. I’m certainly not able to afford a whole rack of servers, but thanks to the donations from quite a few, I’ve been able to cover the hosting costs thus far. Of course with the positive feedback, you also get the other. Nothing negative, mind you. Just people with different expectation about what should be possible and lots of feature idea emails. Some of them I have to simply chuckle at. Others have been pondered over and will be seen very soon.
Doc: FL has some pretty cool moves, do you plan to make any changes or bring anything new in 2008?
Houser: As of writing this, I am currently working to launch a private beta of the second version of this tool. Shortly thereafter, it will go into public beta. As noted, I’ve received and solicited ideas from users, and I’ve done my best to implement many of them. In general, thumbnail sizes will increase - there was overwhelming demand for this feature, the site will have a different look and feel and users will be able to select their color schemes. I’m adding more information about the photos, and I introducing a new way of exploring photos which is congruous to the way I have seen people navigate photostreams. In addition, I’ll be expanding searching and will include CC searches as well.
Doc: Have there been any other Flickr apps or sites in general that you like or have inspired you?
Houser: There have been. I know that PicLens is a huge favorite to many. I’ve tried it and I can see why people like the user interface, but it lacks the ability to search or dig. I have taken note of it’s UI, however , in consideration for future enhancements. There have also been some individual pieces done in Adobe Flex that have caught my eye. They lacked cohesion, but people should know I’m a huge fan of Flex and the current technology lead developer in that technology for my day job.
Doc: Yes, I’m a big fan of PicLens too … so whats next?
Houser: Hard to say. I will note that the next version is really focusing on taking the little tool that is FlickrLeech and making it much more powerful. I’m looking to enhance the user experience as part of that update, but largely it’s about the stuff under the hood. The entire code base has been refactored (a fancy way of saying re-written). Once this next version is out the door, the real fun begins, and I hope to launch a new version by year’s end focusing exclusively on the user experience, new interactive ways to view and play with images, and more. There may even be a non-”web-based” version… but perhaps I’ve already said to much
Doc: Thanks Houser, very interesting to get a behind the scenes and look at somethnig like FL, you must be pretty busy so i appreciate your time … good luck with FlickrLeech.
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