If you’ve ever explored the Fotolia website you may have stumbled across a link to the ‘Fotolia API’.
There is often a lot of confusion surrounding this term and we thought therefore we’d take the opportunity to explain what the Fotolia API is, what it does and whether it could potentially help you and your business.
An API stands for an ‘Application Program Interface’. In laymen’s terms referring to the provision of all the building blocks required developing a program.
The Fotolia API allows business to integrate the millions of images strong database into its workflow whether that be for B2B, B2C or internal employee purposes.
Fotolia’s API can be used for a company to promote our images and take a percentage of the cost, to directly access and use images either for products they produce and sell, or to improve efficiency within a company to streamline the searching and buying process.
Fotolia offers three types of APIs:
- Print-on-demand
- Intranet
- Partner
Print-on-demand
Print-on-demand is purposefully for companies who are in the business of producing printed material and require images. The API allows customers to remain on the company’s website and customize the products available with from either Fotolia’s standard license database, or just a selected few.
You can check out a great example of how one of our partners, Wallsauce, is using the print-on-demand API here.
What makes the Fotolia API more user-friendly, is that it can be tailored to every partner’s requirements. If you are concerned that your customers will not easily find the image they’re looking for out of the 42 million available then you can narrow the images down – choose certain themes and exclude certain variables. Only want images of the highest-resolution showing for example? That’s fine; we can ensure anything below a certain size is removed.
The service is perfect for not only web-to-print clients but digital too including CMS, DAM and digital signage services.
HP integrates Fotolia’s API into their software ‘Wall Art’ to allow their printer partners to use our images in their final product, whether that be residential, commercial or retail wall decorations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yDjt_3X6v8#t=12
There is often the occasion however when companies do not have the technical capabilities to use Fotolia’s API, those who are building websites themselves for example. There is a solution. Configurateur Visuel have developed a module dedicated for the Prestashop platform for companies looking to simply purchase a plug in allowing their customers to customize products using Fotolia imagery. You can find more details here.
Intranet
A common issue that is faced for companies is how to manage their stock image account. How do you control access for employees to use it responsibly where there is a certain level of flexibility. Fotolia’s API can be integrated directly into your company intranet.
As with print-on-demand, the benefits include the ability to tailor the images available to your employees directly. Don’t want them accessing certain content or want to ensure the pricing is kept within a certain price range? This can be achieved ensuring that time isn’t wasted and budgets are kept within control.
It’s not only companies that can profit from assimilating Fotolia’s API into its intranet but schools, administrations and agencies too.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post where we will go into further detail regarding the Fotolia partner API.
For more information on Fotolia’s API services you can find it here or you can contact Jeremy who manages the Fotolia API team by emailing him: khougass (at) adobe.com