Wednesday, October 31, 2007

New Invoice Logo/Image Size

To make sure you have a crisp, clear image on your invoice please make sure your image size is 400px by 134px. To change this image, go to Settings in the Basic Suite and click on customize invoices.

Thanks!

Tara Bates
StudioCloud

Enhanced Online Gallery Experience

For all of you who use StudioCloud's Online Gallery, you will be happy to know that your clients will now have a faster, smoother, and all around better experience while viewing your pictures. They will no longer have to wait for the images to download before previewing them. As soon as they login with their password they can begin the ordering process.

The speed and memory usage have also been radically improved because only the thumbnails get downloaded until they click on the image. This allows their computer to run much faster because it is not bogged down by so many images.

Because of these improvements a few things have had to change. The carousel and slideshow views are not currently compatible with this new system so they have been removed. It appears that the majority of clients use the thumbnail view while ordering so these changes should not affect most users. Both the slideshow and carousel views are still in the In-Studio Gallery. Please feel free to let us know your opinions regarding this.

Try out your new Online Gallery and let us know what you think. We look forward to hearing from you!

StudioCloud, It's Just That Easy!

Tara Bates
StudioCloud

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Online Gallery Welcome Page

We have received an overwhelming positive response to the proposed changes for the Online Gallery welcome page and this new page has been implemented. You will customize this page by going into the Basic Suite under Settings, Online Gallery Settings. Here you can type a custom message for your customers and choose a studio name/logo that will be seen above that message. This same name/logo will be seen on the far left hand side of the tool bar when they are viewing their Online Gallery. To choose a picture or logo/name to go in the box above the welcome message, click on the Online Gallery Background Image tab (tonight when the Basic Suite changes are pushed out this tab will say, Online Gallery Welcome Image). You will want to make sure when you create this image it is 362px by 210px. It will look a little pixelated in the Basic Suite screen but should look very crisp in the Online Gallery page if it is sized correctly. You will see all of your customers albums on the new page without having to change anything!

StudioCloud, It's Just That Easy!

Tara Bates
StudioCloud

Price Lists

We want to update you on a few new features that a lot of you have been waiting for! First off, you now have the ability to create multiple price lists (and change the order of your products) and choose which one to attach to your Online Albums. In the Basic Suite under your Point of Sale, you will see a new tab that says Price Lists. This is where you will create your lists. You can make as many as you like by choosing a name and then dragging the products across (or double click). Once they are in the list you can drag them up and down to change the order of the products. Once you have your lists made you will have the option of which one to attach to your album when you publish your pictures online. Your customers will only be able to see and access the price list that you have attached to their album.

StudioCloud, It's Just That Easy

Tara Bates
StudioCloud

Friday, October 19, 2007

Updates For In-Studio Gallery

For all of you Gallery users we wanted to update you on the new version of the In-Studio Gallery. Some of the changes include a separate menu bar option for the In-Studio Album Manager and the Online Album Manager. These two features were previously under Album Manager which led to some confusion.

Now, if you want to create an album to show in-studio to a client, it will first appear under In-Studio Album Manager. Once you publish it online it will also appear under the Online Album Manger. You can erase your in-studio album once you are finished showing the album, this will not erase your online album. To delete your online album you will need to unpublish it.

Another great feature that has been added is the ability to directly publish an album online without having to import the photos into the In-Studio Gallery. This saves time for those who do not show their clients proofs in-studio but only post them online. To use this feature, from the Home page of the In-Studio Gallery, go to Online Album Manager. From here you will see a button that says upload images. This will give you the same options that you had before when posting an album online.

Stay tuned for many more features to come!

StudioCloud, It's Just That Easy!

Tara Bates
StudioCloud

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Workflow Manager Beta Released

StudioCloud’s Workflow Manager will help your studio manage your workflow progress to guarantee pickup dates for customer’s orders. Easily track the progress of each order on any given date. Workflow Manager is easily customizable for each studio so you can create your own processes based on your unique studio needs.

For those using the Basic Suite, you have the option of having your orders that are placed going immediately into the WorkFlow Manager. Under the dates section of the invoice (where you assign a pickup date) there is a box that you can click that says "add order to workflow". You can easily track each clients order through the steps your studio takes to get an order to completion.

Remember that this product is in Beta and is not expected to fully function or have all of its features yet. For example, each image ordered will have its image notes attached to it but doesn't at this time.

Feel free to try it out! Download it here http://studiocloud.com/WorkflowManager.html

We look forward to your feedback and ideas!

StudioCloud, It's Just That Easy!


Tara Bates
StudioCloud

Export to QuickBooks

StudioCloud now has the capability of exporting to QuickBooks. If you need help in exporting your information to QuickBooks, take a look at the tutorial at :
http://studiocloud.com/tutorials/QuickBooks.html

StudioCloud, It's Just that Easy!

Tara Bates

Monday, October 8, 2007

New In-Studio & Online Gallery Features

A few of the new features include a detailed pop up description of products on the Online Gallery which allows you to tell customers the details of products and packages. Because of this, a product name field has been added which will look like a duplicate of what you had entered in your product code field. In the Basic Suite you can now update your product descriptions to be more detailed and communicate more clearly to those ordering on your Online Gallery. Coming soon you will be able to change the order of your product lists, choose to add unique product lists to online albums, and accept credit card information from customers ordering online.

The Online Gallery now includes a returning studio client option and a friends and family option. This way if they are already a client at your studio it won't create another client entry, it will just add the order under their current one. If they are a friend or family member it will add them as a new client and put that invoice and balance under their name. As before you will still receive an email once an online order has occurred.

Stay tuned for more upcoming features! StudioCloud, It's Just That Easy!

Tara Bates
StudioCloud

Make Sure to Upgrade Your In-Studio Gallery

Adobe's release of their next version of the Air platform has also allowed us to improve the speed of all of our products. We are currently in the process of optimizing our memory usage for upcoming releases that will improve your experience even more. Because of Adobe's new Air platform we are unable to automatically update your In-Studio Gallery. You will need to come to this link to install the latest of StudioCloud's In-Studio Gallery:

http://studiocloud.com/preview.html

Just click on the install now button.


Tara Bates
StudioCloud

Adobe Showcases Studiocloud

Check out what Adobe is saying about StudioCloud, http://labs.adobe.com/showcase/air/studiocloud.html

Tara Bates
StudioCloud

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Gallery Update for Mac Users

With the release of the new version of Adobe Air, we are happy to announce that the "issues" Mac users were experiencing have now been resolved. Make sure to try out the new versions of the In-Studio and Online Gallery.

Tara Bates
StudioCloud