The beginnings of Annotely
Szoter.com is were it all started
Lets move back to yer 2010 for a story to begin. It all started form an everyday need. In a company were I was working back then I was involved in the project were we
Let's move back to the year 2010 to begin the story. It all started from an everyday need. In a company I was working for back then, I was involved in a project where we got a lot of feedback from our big client - The Coca-Cola Company. At that time, there were no online tools dedicated to image annotation. So, we were flooded with images attached to emails every day. When screenshotting was not available (yes, it was a real deal back then), we just received a written description.
To remedy this and speed up things, I created an online image annotation tool as a side project. The idea was to create a cross-browser, cross-operating system application capable of taking screenshots, loading images, adding annotations, and exporting as an image. It was called 'szoter', a Polish pronation of the word 'shooter' from the 'screenshot shooter' application. It was created using, now forgotten, Adobe Flex (flash) technology.
First public release in 2010
Back in 2010, it was the 'go-to' technology. It even had a feature of taking a screenshot directly from the browser, it was in days when such features weren't even planned for web browsers. The current version of the Annotely editor utilizes this modern browser feature to speed up screen capturing across systems. We were using it successfully. As I completed the project, I put it aside and made it available for free to the public.
Occasionally, I was checking on it as the audience grew.
In 2019, when the Adobe Flash lifetime was getting closer to the end, I decided to rewrite it to modern JavaScript. Back then, I had no plans or time to invest in it; I just wanted to keep it alive.
First public release in 2010
Finally, after seeing a growth in a number of similar tools, I decided to rewrite it and slowly move forward. I could have been the first one, but I joined as the last one. Still, it's better to be late than not to join at all.
I wrote the current version from scratch with privacy, security, and performance in mind. Annotely editor works in the browser, any browser, device, and operating system.
Nothing is sent to any servers without previous user actions (i.e., only when the user asks to publish output is any data sent). It's able to capture screenshots directly from the browser. Annotely is all in one image annotation tool, ideal for working in restricted access environments.
Give it a try.