Aviary, a New York startup that provides web-based media editing tools, has announced today that it now offers a simple photo editing widget that can be plugged-in to any website with ease. Called Feather, the tool uses HTML5 to let users quickly and easily remove red-eye, add text, crop photos or perform other simple image editing tasks.
Aviary says that the service is free to use but will include premium features later. The tool puts an emphasis on customizability now and will be entirely open sourced later. Site owners can choose between a floating, draggable widget or a lightbox and site visitors can edit images without ever leaving a publisher’s page.
Aviary says 9 partner sites will launch Feather integration within the week: Digital Youth Network, Everloop, Fashism, HowMutch, Hyper Public, Market Publique, Rrripple, and Saw You At Sinai and online shopping platform Shopify.
The downsides to integrating 3rd party services like this include:
- the risk of down time that an implementer has no control over
- that changes could be made by the tool creator that don’t suit the implementer well.
In response to this concern, Aviary writes the following in its announcement blog post.
In general, our plan is to update Feather with new features every two-three weeks. We plan to inform you in advance of any new feature or option that is available and will provide a testing and feedback platform for you to let us know what works best for your site. We will never introduce a breaking change without giving you ample lead time to make an adjustment and without providing legacy support.
