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Personal Archive - Site Change History

Changes are classified as new features, user experience updates, or policy changes. Review these carefully to understand how they affect you!

April 6, 2009

  • NEW FEATURES
    • To help guide users through our host of new search engine optimization (SEO) tools, we're excited to announce our SEO Grader, a tool to help you evaluate your potential level of search engine visibility - and acclimate you to features that can help you improve it.
    • Cart statistics are here! See who's putting your images in their carts and which images are the most popular.
    • Who's visiting your website? See the list of signups through your customized website, including email addresses, to easily stay in touch with your captive client base.
    • Customizable page titles for your website. Improve your ranking in search engines by customizing your page titles with keywords relevant to your business. Head to your page-level customization options to get started.
    • Customizable meta descriptions for your website's pages. Control the behind-the-scenes page descriptions that are transmitted directly to search engine crawlers. Write your own descriptions today.
    • Verify your site with Google Webmaster Tools! Let Google know your site's out there by submitting your site to their index. Full tutorial available.
    • Quick-start guide, complete with video help, for all new users! Not new to the system? Check out the Video Welcome Guide at any time.
  • USER EXPERIENCE
    • Want the skinny on SEO? Get schooled with our SEO Cookbook, a comprehensive overview of how search engines interpret your website - and tips for improving your visibility and extending your marketing reach.
    • SEO Icons, implemented alongside our host of new SEO features, help draw attention to exactly how PhotoShelter can help you improve your search engine ranking.
    • Sort by Date Taken in both Archive Browser and Galleries: Organize your images in true chronological order.
    • Gallery name inserted in links. To ramp up your SEO at the gallery level - and make your gallery links more human readable - the name of your gallery is now inserted into the link that you share with your clients.
    • Auto-generated meta descriptions and page titles for your website. Where page titles and meta descriptions are not customizable, we auto-generate the title and description that are most appropriate for that page - using the metadata and gallery names you've already entered. Search engines love this!
    • Haven't set up your customized website yet? Check out our simplified Theme selector and Customization Settings pages for an even quicker and easier setup!
    • New theme options! In the interest of putting your best foot forward for search engine rankings, now all themes support filenames under thumbnails, keyword lists next to images, and Statement Paragraphs on the homepage.
    • Manual customization users: Create a Site Name that you may choose to use in your page titles instead of your name.

February 18, 2009

  • NEW FEATURES
    • Track your traffic with Google Analytics. Previously available only to Manual Customization users, now any Standard/Pro user may harness the power of this incredible stat-tracking tool by plugging analytics code directly into your Global Theme Options.
    • Add your blog to your site's navigation. Couldn't be easier - just enter the link to your blog in our "Blog URL" field, and your theme-based site will automatically add the blog to your site's navigation bar.
    • Mouseover image previews. You asked; we delivered! Now, visitors to your site may see more about your image - namely the caption and a larger preview - just by rolling the mouse over a thumbnail! To accommodate varying needs, both you and your buyers may turn this feature on/off.
    • Selectable number of thumbs per page. See more images per page! The standard 25-thumbnail view has been expanded: Use your Global Customization Settings to set the default number of images you'd like to display per page, and your buyers may update it according to their preferences.
    • Set the number of galleries per page. To account for ever-growing lists of galleries and cleaner design, we've added pagination to the public Gallery List view - now you may define how many galleries you'd like to display per page (instead of always listing all galleries on one page). Set your defaults in Global Customization Settings.
    • Add arbitrary promo text to your site's footer. Want to display contact info or a marketing message on every page? Enter it in your theme's footer for prominent visibility!
    • "Display Options" link for site visitors. Because the needs of photo buyers and regular site visitors are diffuse, we've clustered the new page viewing preferences into one "Display Options" section where a return user can define his or her optimal browsing experience.
    • Manual Customization users: Search by filename. For those shooters whose clients reference images by filename, make all of your lives easier by adding "filename" as a searchable field to your Advanced Search form.
  • USER EXPERIENCE
    • Just in: Photographer Website advice from pro photo buyers! We interviewed 550 of the world's top commercial image buyers on what they love - and hate - about photographer websites. Does yours measure up? Get schooled: Browse our research results and take the quiz!
    • New Featured Photographer selection process! Increase your exposure and get your work and name in front of thousands by submitting 1-3 images to be included in our new homepage slideshow. Check out this month's Featured Photographers and become one yourself!
    • Revamped, sleek public homepage. To improve the browsing experience for photo buyers who visit photoshelter.com, we've improved pages on the public site, including Advanced Search and the Photographer Directory.
    • More prominent display of "My Contact Info". To make it easier for clients to contact you, any contact details you've entered and marked as public will now be listed out on the "Contact" pop-up on your portfolio. Check your contact info to make sure everything's current!
  • POLICY CHANGES
    • We've slightly updated our Terms & Conditions for the new year. One key point of note, located in the "Subscribers/Contributors" paragraph, is our tightening of language surrounding billing: "(v) agree to be automatically re-billed at the frequency of the subscription plan that you selected (either monthly or annually)."

December 19, 2008

  • NEW FEATURES
    • Copy to Gallery consolidation: Now, create a gallery, set its visibility, price images, and make images searchable all in one step! Check it out in the Archive Browser.
    • Huge improvements to the FTP Export interface. Initiate transfers to all destinations in one click, set a path name in batch, and work more quickly and efficiently.
    • New Desktop Uploader! Version 2.3.1 supports faster processing of your images, resulting in improved upload speeds. Download and upgrade today.
    • Support for a long description of your self-fulfilled products: Your buyers can now mouse over your product name to see more details on your custom offerings.
    • Photographers may now opt out of customer-facing auto-notifications when self-fulfill orders are marked as "complete".
    • Stretched canvas now a finish option formally offered for self-fulfilled prints.
  • USER EXPERIENCE
    • Batch download improvements: Support added for buyer-selectable download size; images download in same sequence as original folder or gallery.
    • Skip a step and send galleries to existing gallery collections from the galleries themselves.
    • MU editors - "Filter by photographer" is back in your Archive Browser!
    • Character limit increased to 255 for the following IPTC fields: Contact Address (street address, city, state/region, country, email), Genre, and Location.
  • POLICY CHANGES
    • All photographer names in the Directory and homepage "Recently Updated" list will now click through to your customized sites.
    • The my.photoshelter.com custom URL you've set here will now point to your customized site!
    • To help with SEO, page titles on customized PhotoShelter websites will now use the value in "My Site Name", which you may set here, or your name if no site name is set.

November 13, 2008

  • NEW FEATURES:
    • Trusted Client Download allows you to tag anyone in your address book and assign them with permission to download the hi-res of anything they can view (up to a certain size you indicate). More here!
    • Client-selectable download sizes allow your buyers to choose the size of the image they're downloading (up to the size you indicate). If you allow an original to be downloaded, the buyer may choose to download the original, a JPEG conversion, or smaller versions of the same JPEG conversion.
    • New customization theme! Check out Caboose, designed for those who want a similar look to their DRR pages, and the brand-new Induro.
    • New customization widgets and widget options that allow more flexibility with displaying galleries, metadata, and more. See all customization changes here.
    • Embeddable gallery slideshow - new options! Code your embedded slideshow to always point back to your customized pages, choose the size and color, or disable full-screen mode. See here for the details.
  • USER EXPERIENCE:
    • We've improved the gallery download permissions to allow your clients to download these gallery images globally — even when they're not in the gallery anymore. For example, if your client adds an image to a lightbox, they can download it from the lightbox later. If they find a gallery image in search results, they can download it from there, too.
    • Now, users who download images from your site will no longer be taken to a new page for the download to initiate — the download will start and finish from the page your client is on. No pop-ups, no "back" buttons!
    • Filename sort no longer distinguishes between capitalized and lowercase letters — it is now a true alphabetical sort.

October 17, 2008

  • NEW FEATURES:
    • Customization Themes are here! Standard and Pro account-holders can now use our spankin' new template-based Customization Themes to create a sleek, personalized portfolio website in under a minute. Start exploring the new themes today! Be sure to check back often - more brand-new themes and styles will be rolled out in the coming weeks.
    • Join the party in the new member Forums. We've created six distinct categories for you to post in, including a Critique forum where photographers may submit work for peer review. Paste an image link into your post to embed a gallery or single image thumbnail.
    • Get viral! You may now embed single images or galleries into blogs or outside websites of your choice. This allows you to extend your marketing exponentially without jeopardizing the security of your work. All images are watermarked according to your preference, "right click"-disabled, and have a direct link back to the image within your PhotoShelter account, where it may be purchased (if available). For single images, use the "Get Link" code at the single-image view in the Archive or Gallery. To embed gallery slideshows, use the "Embed Gallery" link at the gallery thumbnails page in the Photographer Area.
    • RSS Feeds now available on all public search, photographer homepage, and public gallery pages. Instead of being limited to 5 RSS feeds that a photographer must set, all of your publicly available content is now automatically available for syndication. Please note that any previously configured RSS Feeds will remain active for any subscribers.
    • Our Virtual Agency tool is now *free*! Only paid subscribers may create Virtual Agencies (up to 3 per user), but anyone can join a VA. Also new: dedicated, private forums for each Virtual Agency, and a public VA Directory for buyers to browse. Create a VA today and watch your marketing reach expand.
    • We've added a slideshow to our public homepage (http://www.photoshelter.com) and have re-set the main PhotoShelter.com domain to point to the Personal Archive homepage. Want to be included in the member slideshow? Send us a note with a link to a gallery of your choice.
    • Download our new Desktop Uploader! We've optimized speed by pipelining files - check out the improved performance today.
  • USER EXPERIENCE
    • Have you noticed our new look? We've completely redesigned our public, client, and member interfaces to make the user experience more intuitive and fun. We love the new feel and hope you do too! For longtime users, we understand it may take a bit of getting used to. Please check out our Redesign Map to find what you're looking for.
    • We've really streamlined the process of setting up your account to sell, particularly if you opt for self-fulfillment of your prints & products. Not a seller yet? Get configured today!
    • We've also reorganized our help documentation - and added a persistent link to the upper right-hand corner of every page. If you've got questions, try browsing our FAQs and tutorials - it save you an email or phone call.
  • POLICY CHANGES
    • To offer maximum protection for your work, all new accounts now have a text watermark set to ON by default. This also means that if you previously had opted to not display a watermark, you will need to change your preference to turn it back off.

August 6, 2008

  • NEW FEATURES:
    • Login-free checkout now an option! Now, your clients will have the option to choose the new "Guest Checkout" option when purchasing prints or image products from you. (For your protection, any buyer purchasing image downloads must still register for a free PhotoShelter account.) This will allow them to breeze through the purchasing process without registering for an account of any kind.
    • New browser upload method now available in the Personal Archive. Need to send images in batch but don't feel like opening the Desktop Uploader? Try the fast, easy Flash uploader without leaving your browser window.
  • USER EXPERIENCE:
    • Larger thumbnails and screen images! You asked, we delivered. Images, both thumbnail and full screen-resolution sizes, have been increased in your homepage, galleries and search pages. General thumbs are now 150px, sub-gallery key image thumbnails are 200px, and screen-resolution images are 550px. (All dimensions refer to the longest side of the image.)
    • Archive Browser supports click-and-drag. Your home for images now behaves just like your desktop. Click and drag your mouse to select images (or use the handy "Select All" command at the top of the screen. Click once to select an image, click twice to enlarge it.
    • Rights-Managed images now purchased through cart. Formerly, RM purchases were treated as single transactions that bypassed the standard Shopping Cart. Now, RM purchases are added to the cart just as any other image is, so your buyers may purchase multiple images at once - whether it's several RM transactions in one batch or multiple license types at once.
    • Printable invoice page. We've made it easier and cleaner for your clients to print purchase info for their records by adding a single-click "Print" function to the final invoice page.
    • FotoQuote usage definitions added to the pricing calculator. Now, when you or your clients price out a usage, you'll see not only a price but a definition of the terms of use. Check it out by creating an RM pricing profile today!

April 10, 2008

  • SOFTWARE UPDATES:
    • New PhotoShelter Desktop Uploader: 2.2.10 Download here!
    • New Apple Aperture plug-in for uploading to PhotoShelter (supports Aperture v.2.1). Download here!

March 28, 2008

  • NEW FEATURES:
    • Introducing the personal use license!
    • EZ Prints updates: products now available for auto-fulfillment. Prints now fulfilled on Kodak Edge & Endura paper!
    • "Products" tab added to the cart. This tab will display both EZP products and (new!) self-fulfilled non-print items.
    • Drastically streamlined purchasing workflow for RM buyers (all priced RM images are available for immediate purchase; no more negotiations). Special Instructions field being displayed to buyers at checkout to reinforce restrictions.
    • New "zoom" option for the [[image]] customization widget allows buyers to zoom a screen-resolution image up to 1000px!
    • New looks for the Gallery (larger thumbnail option!) and Archive Browser (consolidated batch action buttons).
  • USER EXPERIENCE:
    • Faster searches across the entire Personal Archive- internal Photographer Area searches are exponentially faster!