Dear all,
 
Happy New Year; we hope you had a pleasant holiday break! Welcome to the 
Janaury 2008 newsletter, our regular update on developments at Third Light and 
news about changes and improvements made to the IMS product. This month, we 
have updated the IMS slideshow function and made several improvements to the 
popular drag-and-drop lightbox feature.

We'd like to take the opportunity to answer a frequently asked question. In 
October we mentioned that new features in the user interfaces would require use 
of the new template themes. For example, the updated printing checkout released 
in December needs the latest templates, and the new slideshow released this 
month also needs the latest templates. If you are still using a pre-October 
2007 theme then most of these changes are not displayed on your site. For 
further details please click here: October 2007 Newsletter.

Features mentioned below will be released on 10 January 2008.

Please follow the instructions at the end of this email if you prefer not to 
receive our newsletters.

Updated Slideshow Feature

IMS now has a brand new slideshow feature, which provides a modern and 
attractive way to view pictures one by one.

Clicking the slideshow button will open a page with a scroll bar to control the 
position in the album, and a "slower, faster" selector to control the rate of 
the slideshow. The slideshow no longer requires a page refresh between each 
image: each picture will be displayed in turn, with a fade transition. Forward 
and reverse navigation, and a pause button, are also included.

Editing, pruning and deleting collections

IMS provides features to create collections and lightboxes. These are ad hoc 
collections of images which behave like albums, and are personal to the user. 
These features are therefore especially helpful when non-admin users are 
preparing a selection of images for purchase, or when staff wishing to gather 
images together for a project need to create a container for their files.

These functions have now been updated, to make it easier to prune files from a 
collection or from a lightbox. Users can now delete collections and download 
requests they have created, while administrators and users alike can now take 
files back out of a collection by clicking the yellow "minus" sign next to any 
image.

As a result of these changes, users are less likely to click the red cross 
(delete) function. It is also now possible to withhold the more powerful 
picture editing privileges while still allowing use of the lightbox and 
collection tools.

History Notes enhancements

On IMS Corporate Appliances, one of the most popular functions is the ability 
to annotate images with History Notes. These allow record-keeping and tracking 
of each file's history - especially valuable when working in teams or between 
remote offices. History Notes also allow detailed tracking of downloads.

IMS History Notes are now even easier to use. We have enhanced the user 
interface so that when "Add new note" is clicked, a form scrolls down 
instantly, without reloading the page, and the note can then be entered and 
saved with immediate results.

Additionally, ZIP downloads now require history notes, as per other downloads.

Miscellaneous Changes

1) The GST tax rate for Canada was reduced by 1% on 1 January 2008. 
Accordingly, Canadian IMS installations now implement 5% GST. Other taxes (PST, 
HST) in the Canadian provinces are unchanged.

2) It is no longer possible to delete a file which is required for the 
fulfilment of a print order (eg. blocked orders, orders in progress). This has 
been done to ensure that all orders can be fulfilled smoothly.

Web Design Assistance

As we focus on the technology and software behind IMS, we are unable to provide 
help with web design and branding issues. If you need help implementing a 
particular look and feel, then we recommend making contact with Siftware, our 
web design partners, who will be able to help you. For more details and prices, 
please see:

http://www.siftware.co.uk/services/ims-integration/

Feedback
 
Every feature of IMS is based on your ideas and feedback. We keep a thorough 
record of all feedback and aim to implement the features that are most 
requested as part of our development plans. Simply email 
features@thirdlight.com to send us your comments. For support questions, please 
use the Help menu support tool, as this allows us to track your queries and 
answer questions more efficiently.
 
Seasons greetings,
 
Third Light Ltd.
http://www.thirdlight.com/