Slice Viewer Update: Faster Load Times and Enhanced Features

What’s New in Slice

• Faster Viewing Speeds: Navigating large images is now more efficient than ever. With faster loading times, you’ll experience reduced lag when zooming and panning across high-resolution images, especially those hosted on overseas servers.
• Enhanced Colour Picker: Clear and distinct annotations are key, especially when dealing with multiple markers on an image. In addition to providing a standard 20 colours, the new colour picker allows you to choose any colour, ensuring annotations stand out more prominently and making it easier to differentiate between various elements.
• Improved Annotation Visibility: It’s now simpler to hide shapes while viewing annotations. Temporarily remove pins and regions for a clearer, unobstructed view of the underlying image.
• Find Images at a Glance: See the title for each image beneath the thumbnail to make it easier and faster to find the right image.

Why These Changes?

Since the original release of our viewer in 2013, technology has advanced significantly. To keep pace with these developments, we’ve optimised Slice to better serve our growing global user base. By hosting images on cloud servers in various locations, we ensure that all members, regardless of where they are in the world, enjoy fast and reliable access to the images they need.

In addition to these performance enhancements, we’ve prioritised security. Our image bank includes sensitive institutional collections, often containing human tissue specimens. To ensure these resources are used solely for educational purposes and to align with Anatomy Act guidelines, we’ve introduced a mandatory login requirement for all staff and students accessing images.

What This Means For You

With this update, you and your students will be prompted to log in to view images. We’ve also upgraded our URL structure to align with the new Slice format. This upgrade continues to capture detailed information such as zoom levels and screen positions, ensuring that shared links direct students to the exact area of the image you intend. All existing URLs will automatically redirect to use the new viewer. However, please note that the screen position for some images may be slightly altered as a result.

We hope you find these enhancements beneficial and that they further enrich your teaching experience with Slice. We’re confident that these updates will make your use of Slice even more effective and user-friendly.

Additional Resources

Need something for your students? We’ve got a five-minute video run-through of all the basics of using Slice in the new viewer.

The updated viewer is available now for all BEST Network members. If you have any questions, you’re welcome to get in touch with Stephanie Dowdell at s.dowdell@best.edu.au.