About | News about Photofolia
|
Do not forget to return to this page frequently to follow up on constant updates!
|
|
|
2012-02-01
Translate
|
A VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE:
The Theme of the Month Team (TMT) would like to draw your attention to a few changes
that have been made to manage the themes.
The “How to” instructions can now be found in the drop down menu under the “About” tab
at the top right of the Home Page. Among other things, it explains the new member voting system
which will commence at the end of this month for the February theme.
To find the theme announcements go to Themes > Theme of the Month > The Themes.
The current theme will always be at the top. HERE’s a direct link.
I. A. |
| |
|
The Travelogue feature has just been released!
Translate
|
On behalf of Photofolia Team, I am proud to anounce the Travelogue feature is available to all premium members!!
The sample can be seen in my newest image here. We do hope you´ll enjoy using it!
Below you´ll find the HOW TO for Travelogues. I have just written it, thus you might find some "brazilian english" here and there. It´ll be reviewed!
Enjoy!
Isabel for PF Team
HOW TO FOR TRAVELOGUES:
How do I open a travelogue?
1st step: Opening a new travelogue
Add New >> Travelogue
There you will only establish the period of time your travelogue
encompasses and the text that will explain the basic facts. You
fill the blanks, press "send" and you´ll be forwarded to the Gallery
page.
***********
How do I add a new image to a travelogue?
2nd step: Adding a new image to a new travelogue
Add New >> Image
The process is exactly the same you´re already used to to add
a new image. However, in the page you have all info about the
photo (in which you add the categories, exif, note etc -global.php)
there is a drop down menu where it reads "Your Travelogues",
with all travelogues you have created so far.
It´s just a matter of picking the one you want to add.
******************
Can I add an already posted image to a Travelogue?
Yes, you can add images already posted to your travelogues.
Go to My Menu >> My Gallery >> choose the image >> Edit.
scroll down the page till the drop down menu where it reads
"Your Travelogues" with all travelogues you have created so far.
It´s just a matter of picking the one you want to add.
IMPORTANT NOTICES:
* Travelogues are personal experiences. Thus, you can only add
your own photos to your Travelogues;
* Be attentive to the dates. The date a travelogue starts
and ends should be respected. Don´t mess up your own material!
* One image belongs to ONE SINGLE travelogue.
**********
**********
To the viwer:
How can I see a travelogue?
There is a link below the image where it reads
"This image belongs to the Travelogue (Title)" just click on it
and you´ll be forwarded to the main image. Click below the
image, where it reads "Click here to view all images in a slideshow." |
| |
|
December 09, 2011
Translate
|
Photofolia has a new host. Most of this process went quite well. Only time will show how much the site will profit with the change. The reasons for moving PF to another host were:
1- Increased inaccessibility of the site
2- Increased download time
We already know that several members experienced quite annoying log off problems and we are working with the host to solve this problem ASAP. We need your help for that. Whenever you get logged out while you are using the site we ask you to send us an email to technical@photofolia.net. Your mail should include: your name, the date you were logged out, the time you were logged out, your time zone, for how long you were logged in when you where logged out and the browser you were using.
Please, send us also an email for any other technical issues related to the site to the above mentioned email address. |
| |
|
2011-11-04
Translate
|
Hello everyone!
Several members requested improvements of some features. As you all know we listen very carefully to our members suggestions. This time it´s not different and I am glad to present you the newest updates of the functions: Forum, Categories, Themes and Workshops.
We invite you to use them and give us your feedback:
Forum -: was updated and now you can respond individually in a thread; each entry will show now the authors avatar.
Categories -: you can upload your photos and place them in multiple categories;
Themes -: each photograph will now show the theme(s) the photo belongs to;
Workshop -: the main image and the workshop image are displayed in their original size. No loss in quality due to resizing anymore.
These are subtle and yet very important upgrades. We thank you for your suggestions.
Still, stay tuned. Peter will bring you more news today.
Hope you all enjoy!
I. A. |
| |
|
September 30, 2011
Translate
|
Hello, everyone!
This is a very special day for our PF community.
We have launched the “Series” feature. A member can add up to ten images at once. This feature allows us to explore and broaden our way of taking pictures and to present them in a cohesive way. This feature is available for premium members only!
As admins we comment others images, upload our own images, participate at the Theme of the Month. However, our utmost important role is to listen to all members and their suggestions, critiques, dreams, frustrations, etc on a daily basis. We listen carefully and work hard to do our best and offer you the best possible quality and experience while browsing through this site. We all deserve it!
We are glad this site is defined by its members and not by some big company which dictates us any incomprehensible rules. We opted to build our own site. The site is being sponsored 10% by its premium members, 2% by Google Ads and the remaining 88% by its admin members.
As you can see, our goal is not to become rich. We assure you that each annuity is applied for the further improvement of this site and the well being of the PF community. In case you are not a premium member and you felt "left behind" by not being able to use the new feature, consider becoming a premium member.
On a different note and not less important. We asked Lasse if he could help us with implementing a translator service for our site. To our delight he did it quickly and very efficiently. From now on people can translate notes, comments, forum threads and alike almost instantaneously. For those of you who need some clarification on how to use this feature might get some help here. Lasse, thank you!!!
I.A. |
| |
|
August 25, 2011
Translate
|
One more feature ready to be used and abused! Many members asked several times to have the possibility to post a complimentary image to the main post to show a different angle of the same POV that would allow to provide an additional perspective to the story. Well, here it is.
The download process is very easy and intuitive. Once you downloaded your main image and filled out the note, EXIF, location and so on you will encounter at the bottom of the page the option "Complimentary Image". Click on it and the space to browse and download will open. The size regulation is exactly the same as the main image.
The complimentary image will show up as a small thumbnail below the main image and to see it just click on it.
We hope you have fun with it! The next feature to be presented is already in the works and will allow premium members to download up to 10 images at once to present a complete variation on a theme.
P.B. |
| |
|
August 6, 2011
Translate
|
Please be advised not to use the P.O. Box anymore to renew your annual payments. The box was deactivated. The only form to make your annual payment is from now one online via PayPal. If you have any questions please contact us via email.
P.B. |
| |
|
July 27, 2011
Translate
|
It seems that the email alert is working perfectly as we got so far only positive feedback ;-)
Now here comes already the next feature. Last week we had JMarc coming up with some inventive way presenting a panoramic image. I really loved how he fooled the system, although it did not look very nice in the gallery. Besides, once the panorama was open you either ended up with a stiff neck or you had to turn your laptop by 90 degrees. I hope no laptop ended up on the floor with such risky maneuvering.
Well, with the new panorama feature all this has an end. Download your image as usual and as an additional step on the download page you will see the option to download the panorama image. The max width is 2,500px, max height is 800px and the file max 2MB.
P.B. |
| |
|
July 20, 2011
Translate
|
Almost one year ago we started premium membership. Back than payments were made via snail mail to a P.O. Box in Albuquerque, NM. In the meantime we have a fully functional online payment modality which accepts credit cards. Hence, we are closing the P.O. Box and kindly request everyone not to use it anymore. In future we only will accept online payments.
The webmaster is reviewing the script of the online payment at the moment to ensure that the reminders for the annual fee will run smoothly starting in about one month.
P.B. |
| |
|
July 17, 2011
Translate
|
Tomorrow (07/18) we will have a new feature to enrich the site. You might receive from now on a daily email reporting your activity at PF for the last 24 hours. The first should be hitting your email account by upcoming Tuesday. The email will provide you links to images for which you received new critiques, links to workshops received for your images and links to forums threads to which you left a comment earlier on and someone picked up the discussion.
Everybody will receive these emails by default, however if you prefer not to get it anymore there is at the end of the email a unsubscribe capability.
So, if there are members that are not showing up for a while and you wonder were they are and if they ever will show up again - go back and critique one of their images and to their big surprise they will receive an email with the newest activity at PF. Who knows if we might see some 'new' old face resurfacing of some deep dungeon. :-)
We are already working on the next feature and hope that its release will be faster than this one. The email alert took so long due to requiring a rewriting of the script of most of the site.
P.B. |
| |
|
June 29, 2011
Translate
|
We already witnessed (too) often the provider being down and not allowing us to post images, write critiques and live the PF dream. These off line times are actually quite nerve racking and made me already active for quite a while searching for a new and more reliable provider. The search is not concluded yet and once we have a new one it will require to have the site down for about one week to do the transport from one provider to the other. You certainly will here from us before that will happen.
P.B.
|
| |
|
June 28, 2011
Translate
|
The site goes through up and downs, sometimes many images are posted and critiques written in a short period and other moments things really slow down. Even the moderators are subject to moments were they post more and other moments were they seem to have abandoned the site. Well, let me tell you that latter has never been the case and never will occur. Even if our ‘real’ life imposes us time constraints we still work continuously on the site.
I believe that you deserve an update of what is going on in the background. Just as you are concerned about the low numbers of participant and voiced it several times at different forum threads, so are we. There were many suggestions coming from members in what should and could be done to improve the traffic and number of new members. The next features that are already in the pipeline are:
Email alerts once daily providing information about received critiques and replies, received workshops, discussion thread in forum. This will allow you to stay tuned with what is happening with your PF account.
Search capability of images by country, state, city, specific place, etc.
Travelogue which will allow you to edit a whole series of images and bundle them accordingly to a trip that you did to some special place and you want to share the story with its highlights and tips.
Series which will allow premium members to upload up to 10 images at once which will have a particular point of view. For example: I did a series of images by studying a certain rock during a year with different light conditions and weather conditions. Posting one image after the other would just bore everyone, but posting it all at once will provide a 10-angle view on a single topic.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and tagging shall finally give PF the ability to be captured by search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. I do not think that I have to explain in detail what the importance of this element is.
New graphical presentation of the site with clear clues of what the purpose of PF is. We hope that we will get through all these topics until the end of 2011. Obviously we would love to have them all done at once yesterday, but that is just not realistic.
One more thing! PF’s server is quite often down. That is a problem with the provider and we are working to improve that. In the meantime be patient and understanding. The actual provider guarantees us being up 99% of the time which isn’t bad, but not good enough either.
P.B. |
| |
|
04/05/2011
Translate
|
Hello everyone!
We have just launched a new feature, the INTERNAL MESSAGE SYSTEM (IMS).
As the name of the feature says, it`s an internal message system.
This means that you are able to receive messages always when logging in, and to send messages any time when logged in.
* To initialize the IMS feature to yourself:
1 - Proceed to your Profile page (My Menu >> My Account);
2 - Check "Yes" button in "Allow Contact?" (otherwise you won´t be able to send neither receive messages)
* To SEND a message:
(Let´s assume the receiver member has allowed contact)
1 - Go to the receiver`s profile page and click the link "Contact me";
2 - Write your message and click "Send".
* To RECEIVE/REPLY to a message:
1 - As soon as you are logged in, a darker layer with a list of new messages will appear in your screen;
2 - To reply to the message, just click on "more details" and you will be forwarded to the message´s page.
3 - Click "Reply", write your reply and click "Send".
If you check a message as "Mark as read", the reply does not appear in the alert overlay at the next time you are logging into the site.
If you want to reply to your messages later, just navigate to My Menu >> My Messages (Sent/Received).
IMPORTANT NOTICE: the IMS is intended to offer a fast and reliable means of communication among members. It`s NOT an on-line chat. Thus, you will not receive a new messages alert while you are already logged in (browsing or writing comments/texts in the forum), but you can any time check your messages by navigating to My Menu >> My Messages (Sent/Received). The new messages alert appears only at the moment you are logging into the site. We recommend to check the received messages as soon as you log in.
If you don´t find the "Contact me" link in the receiver`s profile page, it means the member doesn`t allow contact.
***
We hope you like this new feature. Enjoy!
I. A. |
| |
|
March 25, 2011
Translate
|
Dear friends,
The THEMES feature is already online, and it is available to every member, then you can create your themes and organize your photos.
HOW TO CREATE A THEME:
1- ADD NEW > THEME
2- choose > PERSONAL or GROUP
3- type the title of your theme
4- type what you want to gather in the theme
5- press > SEND
IMPORTANT NOTICE: the theme will be visible to others right after you add the first photo to the gallery.
***
ADDING THE FIRST PHOTO TO A THEME (either PERSONAL or GROUP)
1- open the photo you want to add
2- under the FILE INFORMATION BOX click on > ADD (title of the photo) to MY THEMES
3- click on > ADD TO THIS THEME
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The first image of a theme will always be added by the creator of the theme through the MY THEME option available in all pictures in the gallery.
***
ADDING ANY IMAGE TO A GROUP THEME
1- open the image you want to add to a Group Theme
2- click on > ADD (title of the photo) to THEMES and you will be forwarded to ALL THEMES gallery
3- you can either type the title of the theme or scroll down and find the theme you want to add the photo
4- once you find the theme, click on ADD TO THIS THEME
***
We are doing our best to create a nice website, so any comments is always welcome. Please write to contact@photofolia.net
Enjoy the THEMES feature.
Best regards,
Photofolia
Zeca |
| |
|
March 1, 2011
Translate
|
It seems to me that the new features uploaded recently are now working fine and that the major hiccups were corrected. That means that the admins have time to focus on the creation of additional features to be implemented ASAP. The webmaster is already being instructed and we got an estimate. So, things are in the middle of a process. However, I prefer not to give any estimates when these features are coming out. In my humble opinion estimates are most of the time wrong and at the end the general feeling is that things are stagnated and they really are not. The admins are extremely happy with the new webmaster who has shown a high level of professionalism, dedication and commitment!
OK, enough bla-bla-bla. You might be itching to know what these features might be. Right?
- SEO: Stands for "Search Engine Optimization" which will turn PF more friendly to search engines such as Google, Bing, etc. and provide more contact to the outer world and entice people to join the party.
- Themes: Will allow each of us to start collection of images (own images and images of other members) to be collected in one folder/ gallery with a title and a note explaining the purpose of the collection. Some members are already coming up with an initiative to use this for a monthly contest. This will allow to make the site more dynamic.
- Favorite images and favorite photographers: We already have this feature, but it needs and urgent facelift.
- Internal communication capability: Several members mentioned that they would like to communicate with other members other than through the critique, reply and forum. It will be like an internal email system.
- Search capability of images by location: An example makes this easy to understand what it is. You would like to find all pictures posted from the Yosemite National Park at PF. Piece of cake ... there will be a catalog system like North America >> USA >> California >> Yosemite National Park and there you have them all in a nice gallery.
- Upgrading the browse capability through the general gallery and the photographers gallery starting from the large version of a posted image: There are pointing devices at each side of a main posted image which leads you through the portfolio of the individual member. We will an additional pointing system which will allow you to browse through the main gallery. It will facilitate to go from post to post through the main gallery, instead to switch from the main image back to the gallery and than clicking on the next thumbnail.
- Oh, I almsot forgot one more thing. Right now the critique, reply and forum systems have different sequence in the chronology of the writing. This will be unified so that the entire site has consistency in its presentation. Every entry will also have a complete date and time stamp.
- I did not forget the suggestion to make graphical changes to the site to make the look more sexy and intuitive of what this site is all about. This will take some good thinking and that means time!
I hope this all makes sense to you and make no mistake, once these are done we already have a whole set of additional ideas of what comes next. We are thrilled and excited to keep the site coming up with constant new features during this entire year. We hope this will make it easier to get new member joining the site.
PB |
| |
|
February 26, 2011
Translate
|
The News that are no so new anymore ....
I am sure that everyone must have noticed by now that we have new features since last week. Those are:
- Workshop - First, you will only be able to do a WS once you wrote a comment for the original image. A special element about this WS is that people can actually download the original image (as usual) and than also the RAW version which gives more options to do a comprehensive WS. You do not want to download the RAW? Perfectly fine, this is not mandatory. You can even block the WS possibility completely and in that case no one will be able to download your image.
- Retrieval of password - I lost count on how often the admins received a desperate email of a member that forgot his/her password. It was always a huge scrambling to retrieve it. Those times are over. Forgot your password? Not a problem. Go at the right upper corner and initiate the process to get your password right away.
- Critique and reply system revamped - That was one of the very first things that members asked when PF was launched 1 year ago. Finally there it is, although I have to confess that I am still not completely satisfied. Critiques, replies and forum threads have to be consistent in its sequence and all of them are supposed to have a full date and time stamp. I hope that this will be resolved pretty soon.
- Your image at your intro - Several people already started to make use of it and that is nice to have a ‘reference’ to the person at the other side ... This image will at some point also be used to appear in the Forum.
- Online payment for Premium membership - Yes, it is true. Now you will not need to run to your bank to buy Dollars and send it to some obscure P.O. Box in Albuquerque. Regardless if you have a PayPal account or not, you can pay it with debit or credit card online. For those that think badly of PayPal you still can use the snail mail.
We have a great confidence that PF finally found the right webmaster to work with. The next load of features is already in the pipeline and I just ask for some little patience until you see it creeping out of the pipe.
Actually, there are three things that we would love to ask you to support the site to make it grow and turn into a respectable place. Invite photographer friends of yours to be new members, be regularly active with new posts and critiquing others work and finally do a step in your commitment with the site - sign up to be a premium member to access the new features and to support financially the existence of the site and for us to be able to continue with its improvement and get out regularly new features.
PB |
| |
|
December 28, 2010
Translate
|
Dear Friends,
2010 was the year to put PF on the map. Not everything went exactly as we intended during our long planning which started mid last year. We started our first steps February 2010 and we are extremely glad that all you jumped onto it and STAYED! We thank each of you and a special thank you goes to Dan and Lasse that did remarkable contributions for the functioning of the site at quite critical moments.
Starting mid of this year 0f 2010 and especially to the end we encountered some major problems that did hindered us to continue the development of the site. However, after some intense searching we finally were able to have a new webmaster that is already working on the features:
- online payment of the Premium annuity,
- workshop,
- your picture in your intro, and
- an overhaul of the critique and reply system as suggested by several members.
The new webmaster is a fully and professionally dedicated website firm with which we have a contract to finalize these features by the end of January 2011.
In the meantime PF’s admin is working already on the next features to be implemented once the above are completed. Please have a look at the forum were you can actively participate and determine which features are most important for you and which you would like to see here soon.
The PF admin says Bye-Bye to 2010 and hopes to start with you for a better site experience along 2011.
Isabel, Peter, Zeca |
| |
|
November 21, 2010
Translate
|
We are in the process of implementing two new features at PF. Both are linked to the upload page. These features allow the site to pull up the EXIF automatically and it allows you to mark the exact location of your POV in a Google map by either placing an "X" or the GPS location. Lasse (ellello) was so kind to create these features for us, but for some reason we had at least one member that was not able to upload his photograph under the new website script. It seems that this might be an Internet Explorer browse issue and linked to 'Active X' software. We decided to give a try anyway and if this issue comes up with you too we suggest you to first empty your cache and than try it again with the upload of your image. If you are still encountering the same problem despite clearing the cache we would like to hear from you as soon as possible so that we can work on a solution of the problem and give you the benefit of these two new cool features.
P.B. |
| |
|
November 6, 2010
Translate
|
Dear Friends!
You might have noticed that there have not beeb any new features as well as corrections of already existent features for quite a while. The admins were not satisfied with our webmaster's work anymore and we had to take some tough decisions regarding this problem.
In the meantime we have been interviewing several candidates that will develop our site in a professional manner. We believe that in 4 - 6 weeks we might have completed this phase of selecting the right candidate(s).
As our immediate plan we intend to tackle:
- Workshop, and
- Google Maps.
Followed by enhancing already existent features such as:
- Favorites, so that the elected images will be identified as such in the main gallery,
- Critique box to appear as an integral part of the page and not as a writing box,
- Hyperlinks to show up by being underlined,
- A tab for all images that received a critique from the Critique Group, as well as a random image and its critique on the index page,
- Corrections of some functions and graphical aspects of the site,
- Online payment for the premium membership.
Once this phase of consolidation is finished the next steps are:
- Overhaul of the intro,
- Statistics,
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO),
- Search and filing capability of images by localities.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns that you would like to share with us.
Yours,
Isabel, Peter & Zeca |
| |
|
September 19, 2010
Translate
|
You might have already read several in-depth critiques at this site. They are not there at random: both commentator and photographer belong to the recently created Critique Group (CG).
The 'game' works like this: Every week each member receives from the Admin an email with the link to a photo of another member of the CG. For now the Admins are in charge of matching images and commentators. (Yes, the surprise element is part of it!)
The commentator has one week to look at the image carefully and write down a feedback. In the next week another email, with a link to another image from another photographer will be in your mail box. Conversely, every week one of your images will receive special consideration from a photographer of the CG.
Above all, commentators and photographers should abide to the following:
Being the commentator:
- Look at the photo to be critiqued with respect;
- Read the note carefully;
- Consider the title given to the image as part of the presentation;
- Give as many detailed feedback with regard to the note;
- Give as many detailed feedback with regard to composition,
light management, frame, sharpness, that is, any aspect you thinks is relevant to the image;
- Provide feedback regarding impressions/visual impact the image caused on you.
- Suggest improvements, or what you would have done differently. Suggested improvements and what you would do differently is NOT necessarily the same.
- If you have limited English skills, feel free to comment in your preferred language. If commentator/photographer do not share the same mother language, you should read a comment very carefully; Google translator or similar automated translating tools provide quite often very funny interpretations. It is better to double check with each other what the real meaning of some critique/ comment, before some unfriendly exchange between the commentator and the photographer pollutes PF's atmosphere.
When you are the photographer:
- Receive the comments with respect;
- Consider the changes suggested as a mean of improvement;
- Look at what the commentator would have done differently as an enrichment of your own abilities as a photographer
- Give the commentator some feedback and if necessary, enlighten doubts
- Read a comment written in a different language than your own with care and avoid any second guessing of what the commentator is trying to say.
At first sight the list looks rather imposing. However, it was meant to be a guidance for the photographer and the commentator and it is open for suggestions and improvements. Each member who feels at ease with the idea and wants to be part of the CG should send an email to contact@photofolia.net with the title "Critique Group". We would like to invite you to be part of this important feature which defines a lot the paths this site will follow.
If you feel compelled to write and discuss this initiative you can do so by going to the Forum and leaving their your note.
Hoping to hear from you soon!
I.A. |
| |
|
August 18, 2010
Translate
|
You might be asking yourself what these little stars after some members name are. Right?
Why do few members do have a little star and the other majority does not?
Some members opted to get a Premium account and these are the ones that have that little star behind their names.
There are multiple advantages to have that type of account. Just have a look at the previous news dated 08/10/10 and you will understand it. Got interested? Send us an email and your annual contribution to our P.O. Box and you will be a proud owner of the Premium account in less than 72 hours!
P.B. |
| |
|
August 10, 2010
Translate
|
We have great news! The very much anticipated Favorites is implemented and integral part of the site. We are still working on minor tweaks to make this feature even more convenient.
You will notice at the bottom of each post two options:
- Add “post’s name” to “My Favorite Images”, and
- Add “photographer’s name” to “My Favorite Photographers”
By clicking on these links you will add the image and/or the photographer to your list of favorites.
You are not able to see these links? That might the case because you are not the proud owner of a Premium account.
We are working on the final details so that every member can subscribe to a Premium account. You will have the option to do this transaction automatically online or to send us the annual subscription fee via snail mail. Latter is already active. Some members already made use of it. Send us the annual fee of US$ 25 (cash) to:
Photofolia
P.O. Box 95401
Albuquerque, NM 87199-5401
At the same time send us also an email to contact@photofolia.net letting us know that you want a Premium account and we will switch your membership manually right away.
The advantages to make this switch now are:
- Unlimited number of images that you can post in your gallery,
- you can write unlimited critiques every day,
- no ads to pollute the layout and images,
- gallery of favorite images (unlimited images),
- gallery of favorite photographers (unlimited photographers),
- and support this site financially to make it move forward and better.
OK, there are many more features to come and enrich the premium account in near future. We are convinced that an annual contribution of US$ 25 (less than 0.07 cents/day) will make a real difference in how you will “work” at PF every day.
P.B. |
| |
|
August 7, 2010
Translate
|
You might have noticed or not, but we have a new feature on the site. Go to any posted image and look under the file information. You will see after the location a link to a map. Click on it and a new page with google map will open and show the location of where the shot was taken.
Neat, huh?
Unfortunately the map will only be as precise as the person was at the moment of filling in the location. This is easier if a shot was taken in a city. You can choose to write the number of the house, the name of the street, city and country. The mark in the map will be precise.
Things will be a little be more complicated if you are in the wilderness. If you are for example in a natural park the name, the state and country will only give an approximate.
In future this feature shall have the possibility for each of us be able to put the mark himself/ herself right in the map or even the GPS coordinates.
P.B. |
| |
|
July 6, 2010
Translate
|
It has been quite a while since we came up with some news. That does not mean that we are not working on the site to improve its presentation and functions constantly. There are two major changes to happen very soon. One is the Premium account to allow members to go beyond 120 posts as well as all the other additional features that are part of this account. One of these Premium features is almost ready to get started – we are talking about the Favorites so you can mark your favorite photographers and favorite photographs.
You might have already noticed that the logo of the site underwent a small change. The old one was nice, but several members expressed real concerns with its proximity to another photographic site that gave the origins to Photofolia. We are curious to hear from you how you identify yourself with the new logo. Shoot us an email with your thoughts!
P.B. |
| |
|
May 27, 2010
Translate
|
…. and here we are again with the latest news! FINALLY, the much anticipated forum where members can exchange impressions, ideas, thoughts, etc. with each other, besides the notes, critiques and replies that are exclusively bound to a specific post.
In the forum you can write about travels, cultural events, photographic gear and so much more. Instead of telling you all about it we recommend you to just skip this bla-bla-bla and go straight to the forum and find out what it is all about … but WAIT!!!!!
There is one more little thing that needs to be said before you go there. The forum is the first place of this site that has ads. We believe that we do not have to give long explanations of why we have ads at our site. The admin team paid for the entire site out of their own pocket and at some point the site needs to find its own sustain, otherwise the admin will go broke :-(
So, the ads are there to be used and not only to be perceived as nuisance. They should help to sustain the site’s existence!
The ads will slowly but surely show up on all pages of the site. We promise that we will keep them discrete and as little intrusive as possible. If you don’t like them at all you will soon have the possibility to sign up for a Premium Account and there you will never ever see them again. This account will be our next feature to be implemented. Wait and you will see!
OK, now it is time to dive into the Forum --> click here!
P.B. |
| |
|
May 24, 2010
Translate
|
You might have noticed or not, but since today the site has a “green site” seal at the right bottom of every single page. This means that our site is 100% powered by Certified Green Renewable Energy Sources. For more details on the issue we recommend you to click on the seal and read about it.
We are extremely proud of this new feature, if I may say so; and we hope that you can share this feeling with us!
P.B. |
| |
|
May 23, 2010
Translate
|
We are back with News! ;-)
... and this time it is a little bit better than the one of yesterday.
We have from now one a backup plan in case the server goes banana and corrupts all our archives again. This is great!!! The less good thing is that the backup goes back up to 24 hours, so depending on when such major serverquake (I guess I just created a new word) might happen the worst case scenario would be all data lost up to 24 hours back. With luck it will be less, somewhere between 1 minute to 24 hours.
We hope that this gives you enough comfort, confidence and trust in our site. We really try to care most to what you post and do here at Photofolia.
We again apologize for the loss of your valuable account openning, posted images, written critiques and replies!
P.B. |
| |
|
May 22, 2010
Translate
|
This is the kind of news that we would like not to have to place here, but unfortunately it is a reality that we had to face today. Our server had some quite worrisome technical problems. It corrupted all our archives and we had to put the site out of air for about 3 hours. Once things were solved and restored we were shocked to find out that all posts, critiques, replies of the last 72 hours were lost.
We are still debating with the server what protective measures we can do to avoid any similar happening in the future. Just the fact that we are having that kind of discussion is bothersome and we might need to do some major changes regarding our server if this continues to be an issue.
Nevertheless, we really apologize to all of you that posted images, wrote notes, critiques and/or replies over the last 72 hours and don’t see their images and writing here anymore; and we particularly apologize to those that opened a new account here at PF and can’t find their account here anymore. We certainly will work hard to prevent or even better avoid such meltdowns in the future.
We honestly hope that our next news here will be of much better nature compared to this actual one!
P.B. |
| |
|
April 7, 2010
Translate
|
It is time to celebrate! Two months ago, on February 7, PF went from beta to public. The site got since than a very supportive, enthusiastic and addicted community. The images that are posted daily here are of excellent quality and representing almost the entire spectrum of photography. Photofolia’s image databank has already almost 1,000 images posted by 136 members. The administrators of this site want to thank every single member for their participation. The existence of this site turned only possible due to your support.
Thank you!
Moments of celebration are at the same time also moments of introspection. One of our major concerns right now is the site’s financial viability. You probably already noticed the bars with the phrasing (Google ads here). The phrasing is absolutely right. Very soon our site will get “dirty”. Ads will compete with our shots and to make it possible that we won’t have that kind of intromission we very soon will also have the Premium account with a yearly fee of US$ 25 (7 cents/day). Signing up for this account will give you back a site without any ads as well some additional very valuable features. We hope for your understanding on this difficult and sensitive issue.
Our further future plans just around the corner include as next features a forum, the workshop capability as well as favorite image and favorite photographer. We obviously have many more features to be created in future and we receive almost daily emails from members with additional great suggestions. We take them all very seriously.
Guys, we are just starting. Don’t forget that we are celebrating 2 months of existence and not 2 years :-).
P.B. |
| |
|
March 28, 2010
Translate
|
Of the 5 new items promised 3 weeks ago we got one done - the threaded replies. It works wonderfully, although some details will need some improvement, but hey it works and it is a step forward to make this site better and better. This new feature will allow the members a better exchange in their discussions regarding the posts and critiques!
The other 4 items (forum, members pic in the intro, location of the post and minor change in the graphical appearance of the main image page are almost ready too.
As next we will have a critical step for the further existence of this site. Yes, we're talking about MONEY and we are talking about ads and the Premium account. Remember that the regular account is free, but with some restrictions and to have the full advantages of the site you will have to sign up for an annual fee of US$ 25. In other words 7 cents/ day. We hope for your understanding, but it can't be that the administrators of this site carry the sole financial responsibility of the fun.
P.B. |
| |
|
March 23, 2010
Translate
|
A little bit more than 2 weeks ago we commented here that one of the many things that needs to be taken care of urgently is the sharpness of the posted images. Several members were complaining that their work was not as sharp as their original images on their PC's. Those guys were hard core - they didn't want to post anything until the sharpness issue was solved.
The issue was taken care of!!! You can familiarize yourself with the new instructions at the upload page or at the FAQs page.
We kindly request you to report us if you have the impression that there is still some problem with the sharpness of your posts!
P.B. |
| |
|
March 6, 2010
Translate
|
We have now roughly 1 month of activity here at PF. More than 100 members already joined the site and posted close to 550 images. The many BIG bugs that we faced at the beginning are resolved. The critique and reply system is working without any major flaws. Finally! There are minimal things that are being corrected, like the backslashes whenever you use quotations.
There are many other details that are being re-studied and will have a solution ready in very short period. These items are the loss of sharpness at the moment of uploading the image; breaking the given and received critique pages into a total of 20 thumbnails and notes to provide an easier browsing through all the comments; changing the fonts of the title and author for the thumbnails; and other small graphical aspects of the site.
The next big steps in improving our site are 5 new features to be implemented over the upcoming weeks: forum, threaded replies that will allow a third person to participate at a discussion, the member’s picture in their intro page, a data bank to enter the exact location of where the posting photograph was shot, and finally some graphical improvements of the page that shows the posted image with its EXIF and your note.
Once this is done the next big project will include advertisement and the premium account to alleviate the administrators from the heavy expenses that were necessary to make the whole Photofolia project take off and will be necessary to keep it going and improving the site over the months and years to come.
If you have any suggestions or critiques concerning any of these topics mentioned above we beg you to let us know by contacting us at contact@photofolia.net. We will always be listening very closely to what you have to say.
P.B. |
| |
|
February 18, 2010
Translate
|
Through messages we get from members it is clear that there are issues with the usability of the critique system. It isn't intuitive enough and sometimes bugs still appear. So we are are revamping the system now (including the capability to have a multi stage discussion) and examining the code to permanently root out the last bugs. We will of course keep you posted!
B.H. |
| |
|
February 8, 2010
Translate
|
........and the last major bug is done away with also!! When you write your critique you should not use “Enter” to switch to a new line. Instead use "Shift + Enter" and you will be able to always see your text once submitted and you also will be able to re-edit your text at any given moment. The same goes for writing the text that goes with your photo. It might sound a tad complicated, but once you understood it you will see how easy it actually is! This is obviously a work-around, so we're working on a solution that enables you to use "Enter" again without complications.
We did the move of the site that we talked about yesterday - it is on its permanent location now: wwww.photofolia.net!!
B.H. |
| |
|
February 7, 2010
Translate
|
Our bug extermination bonanza has paid off! Helped by the detailed fault reports we got from you guys, two nasty problems have been solved. The site accepts both comments and replies without a glitch now. The only remaining major bug is that critiques can only be read under the image via My Critiques > Given. And of course we’re still working on that and keep you posted.
After reaching this milestone we feel confident about the operational usability of the site and in a few days move it from its beta server address (www.photofolia.net/index.php) to its permanent address (www.photofolia.net). This will be transparent for you – we’ll use a redirect.
Some members reported a slight drop in the sharpness of the posted images. We’re looking into that. For the time being it’s advisable to post as close as possible to the 800 pixel limit (width) and sharpen the image (again) after resizing.
B.H. |
| |
|
February 3, 2010
Translate
|
We are still battling some bugs! Mainly the unknown factor that makes some critiques disappear once they are written and send. The same applies to the replies of critiques. The webmaster is working on it but still to find the reason for this flaw.
Roughly one week after going live we already have more than 50 members signed in and many are quite regular in their posting with outstanding images, writing notes and critiques. We have a pretty good feeling where this site is heading and its potential.
All these members are not only taking ownership of this site by posting, but also by writing us frequent mails with suggestions, critiques or just to thank for the existence of the site.
Guys, we are taking all your input very seriously. The list of suggestions is growing daily and we will work to implement these as we come along. Just remember, it will take time. The administrators of this site are very dedicated to what we are doing here, but we all have our real life professions. This site is being done in our time off.
P.B. |
| |
|
January 31, 2010
Translate
|
One of our members (Wandering Dan) a real savvy computer programmer found the error in the script that was responsible for the sign-in bug. After correction in the script we got one bug less to care off.
This isn’t just a great step into the right direction but also shows what this site is all about. Photofolia is our site and it will get step by step a better place by its pro-active members. Dan, thank you very much!!!
P.B. |
| |
|
January 25, 2010
Translate
|
|
Photofolia went live with its Beta 2.0 version. Some members joined right away, but we also realized very soon that we were dealing with some serious bugs. The biggest is during the sign in process.
P.B. |
| |
|
|
