[feat] reusable "presets" for shorter URLs + user analytics

[nberlette]

I've been meaning to tackle this for a while. Truth be told, it really should have been a primary feature from day one.

I'll be frank with you, I really dislike how long the image URL's become after just a few customizations. It's also a pain in the ass to try to remember exactly which dimensions / colors / font combinations I used, when trying to produce more images in the same style.

As a solution for this, I propose a "presets" or "themes" system: at a minimum it would be a hard-coded collection of some sensible default color-schemes and design presets (lazy option. yuck), but ideally I envision it as something integrated with a user-authentication system. The latter option would allow users to create/save style presets in their own personal accounts, then easily reference them with a unique URL identifier.

I picture it as a really basic feature at its core - instead of manually applying a bunch of params like ?titleFontSize=64&titleColor=000&subtitleFontSize=32&..., you could simply use ?p=f7f34fc5b71a4ffe4fbe&title=Title+Text&subtitle=Subtitle+Text. This would also enable things like user analytics, such as measuring traffic across different image presets to see which designs are most effective.

I'm starting to ramble now, but this seems like something that could possibly result in the need for monetization. If the service grows in size and userbase and we're providing traffic analytics and other extensive features, it's going to be burning a hole in my pocket if it isn't generating some form of revenue on its own. I really like the idea of keeping it 100% free though.

Please feel free to chime in with your thoughts, I'd really like to hear a voice other than my own in the echo chamber here 😅