Dear all, Welcome to the June 2009 newsletter, our bi-monthly update on developments at Third Light and news about changes and improvements made to the IMS product. Please follow the instructions at the end of this email if you prefer not to receive our newsletters. Features mentioned below are free of charge, and will be released to subscriptions sites on 10 June 2009 and via an Appliance update in July. IP address Changes The IP addresses used by Third Light will change this month, as part of a upgrade to increase the available network capacity for our services. This change will not involve downtime and will only affect customers who have directly referred to our existing IP addresses when directing domain name records to Third Light. Domain records configured as per our instructions in the Integration Notes will not be affected; we will email you in good time if we suspect your DNS records need to change. Right-Click Menus in IMS (new) IMS will soon include right-click menus in the administration console and user interfaces. Right-clicking on albums, Smart Folders, Collections, Users and Groups will bring up a contextual menu containing choices of common actions. These menus will allow convenient navigation, speeding up administration and making everyday tasks quicker. Right-clicking on an album will display options to edit, delete, create a sub-album or upload files. Right-clicking on a user will allow you to edit the user's settings and permissions. Thumbnails and files in the lightbox will also include right-click features, again with relevant options such as edit, delete, rotate, add/remove from lightbox or download. Right-click menus will be activated on 10 June on all IMS sites, and will be released in a forthcoming update to IMS Appliances. Additional Features For Non-Admin Users (IMS Appliances) One of the main distinctions between subscription packages and IMS Appliances is the ability of non-admin users to participate in administering an IMS site. For example, the Desktop Upload Tool allows users to create and edit albums and upload files directly to only that part of the library to which they have access. These features are now also incorporated into the users' web browser interface, meaning that users may create, edit and delete content, where permitted. Options are included to control the scope of changes that a user may make, for example whether or not they are able to edit other user's albums and files, or only their own. Users with extended administration functions are designed to work effectively in departmental groups, where some users may be nominated as managers of the image library for their department. For advice on how to get started, please feel free to email support@thirdlight.com and we will be happy to help. To use these features your IMS Appliance must use the latest IMS templates, which will happen automatically if no conflict would be created with any other changes you may have made. FTP Uploads Accelerated, Sub-Folders Preserved During April and May, a number of improvements have been launched related to the FTP service in IMS. As a result of these changes, the following improvements are now in place: Completed FTP uploads are detected and processed in less time; Outbound FTP tasks tied to auto-FTP upload accounts now trigger more quickly; If sub-folders are uploaded via FTP then IMS will retain those sub-folders and create the equivalent structure of albums in IMS. Lastly, IMS will indicate on the Uploads -> FTP Uploads page if an FTP account is currently logged in. This is intended to help avoid inadvertently processing files from an account when an FTP upload is still being performed. Select Boxes Across Multiple Pages (new) When browsing albums in IMS, thumbnails are paginated according to your preferences to keep the overall page size manageable (often around 20 thumbnails per page). However, IMS also uses checkboxes against thumbnails to facilitate editing and downloading multiple files using the toolbox above the thumbnails. To support this, from 10 June, IMS will retain checkbox selections when browsing between pages. A small text message will be displayed to indicate how many files are checked on other pages and the toolbox icons will act upon all checked files, even if they are not on the page being viewed. Quality Bar (new) In order to express the quality of an image visually, IMS now provides a tool called the Quality Bar; a sliding scale changing from red to green that is linked to the area of the source file in megapixels. The Quality Bar appears on the Picture Console and is enabled from the Site Options -> IMS Functionality menu. It is possible to choose the number of megapixels that should correspond to the centre of the quality bar from the same page. Set this value lower if you wish to increase the quality ratings of smaller source files. Tip: JPEG files cannot obtain the highest quality rating, regardless of size, in an attempt to recognise inherent compression losses in this format. Embargo Date For Images (IMS Appliances new) The ability to set an embargo date on files has been added to IMS Appliances. An embargo date is the earliest date that a file may be accessed, commonly used in the context of press releases. This feature is in addition to the existing expiry date feature. If a file is accessed before its embargo date, or after its expiry date, users will see a red warning banner and download functions for the file will be disabled. To set an embargo date or expiry date, edit any file and go to the 'Other Actions' tab where the date selections are available. Pictopia Update Pictopia have reverted print production back to their San Francisco lab, effective immediately, and ceased printing in London. We apologise for this change in the third party printing services available through IMS. Our advice to Third Light customers is to use Pictopia where orders are primarily being delivered to customers in North America. However, particularly for UK and EU orders, production in London by our other printing partner, PhotoBox is likely to be faster. Minor Changes or Bug Fixes We have made a number of small adjustments to IMS as follows: Files within Collections can be displayed in a random order. This is particularly useful for randomising the display of Signature Photos on your front page. The new sort order for thumbnails is available when creating or editing collections. History notes, if enabled, are now required when emailing files as well as when performing downloads. Larger images in slideshows: The size of the images used in IMS slideshows is now the full preview image size. "Collapse all" button under trees: In order to easily close all open albums on the Manage Albums page, a "collapse all" button has been added at the bottom of the page. This function is also available in other places where large trees are used. Feedback and Referrals We operate a referral scheme to reward any existing IMS customer who directs a new client to us. If you know of a business that would benefit from using IMS, please make an introduction - we'll provide a period of free use on your account if they buy one of our products. 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. With regards, Third Light Ltd. The Digital Asset Management Specialists http://www.thirdlight.com/ 'Third Light' is a trademark of Third Light Ltd. The contents of this newsletter are Copyright © Third Light Ltd and may not be reproduced without written consent.