Over the past couple of weeks the following enhancements have been made to PixyBlog.
We have added a new import option for those who have existing blogs on Blogger (a.k.a. Blogspot). The import process is very easy:
Also, a very big welcome to Ruden Fretsbo who was our pilot for the Blogger import. Using the above process we were able to import hundreds of posts and comments from his Blogger blog going back over four years. He's got some awesome photos, so be sure to check-out his new photoblog: http://rudenfretsbo.com/
We've added a new export format, so you can export your PixyBlog using the standardized ATOM Protocol. This is an addition to our existing Moveable Type export format which we released last year. Simply choose your export format from the 'Blog > Export' page.
Our media server now offers backup versioning of all your Uploads, Watermarks and, most importantly, your Photos. This means that now if you change/edit any of your photos (or uploads) a backup is stored of the original. So in cases of error, you can revert to a backed-up version.
- Pixy Team
A few new features are now available for all blogs at Pixy. Bloggers can now make backups of their photos, uploads, entries & comments using our new export feature. This combined with our existing import feature gives bloggers a standard way to move their data around the many different blogging platforms out there.
Using the Moveable Type Import Format bloggers can make a backup of their entries & comments to a text file which can be easily imported to a number of blogging platforms including MoveableType, Wordpress and Blogger. Also available through our export feature is the backing-up of photos, uploads and watermarks. These files can now all be downloaded as Zip files. These features are all available through the admin area; 'Blog > Import' and 'Blog > Export' pages.
It's now possible to make backups of almost all the content in your blog. Next-up will be the ability to back-up & restore blog themes.
- Pixy team
Another big PixyBlog welcome to Elaine Kelly and her photoblog Totally Like Me - Whatever. The most recent of our imports from the PixelPost software; Elaine brings an impressive portfolio of work and has already made a big impact in the PixyBlog rankings.
We were first contacted by Elaine on a Saturday afternoon and by Monday morning we had completely migrated her existing site, images, comments, pages and domain name from her hosted PixelPost photoblog to it's new home on PixyBlog.
We're extremely pleased to be attracting all these new photobloggers. We've started to get inquiries from photographers on other services wanting to migrate as well. We're working on more ways to get your photos on PixyBlog... but more on that in the new year.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
