9:53am Saturday (GMT) - Time in GMT
We're currently in the process of upgrading the Pixy system. Follow us on Twitter for more up-to-date details.
More details to follow shortly.
10:46am Saturday (GMT) - Time in GMT
Update mostly completed. A task will be running for the next 24 hours to update any missing thumbnails from users photoblogs. The main purpose of this update is to fix the problems with the new media server, although there are some other behind-the-scenes changes as well.
- Pixy team
A few weeks ago we updated the Pixy system to a new version (3.6). Here are some of the changes which were included in the update.
Pixy users may have noticed some changes when uploading new entries. As part of the recent system update we've switched to using a new media server for the storage and delivery of photos and uploads. This means the page loading times for your blogs at Pixy have been improved, and it also allows us to expand as the number of images uploaded to Pixy grows.
The process of moving to the new image server hasn't gone as smoothly as hoped. We switched to using the new server at the end of last month and came across a number of problems with slow uploading of images. We've been working tirelessly to fix these and we have now installed a second update which resolves most of the reported problems. However we still have a problem with the watermarking feature, so until that is resolved the watermarking of images has been temporarily disabled.
Most users will have noticed a small change after saving a new entry; there is a delay while the images load. Previously when you uploaded a new image, the thumbnail resizing and watermarking operations were done at the same time. This meant that it took longer to publish an entry. Now when you save a new entry just the file is uploaded (and a quick check to see if it's an image file) then another process takes care of the resizing and watermarking. The initial upload is much quicker than before, and you can choose to navigate away from the page as the images are processed in the background and your entry will be updated.
While the initial upload is quick, the image resizing and watermarking is currently taking two or three times longer than it should. We're working on resolving this and once completed the whole uploading time will be much quicker.
Two more previews of your photos are now created from new uploads. One at 300px another at 1600px. These can be used on your blog by editing your page templates.
We've added a new editor to be used while editing page templates. Now with the CodeMirror editor your page templates are nicely formatted and syntax highlighted making it easier to customize your blog. This is now enabled by default. You can revert to the simple text editor in your sites Preferences > Settings.
That's not all from the 3.6 update... there's another whole bunch of features. But first we need to get the new media server and uploading working smoothly and then we'll start to roll-out the rest.
If anyone finds a problem, let us know in our bug forum. Got an idea for a new or improved feature? Checkout out feature request forum.
More to come soon.
- Pixy Team
We started updating the Pixy system this morning (GMT). The update has been mostly completed, but we are still waiting for all the images to migrate to their new server (about 90% complete so far). We don't envisage any further disruption to our service, but it will take a good few of hours to complete moving the images. So if you have photoblog with us then there's a chance some of your images won't show... but don't worry, they'll be back soon.
Follow us at Twitter for regular updates.
We will post news article shortly regarding the changes in Pixy 3.6
UPDATE (Sunday 28th)
UPDATE 2 (Monday 29th)
UPDATE 3 (Tuesday 30th)
If anyone finds a problem, please let us know.
