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Automatic Image Resizing

Author: Geoff B.
03/23/2010

We have added a new feature to the site which will automatically resize your images to fit within the visitor's browser window.

This feature works with the portfolio styles that use the pop-up display, such as the contact sheet style, staggered styles, and styles that use the contact sheet plus description.

Using this feature allows visitors to see your images in a single view, without scrolling, regardless of the size of their monitor, and regardless of the size of the image you have uploaded.

In some cases, this offers a better presentation of your images. You can enable or disable this feature through the "image layout" section.

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Notice For Google Apps Users

Author: Geoff B.
02/03/2010

Hi,

This just in from Google... if you are using analytics or webmaster services, these changes may effect you:

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In order to continue to improve our products and deliver more sophisticated features and performance, we are harnessing some of the latest improvements in web browser technology. This includes faster JavaScript processing and new standards like HTML5. As a result, over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 â€‹as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.

We plan to begin phasing out support of these older browsers on the Google Docs suite and the Google Sites editor on March 1, 2010. After that point, certain functionality within these applications may have higher latency and may not work correctly in these older browsers. Later in 2010, we will start to phase out support for these browsers for Google Mail and Google Calendar.

Google Apps will continue to support Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above.

Starting this week, users on these older browsers will see a message in Google Docs and the Google Sites editor explaining this change and asking them to upgrade their browser. We will also alert you again closer to March 1 to remind you of this change.

In 2009, the Google Apps team delivered more than 100 improvements to enhance your product experience. We are aiming to beat that in 2010 and continue to deliver the best and most innovative collaboration products for businesses.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,

The Google Apps team

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External Link Page Type

Author: Geoff B.
12/08/2009

We have added a new feature to the pages section which allows you to link directly to an external website or url from your main navigation bar.

You can find this new page type under the pages section, under the "create new page" button.

You can use this to link to external sites, an email address, or anything that can be linked in a hypertext anchor tag.

Many more features are in the works - stay tuned!

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HTML Homepage within Design Option

Author: Geoff B.
12/01/2009

Hi,

We've added another new homepage style to our list of options today.

The new design option allows you to create an html based page within your choice of website design. This allows you to have a blank page, which you can fill with any content or images that you wish, similar to the previously introduced "freetext" homepage option.

The major difference with this design option is that it allows you to retain the navigation, header, and style elements of your chosen design, as well as giving you the flexiblity provided by the previous free text option.

Many, many more options, new designs and features will be launched soon. Stay tuned!

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Creating a Facebook Fan Page

Author: Geoff B.
02/10/2009

Facebook has become one of the most popular social networking websites on the Internet today.

In this article, I'll illustrate how to take advantage of the "pages" feature to promote your website and your work.

In addition to another venue for promoting your work, there is a significant search engine ranking benefit to having external links to your website (as discussed in one of my previous articles). Given the popularity of Facebook, the "pages" feature is one that you should consider taking advantage of.

Facebook also allows you to integrate certain features provided by ImpactFolios. We'll cover this in this article as well.

To start, log into your Facebook account (or create one, if you haven't already), and then visit the pages section on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
The first step is to select the type of page you are creating, which in our case would typically be under "Artist, Band, or Public Figure", and the "Visual Artist" option.

You'll also want to give your page a name. The page name should generally be your name, or the name of your website. Click the "create page" button.

Note that your page will not be available until you publish it, so you can create your page and have it ready before it is available for public viewing.
Next, you'll be shown a preview of your page, which at this point will be relatively empty. Click on the "Edit Page" link, found on the upper right menu.
Start by filling in the sections under the "Information" heading. Your information is broken out into the following categories:
- Profile Picture - This is the picture that appears on the page view of your site. You can use a logo, a sample piece of art work, or some other image.
- Basic Info - Primarily details your contact info and location. Location may link to a map to your studio or the location that you list. This is optional.
- Detailed Info - This section includes personal info, such as a bio. Additionally, you have an area to list your website. It is particularly important to list your website address in this section, as it gives "fans" a link to your website, and also has some search engine ranking benefits.
- Contact Info - Your email address.
After filling in the basic information, you have a variety of features available under the Applications section, including image upload, Discussion boards, Events, etc. You can add and remove any of these applications, as desired. Of particular interest is the Notes section, which you can integrate with your blog at ImpactFolios, so that it is automatically updated any time you post a new blog. To set this up, click on the pencil icon in the "notes" section, and click edit.
On the next page, you'll see the "notes settings" section on the right side of the page. Under this, there is a link to "Import a Blog". Click this link to setup your blog import.
On the Blog Import page, you'll see an area for a web url to your blog. The feed for importing to Facebook is slightly different than the feed provided on your blog itself. The easiest way to obtain the blog url is to visit the blog on your site, and copy the URL. In my case, the link to my blog is:

http://www.gvbfineart.com/page122.htm

You'll need to add the following code at the end of the url:

?rss=1&nolimit=true&longtext=true

Thus, the final feed url would be:

http://www.gvbfineart.com/page122.htm?rss=1&nolimit=true&longtext=true

If you are having trouble figuring out your feed url, send us an email, and we can provide the link for you.

After pasting the URL, check the box consenting to Facebook's terms, and then click "Start Importing".
The import process may take a few minutes, depending on the size of your blog. Once the feed has been processed, you will be presented with a preview of your blog. Scroll down to the bottom and click "confirm import". After this point, all existing blogs will appear under the "notes" section. New blog posts through ImpactFolios will be added to Facebook automatically.
You can continue editing and customizing your page, until you are ready to publish. When you are ready to publish, click the "publish this page" link, typically found at the top of the page view, or in the edit view. You can still make changes to the page after it is published.
Once you have published the page, you can promote it by sending a message to friends on your contact list.

You can also promote your facebook page by linking to it on your ImpactFolios website. The link created by Facebook is a bit cryptic and hard to remember, so to make it easier to remember, we can create a shortcut alias for you through ImpactFolios.

In my case, I have setup the alias http://facebook.gvbfineart.com so that it links directly to my Facebook page.

Creating this alias is not something you'll be able to do yourself, but we'd be happy to set it up for you - just send us an email!
Facebook provides some statistics on traffic to your page, new fans, and other data. You can find this under the "View Insights" link.

Below is a sample view of the final page, complete with fans, events and a populated notes section:

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Bug fix: Slideshow order

Author: Geoff B.
11/19/2008

We have corrected a bug which would randomly re-order some images in certain slideshows.

If you have been effected by this bug, go to the slideshow manager and organize your images in the desired order, then save.

After doing this, your images will appear in the correct order again.

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New ImpactFolios Site Launched

Author: Geoff B.
09/16/2008

Today we launched a new design for the ImpactFolios corporate site.

Over the course of the week, we will be making a few additional changes to the design and structure of the site. Ultimately, this should result in a more usable and friendly experience when visiting the ImpactFolios website.

Any issues or suggestions, please contact us!

Thanks,

Geoff B

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New Slideshow "clipspring" available.

Author: Geoff B.
09/08/2008

We've launched another slideshow option for your homepage.

This slideshow, titled "clipspring" is a bit different than the other slide show option.

With this option, all images in your slideshow are shown at once, cropped to smaller vertical slices, and resized to the same height. When a visitor moves their moves their mouse over a slice, the image will expand to its full size.

This option works best with 6 to 8 images.

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Two New Flash Image Layouts Available

Author: Geoff B.
09/03/2008

We've added two more flash layouts for your image sections today.

The first, (Horizontal flash slideshow #2), is similar to the flash layout that we launched earlier in the week. This slideshow features a top-oriented thumbnail bar, rather than one that runs on the bottom. This may be more user-friendly for certain designs.

The second new design features a pop-out contact sheet style view for your thumbnails. When a thumbnail is selected, the contact sheet will retract, and well show a smaller selection of thumbnails in your portfolio. This is a good layout for portfolios that contain a lot of images, or for use in designs that have a smaller viewing area.

Thanks for everyone's feedback and suggestions this week!

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Flash SlideShow Intro Availble!

Author: Geoff B.
09/02/2008

Today we've added a feature which allows you to add a flash slideshow to the homepage of your site.

The slideshow uses a crossfade effect to transition between images, and will size to fit within your design without scrolling.

To add images to your slideshow, visit the portfolio containing the image you wish to add in the account management section. Next to each image in your portfolio, you will see a button labeled "add to slideshow" press this to add an image to your SlideShow.

Next, you can enable your slideshow by going to the "SlideShow Manager", found under design options. Here you can select your slideshow style (either "No Slideshow" or "CrossFade", for now, but more options are coming soon). You can also re-order the images in your slideshow through this section.

The slideshow works with all designs and homepage options, with the exception of the "HTML" home page option.

More features to come!

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Blog Archive:

Automatic Image Resizing - 03/23/2010

Notice For Google Apps Users - 02/03/2010

External Link Page Type - 12/08/2009

HTML Homepage within Design Option - 12/01/2009

Creating a Facebook Fan Page - 02/10/2009

Bug fix: Slideshow order - 11/19/2008

New ImpactFolios Site Launched - 09/16/2008

New Slideshow "clipspring" available. - 09/08/2008