Browse entries tagged "import"
Image library migrates to PixyBlog
Monday Nov 03, 2008
Today sees the launch of a new type of website powered by PixyBlog. Pictorial Press Ltd is an image library specializing in music, film and television stills. Over the past six months we've been working with the Pictorial Press team to migrate their existing website over to use the PixyBlog system.
An image library is a considerably different type of website to a photoblog. There are a number of features which we either needed to enhance or develop before we would be ready to run such a site using PixyBlog.
Search
Our photoblogs already have a basic search function, which makes us different from a lot of similar photoblogging services, but for an image library search is the priority. If picture researchers can't find the images they are looking for, then there will be no sales. We worked on improving the quality of our keyword searches and the work we've done here has already filtered down to all our photoblogs.
Bulk Upload
When dealing with hundreds of thousands of images, then a bulk upload feature becomes essential. We already had this feature but, like the search, it has been improved somewhat to cater for the needs of an image library. For example, you can now upload images up to 50MB in size.
Checkout
Pictorial Press is the first site to use our new checkout process. Shoppers can now add images to a basket, continue through the checkout providing their billing information & shipping details and complete the whole order process in just a few steps online.
The checkout process can be branded with the sites title or even a custom logo, and we're now working on making the design even more customizable to match the originating site.
The ability to sell prints, limited editions, high resolution downloads and even image licensing has been a feature which has been requested by a number of PixyBlogger's and we will start to roll-out a beta of this on a select few photoblogs soon.
Lightbox
Image library websites usually have a lightbox facility to allow researchers to put together a selection of images which are of interest to them (often for a specific project or client). PixyBlog now has such a feature. We support management for more than one lightbox, each lightbox can be emailed and client comments can be left on individual images. Similar to our checkout process, we can brand the lightbox management with the sites title or logo.
Order & User Management
To enable smooth transactions between supplier and customer we've developed a thorough order management system. Included are email alerts for new orders or a change in order status, a new management console for viewing, tracking and changing orders and a user management console for suppliers to manage and contact their customers.
These new features will start to come available on PixyBlog shortly, and we hope that you are as excited about these developments as we are.
OneReaction photoblog software export to PixyBlog
Tuesday Sep 16, 2008
Photographers using the now unsupported OneReaction photoblog software have an option to export their images, descriptions and comments to PixyBlog. Jacques Bron has written and in-depth article on how users of OneReaction can export their data in a format which PixyBlog can easily import. His own photoblog was exported using this same method, which we reported on earlier.
The article is well written and due to the attention to technical details, it could also be useful for others wanting to export their photos to PixyBlog; even if you're using different software. The article is over on Jacques blog, and has the rather techy title:
As always, if you're interested in moving your photos to PixyBlog and have any questions, just let us know.
John Washington import from PixelPost
Tuesday Sep 09, 2008
Some of you may have noticed the presence of longtime photoblogger, John Washington on PixyBlog over the last few weeks. He appeared in the top-spot our Hall-of-Fame Photos and also made an impact on our Hot Photoblogs rankings. So it wouldn't have taken a genius to guess that he might well be in the process of migrating to PixyBlog. He is. He has.
So another big PixyBlog welcome to John Washington. Along with all the other migrations we've been working on lately, John is not only the latest but the largest. With over 600 photos going back to 2005, he has a huge portfolio of work, an established website and an army of readers/subscribers.
John has essentially been involved with PixyBlog since the beginning, and although he continued to blog on his PixelPost site for the past two years, it was always our intention that John be the first PixelPost import. That didn't quite happen, but it's great to finally have John as part of the community.
We migrated John's highly customized PixelPost site, which was a Frankenstein creation of two PixelPost instances running side-by-side. One instance powered his photoblog, while another was used to separate his projects from his photoblog. Over the years he had continually developed his own customized theme which also needed to be migrated.
It took us a few weeks, but finally at the weekend we managed to swap John's site over to use PixyBlog. We changed his domain name yesterday and now his site is live and currently number one in the days Hot Photoblogs.
Custom photoblog imported to PixyBlog
Thursday Sep 04, 2008
A big PixyBlog welcome to Jacques Bron.
After reading about our PixelPost to PixyBlog import feature, Jacques contacted us about his existing photoblog which was running on software that is no-longer supported by the developers, and he expressed interest in migrating his site, photos, descriptions and comments to PixyBlog.
Being a part-time software developer, we supplied Jacques with some sample data in the format we need to import to PixyBlog (a simple XML document), and one week later we get an email with the data in the exact format we require. Today we ran the import without any problems, and now Jacques is the newest member of our community with a back catalog of over 500 photos going back more than 2 years. Check-out his photoblog, and welcome him to PixyBlog.
It's great to know our import isn't just for PixelPost, but can be easily adapted to other photoblog platforms.
Anyone else out-there who wants to migrate to us?
First Pixel Post import
Tuesday Aug 19, 2008
Richard Hollingworth was the first migration from Pixel Post to PixyBlog using our new Pixel Post export addon. We worked with Richard to export over 300 photos & descriptions and hundreds more comments going back more than 4 years. The migration went smoothly and all his work over the years has been retained on PixyBlog.
We have a few more photographers lined-up for migration soon, so keep watching our directory of photographers to see who's joining PixyBlog.
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