how to build a project like canva?
I am wondering if any useful APIs exist to create online editing sites such as Canva which allow the user edit pre-existing or available template content.
If not, how would you (a more accomplished programmer) go about building a solution like this.
We built a Canva-like editor for Audiocado.com It was a lot of work and we are still far from finished.
For our first product Storrito.com we used http://fabricjs.com/ which is a good starting point.
I'm confused. Do you want to build an API for it or use an API?
API is kind of a weird word for this, because an API generally means you make a backend call and it creates something, but Canva also has editing tools, and using a backend for each edit would be rough!
I've built quite a few small, focused image editing tools. It's not hard to get the basics done, but it can be hard to get it perfectly smooth and easy to use (Canva probably has a big team). But it's not impossible. For example, Chris Gimmer has a few stories here about how he built https://snappa.com/, which is a profitable originally indie hacker biz.
You could play with one of the many JS canvas libraries:
https://www.google.com/search?q=js+canvas+library&oq=js+canvas+library
That would be a start, but they might not be as customizable as you'd like, or might not be as pretty :)
Thanks so much! Your response is so helpful and I also admire the product you are currently building.
Thanks! I have almost no hope I'll make money from it, but living and learning (maybe a little too slowly haha).
Still curious what you're asking about. Do you want to build an image editor that others can use as an API, or do you want an API to integrate an editor into your app?