Dear All, Welcome to the November 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 released a new system which allows the sign up forms in IMS to be totally customised, with the information captured being available for review or export from within IMS. We have also released a range of small changes and improvements. Features mentioned below will be released on 10 November 2008. Please follow the instructions at the end of this email if you prefer not to receive our newsletters (unsubscribe). User Registration Process now configurable Many IMS sites incorporate sign up forms for new users. By default, IMS registration forms have contained a fixed set of questions (such as username, password and supplying supporting information). These forms will shortly be replaced with a new and improved system. From 10 November, the registration process is fully configurable, can include your own questions and form fields, and all responses are stored within IMS for later review. The new system is accessed in two parts. Firstly, the registration forms are configured in the Configuration -> Registration Forms menu, and secondly, the responses input by users are accessed in the Reporting -> Registration Data menu. When configuring the registration forms in the Configuration -> Registration Forms menu, the full range of web browser input types is available. For example, text boxes, pull-down menus, checkboxes and radio buttons can be used to create a specific set of responses, or allow free text answers to your registration questions (eg. "Sign up for our newsletter?" might be a checkbox). It is also possible to make fields compulsory in the registration process. To get you started, the Configuration -> Registration Forms menu will use the existing registration page as a starting point. To test user registration forms, you can either enable the 'Request Account' button on your login screen via the Configuration -> Site Options -> Front Page Options menu, or link directly to /requestaccount.tlx on your IMS site. Once at least one user has signed up, you can review the reporting functions via the Reporting -> Registration Data menu. A feature also exists to export the information via CSV, so that it may be reviewed and analysed in a spreadsheet. It is necessary to use the latest templates to use the new registration forms. If you have customised your sign up forms or are using an older theme, you will need to ensure your theme is updated to our current defaults should you plan to make use of the new system from 10 November onwards. Otherwise, the old system will continue to work indefinitely. School Mode IMS can be placed into School Mode for the purposes of restricting users to only some, not all of the images. It does this by filtering on a code number supplied by the user which identifies the images to show. This mode is designed to help in business models where a unique identification of an image links it to its intended buyer. In this case, IMS can prevent other images from being seen at all, making it suitable for school photography where each child has a unique number for their own photos. For example, browsing albums or searching can be locked out. Documentation has been added to the Integration Notes on how to use IMS in 'school mode'. The Integration Notes may be downloaded at any time from the Help menu in your IMS site, or from http://www.thirdlight.com/support. Miscellaneous Changes The following changes will be live on 10 November. 1) References to images using HTTP when in the checkout stages of a purchase (HTTPS) are now correctly linked via HTTPS to avoid mixed security zone warnings in Internet Explorer. 2) The emails used when sending attachments are now templated. If you wish to customise the emails, the new template is emailpictureemail.tpl. 3) The performance of the View Statistics page has now been significantly improved on large sites. The performance of IMS when deleting albums has been improved, with further updates due to be released next month. 4) IMS now includes a more obvious "please wait" message when generating derived downloads. 5) On IMS Appliances, users can now create collections. This feature was temporarily removed in September 2008 when IMS Groups were first introduced. 6) Deleting an album which contains sub-albums now deletes the album and all of those sub-albums. Previously, only the album clicked would have been deleted. 7) The Java upload tool (Browser Uploads) has been updated to cope with incompatible changes introduced by Sun Microsystems in Java SE 6 update 10. This change will be picked up automatically when using the Browser Uploads page. 8) IMS print order emails now include all attributes of the order, such as crop/fit and black and white (as well as any other properties relevant to the product). You must use the latest templates to see these changes. If you have customised your templates for printorderadminemail.tpl, revert this template to the default template to ensure you receive these changes. Web Design Assistance As we focus on the technology and software behind IMS, we do not provide web design or branding services. If you need help implementing a particular look and feel with the IMS templates, then we recommend making contact with Siftware, our web design partners, who will be able to help you. For more details, please see: http://www.siftware.co.uk/services/ims-themes-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. With regards, Third Light Ltd. http://www.thirdlight.com/