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Pixaria Roadmap Update

It's been a little while since my last update on the status of Pixaria Gallery so I thought that it was about time I talked briefly about some of the developments coming in the near future.

My roadmap for Pixaria releases this year has been defined by the short term goal of improving the e-commerce capabilities of the software, specifically adding coupons and discount codes and the ability to sell different types of products such as workshops, CD/DVD products and other non image related products. Once this is complete, the plan is then to follow this up with a complete overhaul of the front end user interface later in the year with the goal of making the design cleaner and easier to customise.

Alongside these big projects, I've also been working hard to fine tune the performance of the new importing tools in the Pixaria back end and to get the documentation fully up to date on its new content management system - something that's now finally complete.

Current status

With development on the big new features well under way, I wanted to share some details of how the addition of expanded product features will affect Pixaria Gallery's front end.

Where possible, I've tried to limit the amount of changes I make to the front end in recent updates because I know that it can be a nuisance to update customised templates. With the addition of coupon and product features however, I will have to make some significant changes to the front end to add product pages and to alter the shopping cart to handle coupons.

Because of this, I've decided that rather than re-use the current user interface elements and styles from Pixaria 2, now would be a good time to begin using the style sheet and layout elements that are planned for inclusion in Pixaria Gallery version 3.0. The advantage of this is that it will allow for some stress testing and feedback on the proposed changes and of course, less work will be required to upgrade to version 3.0.

The updated HTML and CSS components will make their debut in Pixaria Gallery version 2.8.1 and will include new templates for a user's account homepage, postcards, the news blog and completed purchases pages. The look and feel isn't massively different from the current default theme style in Pixaria but the HTML and CSS code is much more compact (with no tables) which will result in better page load times, simpler customisation, easier theming and most importantly, the possibility of colour scheme editing from the Appearance Settings control panel further down the line.

I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on these proposed changes and particularly how people feel about the plan to introduce the new CSS and HTML template code prior to the release of Pixaria 3.0.

User contributed features

Finally, an exciting development coming in the next release will be the inclusion of some interesting new features which have been kindly contributed by Matthias Zehnder, a Pixaria user in Switzerland. I will be providing more details about these new features nearer the release date but they include mapping tools, major improvements to the news blog, gallery announcement tools and numerous other small refinements.

Pixaria News Gets Comments

Anyone visiting the Pixaria news blog from this week may have noticed that I've introduced support for adding comments to blog posts and I'm hoping that this will be a useful tool for encouraging feedback and discussion on the topics I post about.

To post comments, you will need to sign in using either and Open ID, Twitter or Disqus account and once you've done that you can post your comments directly to the blog and even mirror them on Twitter or Facebook. Enjoy..!

Documentation Update

One of my (numerous) resolutions for 2010 is to improve the documentation for Pixaria Gallery which until recently was more than a little out of date. The first step in this plan was to write new documentation software and with that out of the way, I'm now slowly getting through the process of moving the old Pixaria documentation over to the new content management system.

An important consideration for me throughout this process was that I wanted the ability to include inline documentation within the Pixaria Gallery admin interface. The next release will introduce this for the first time in what I hope will become a useful new feature for all Pixaria users and I've included a screenshot here to illustrate how this looks.

With only a handful of articles left to bring over, I thought now would also be a good time to remind everyone about the documentation RSS feed which not only lists the most recent changes but also makes it easy to find new articles.

I'm always keen to hear feedback on the documentation as I know this is an important part of the site for many people. If you have any thoughts or ideas, please let me know.

Is this 'FaceBook Login'?

Usability on the web is a big issue, not least because many people don't seem to have the vaguest idea how the web actually works. Consider the case of ReadWrtiteWeb who on Wednesday featured an article discussing the login page on Facebook. Very quickly, the posting got to a rank of number one in a Google search for 'Facebook Login' and the result was that many, many people ended up on the ReadWriteWeb article when they were expecting to see Facebook.

The comments section at the bottom of the page makes for hilarious reading as one person after another rants incoherently about the 'new Facebook'. The take away lesson though is that many people have no idea how to use a web browser and simply Google (or Bing) for what they're looking for, something web developers everywhere would do well to consider! via Daring Fireball

Pixaria Gallery 2.8.0 Released

I'm delighted to announce the immediate availability of Pixaria Gallery version 2.8, the first major update to Pixaria of 2010 and an important step on the path to the improved sales and e-commerce capabilities planned for this year.

This update includes a mix of new features, enhancements and bug fixes across the entire admin area that I hope will improve the user experience for everyone from admins to visitors.

The most important part of this update is an overhaul of the product administration control panel which is the first step in a series of changes leading to the implementation of new features such as support for one off or limited edition products like paintings and workshops. The work that's been done so far brings the user interface for product management into line with the rest of the admin area and includes changes to the database necessary to enable more product types. The update also adds support for rich text editing in product descriptions though this won't truly come into its own for a couple of releases yet.

Other improvements in version 2.8 include rewritten group management tools, new support for assigning permissions on a group by group basis and a completely rewritten security and authentication sub-system.

For full details of the changes in this update, be sure to check out the release notes and change log and don't forget that because there are some front end template changes in this release, it's a good idea to consult the template comparison tool before upgrading if you're using a custom theme.

As usual, registered users can get the update by e-mailing me at info@pixaria.com.

Pixaria 2.7.9 Now Available

I'm pleased to report that Pixaria Gallery version 2.7.9 is now available as a free update to all registered users. This version features an important new addition in the form of Smart Galleries - galleries that are generated dynamically from pre-defined search keywords and date ranges. This much requested feature enables you to create galleries that automatically update as you add new images to your library and make it easier to feature new content without having to manually add and remove items from standard galleries.

Also included in this update are a number of enhancements to the admin area including support for the simple slideshow from the front end (based on Lightbox2) and larger thumbnails in admin views such as the orphan image list.

As usual, registered users of Pixaria Gallery 2.x can get hold of this update by dropping me an e-mail to info@pixaria.com. Be sure to check out the release notes and change log before upgrading to ensure that you don't miss any important changes.

Welcome to 2010

Happy New Year and welcome to 2010..! This year promises to be an exciting one for developments in Pixaria Gallery as I prepare to deliver big updates in the first half of the year. The roadmap includes major updates to the store features of Pixaria with the addition of physical products and later in the year a complete overhaul of the front end look and feel with the release of version 3.0.

In the short term, I will be adding support for Smart Galleries in the next minor update, an exciting new feature that makes it possible to create galleries whose contents are dynamically created from pre-defined search terms.

Thanks to everyone for your continued support over the last year and here's to a fun and productive year during 2010.

Advertising Experiment

Starting today, I'm running an experimental sponsorship/advertising area in the Pixaria documentation which will last for two months. Ads can be placed with BuySellAds.com for the bargain price of $10 (US) per month during which time, they will be visible on all Pixaria documentation pages.

I'm hoping that this will become a place where Pixaria users can advertise their own websites, products and services so if you're interested, you can find out more on the BuySellAds website.

If you have any feedback on the advertising program, please let me know.

Offline Between Dec 19th and 29th

With the end of the year fast approaching, I will be offline and more or less unavailable by e-mail between the 18th and 29th of December. For any urgent enquiries and for new purchases, I can be contacted on info@pixaria.com but please allow longer for responses and bear in mind that during this time I will not have access to a computer - only my trusty iPhone!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's supported me and Pixaria over the last year and wish everyone all the best wishes for the new year and a successful 2010..!

Photo Stories at Pictory

Check out this fascinating and beautifully designed photo journal website called Pictory. Definitely worth a look for the stunning photography and classy design..! (via Daring Fireball)