Zenfolio News

Order and sell custom postage stamps, password-protect original file downloads, enhancements to the embeddable Slideshow.

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:00:00 GMT

While we continue to work on the exciting release on track for the end of this year, we wanted to get these few features out before the holiday season.

We are excited to announce a new partner on the Zenfolio platform: PictureItPostage by Endicia. This new vendor allows you to order customized USPS Postage stamps in almost any denomination with your favorite image. These are large high quality stamps and they will look great on a holiday card or a wedding or baby invitation. You can give personalized stamps as special gifts, and Zenfolio Premium users can sell stamps with their own markup. Photos must comply with the USPS allowed images guidelines.

You can see the list of all available stamp products in the PictureItPostage product list. These products are available in US Dollars only.

Password-protecting original file downloads

We know many of you have been asking for this feature, and we are happy to make this available. You can now keep the photos public and only give out password for downloading original files to those few who need them. The password assignment is under the Access Control | Image Protection tab, and there is an optional password hint.

Enhancements to the embeddable Slideshow

Responding to your requests, we have added the following enhancements to the embeddable Slideshow:

The option to Auto-start. Once enabled, the Slideshow will start playing automatically as soon as it is loaded in the browser.

Ability to have transparent background and no border. This makes it easier to integrate with any site background.

Ability to hide both the top bar and the bottom controller bar for a simple and clean presentation.

Other Enhancements:

New and updated online Help. It will become searchable very soon.

Added a special Print button to Order Details pages to make them more legible when printed.

We are now using USPS and FedEx URLs directly for tracking order shipments.

Improved visibility of the default Print Ordering settings by displaying them in the Main Area of the Edit View.

Esc key can cancel Add to Cart popup window to save time.

Added a new subcategory: Sports > Triathlon.

We are now focusing on the next major release scheduled for the end of the year. This release will include Theme customizations and new Home page layouts.

Zenfolio helps you be more social, batch downloading of original files, drag-n-drop sorting is here!

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:00:00 GMT

This latest update helps connect your photos on Zenfolio with social networking sites such as Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter.

By uploading photos to Zenfolio once, you can then use the new Export feature to move selected photos to your Flickr or Facebook accounts. Export allows you to select destination albums/photosets, privacy settings, as well as apply a branded watermark that can be prepared just for this purpose. For example, you can have your logo placed in a corner of every image at 100% opacity during export to Facebook while keeping your original files on Zenfolio untouched.

We have also renamed the 'Send Link' button in the Visitor View to Share to reflect that in addition to viewing all the provided URLs, you can now quickly share photos with friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter. You will also find this ability to share in the Edit View, so go ahead and get "social" with your photos!

Drag-n-Drop Sorting of Photos

We know many of you will love this feature. You can select one or many thumbnails in the Edit View and drag them into a new location. This makes manual sorting as easy as doing it on your computer. We were also able to eliminate thumbnail pagination from the Edit View and replace it with a scrollbar and dynamically loading thumbnails. This works faster and allows you to quickly drag photos into a new order no matter how many photos you have.

Other Enhancements:

Thumbnails in the Edit View display a small W icon in a corner if watermarks are applied to make them easy to identify.

You have voted and we delivered: visitors and photographers can batch Download Original Files from an entire gallery/collection. Visitors access this feature from a photo overlay menu, if enabled by photographer, by moving their mouse over any large image. Photographers can also access this feature from the Edit View under Photo Actions. This is in addition to the Zenfolio Downloader tool available to account owners.

E-mail addresses are now optionally collected while leaving photo comments and guestbook entries to make it easier to reply.

Added new subcategory: Sports > Watersports > Surfing

The Shopping Cart received a small facelift by having Paper types, Framing and Mounting, and other options more discoverable.

Worldwide shipping with Photobox UK-based lab, sell globally in multiple currencies, use PayPal for order checkout, and embed slideshows of your photos on other sites

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:00:00 GMT

We are very happy to announce a new print partner available on the Zenfolio platform: Photobox. Photobox print lab is based in the UK and has production facilities in Ireland, London, Paris, and several other locations throughout Europe.

Photobox offers a range of print sizes on Fuji Crystal gloss and matt papers, as well as specialty photo products. To enable Photobox products in your account, click Edit in the Print Ordering section of the Toolbox and tick the checkbox next to it. All Photobox products are available for shipping anywhere in the world, excluding US and Canada, which are served by the Mpix lab.

As part of this announcement we are very happy to introduce support for multiple currencies on Zenfolio. This multi-currency project has been in the works for many months and represents a major leap in photographers' ability to service customers globally.

This means that you can immediately start selling Digital Products and Custom Products in 18 currencies:

Australian Dollars	Singapore Dollar
Canadian Dollars	Swedish Krona
Euros	Danish Krone
Pounds Sterling	Polish Zloty
Japanese Yen	Norwegian Krone
U.S. Dollars	Hungarian Forint
New Zealand Dollar	Czech Koruna
Swiss Franc	Israeli Shekel
Hong Kong Dollar	Mexican Peso

Our partner products are now available in several currencies; you can see specific prices listed in the corresponding product tables:

Mpix products are available in USD and CAD
Photobox products are available in GBP and EUR
IYP products are available in USD, CAD, GBP, and EUR
fotoflōts are available in USD, CAD, GBP, and EUR

NOTE: we have made sure that nothing has changed for the current US based customers in regards to their prices and price lists; it is business as usual.

Details relating to using multiple currencies

Price lists can contain products in multiple currencies, you will need to first add a new currency tab to your price list and then add products to each currency separately.

Digital Products do not belong to any one currency and can be added to any currency in your price list.

Each Custom Product has a currency it belongs to. If you would like to offer the same custom product in several currencies, you need to define new custom product per currency and then add it to a corresponding currency tab in the price list.

Coupons and Shipping Methods are also set up per currency. You can use the same coupon code across coupons in different currencies.

The balance for each currency is maintained independently in your Zenfolio account. Payouts are available to request via PayPal in the specific currency, if you have a balance in it.

For more detailed instructions on how to configure and sell products globally on Zenfolio please refer to the Guide to Selling Globally on Zenfolio.

Service Fees for non-US Currencies

Orders placed in currencies other than the USD have the following service fee rates applied:

Products fulfilled by Zenfolio partners:	15%
Digital products (downloads):	10%
Custom products created and fulfilled by you:	5%

Shopping Cart Improvements

Customers are now able to use PayPal as a payment type for order checkout.
Added PayPal Express Checkout
Using account balance during checkout is now optional
You can now select between three payment methods during checkout:

Account Balance
Credit Card
PayPal

Sales Tax

There is now a separate Sales Tax page under SELLING to configure tax rules for your orders. When you specify sales tax, it will apply to partner-fulfilled orders as well as your custom orders. Sales tax can be setup per state or per country. There is an option to apply tax to shipping charges as well.

Sales Reports

Sales reports have been redesigned to make them more useful and easier to read. In addition, a new Taxes report was added showing sales taxes and/or VAT broken down by country.

Embed a Slideshow of Your Photos on Other Web Sites

By popular demand, a Flash-based embeddable Slideshow is now available under MORE RESOURCES. You can create a standalone slideshow from any gallery or collection in your account in almost any size, and then post it to any Web site that allows including objects. This is similar to embedding a YouTube video. Adding music to slideshows is coming in the next release.

Other New Features and Improvements Include:

Introduced two new Themes: Baby Boy and Baby Girl.
Premium users: there is now a way to disable displaying Best Fit in the Add to Cart window. If you force cropping in your price list to be Centered or Fit, Best Fit will be disabled.
Option added under Customizing Visitor View > Options to hide pagination from thumbnail pages and force all thumbnails to be loaded all the time.
Added new Subcategories:

Sports > Skating > Roller Derby
Sports > Skating > Figure Skating
Sports > Skating > Speed Skating
Sports > Jump Rope
Transportation > Fire Department
Architecture & Structures > Temple

Search field styling was updated on all Visitor View pages, it is now rounded and more elegant
The popular software program Photo Mechanic now offers built-in support for uploading photos directly to your Zenfolio account

Collect Payments for Custom Products through PayPal, New Price List Features, Added fotoflōt Products, and New Themes

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:00:00 GMT

We know that many of you have been waiting patiently for the ability to collect payments for custom orders you fulfill yourselves. With this release we have added the ability for you to use your own PayPal account in the Shopping Cart so clients can pay you directly through a seamless Checkout experience.

We have also lowered the service fee for self-fulfilled custom orders to 4% (down from 6%). Combined with the new option to use your own PayPal account for collecting payments, Zenfolio now offers the most complete solution for both photographers wishing to fulfill their own orders and those who wish to use Zenfolio print partners.

Adding External Web Site as a Custom Home Page

We have studied carefully how many professional photographers integrate Zenfolio into their workflow and came up with an innovative way of making Zenfolio an even better client proofing site.

Premium users now have a choice of adding an external portfolio web site in place of the Zenfolio Home page. Your Display Name and the Home link on all your pages will take viewers to an address determined by the preferences you set. You will find this feature in the Preferences of your Premium account.

Price List Improvements

Price Lists can be printed neatly using the special Print function

Ability to export Price Lists in CSV format compatible with Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheet programs

Full control over the sorting order of items presented in the Add to Cart window using an easy to use drag-and-drop interface. Give this one a try, the simplicity of rearranging items cannot be overstated.

Introducing New Vendor: fotoflōt

We have added fotoflōt as a new vendor to the Zenfolio E-Commerce platform. Photographers are now able to sell frameless fotoflōt prints by setting their own prices and making a profit. fotoflōts are innovative products printed on real photographic paper, bonded to hard acrylic surface, and laser-cut to size, resulting in extremely precise edges. They come with innovative magnetic mounting hardware for displaying on your desk or hanging on a wall. Try ordering one and you will be hooked!

See the complete list of available fotoflōt products and prices.

Announcing Integration with the Eye-Fi Cards

We are very happy to announce that you can use the Eye-Fi cards to upload wirelessly to your Zenfolio account from any Wi-Fi enabled location. The Eye-Fi card stores photos like a traditional memory card, and fits in most cameras. When you turn your camera on within range of a configured Wi-Fi network, it can wirelessly transfer photos to your Zenfolio account. Learn more about the Eye-Fi cards.

Other New Features and Improvements Include:

Introduced two new Themes: Romantic and Vintage

Availability of the Express Send to Zenfolio third-party tool for Windows. Installing this tool on your Windows computer allows batch uploading of photos and folders by using the 'Send to Zenfolio' menu on right-click.

Added "Best Fit" option to the Add to Cart window to help customers make the best selection from available product sizes based on the aspect ratio of the selected photo.

The Zenfolio site is now fully compatible with the recently released Internet Explorer 8 web browser. If you are still using the Internet Explorer 6 browser, please consider upgrading. The new versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox are much faster and more secure than IE6.

Added the ability to save a Free shipping method for custom products. This is particularly useful if you are personally fulfilling and delivering orders, and there is no need to charge for shipping. Setting the shipping price to 0.00 automatically displays FREE in the Shopping Cart.

New Mpix products and services

We continue to bring you the benefits of our partnership with Mpix as they make available new products and services:

added 20"x20" size print in all paper finishes
added magnets as a new product in two sizes: 2"x3.5" and 3"x4.5"
added a two-sided acrylic key chain product
Lustre coating is now available for Metallic prints
introduced tracking numbers for USPS Priority Mail and USPS First Class orders. This is really big as customers are able to track and get delivery confirmation on all shipping methods with no additional charge.
5"x5" and 5"x7" size prints in quantities under 50 are now eligible to be shipped using the inexpensive USPS First Class mail service. All small size prints up to the size of 5"x7" can now be shipped using this economical method.

Introducing Digital Products, say hello to friendly links, updated reports

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:00:00 GMT

We know many of our Premium users are looking forward to selling digital downloads on Zenfolio, and they are finally here!

With the introduction of Digital Products, photographers have the ability to define almost any downloadable product with custom licensing terms, at any price. Here is what is included:

Four standard licenses, provided by Zenfolio
The ability to create your own custom licenses by modifying the sample licenses or pasting in your own licenses
Many image size options to choose from including your own custom dimensions
Create a digital product with fixed image dimensions. A cropping tool will become available in the Shopping Cart so users can crop based on defined dimensions. A good example of this would be creating iPhone wallpaper which has to be specific dimensions.
Create almost any product available for download, including original full size files, desktop backgrounds, Web avatars, iPhone wallpapers, etc.
Zenfolio charges a 8% service fee, which is one of the lowest fees in the industry
Order e-mails are sent to photographer and clients when the order is placed, with links to the download page
Photographer can still review and approve orders, including uploading new files and making cropping adjustments, if needed
Zenfolio stores downloads for 30 days
Customers can download individual photos, or a complete order as a ZIP file

To learn more about how to create and offer digital products, refer to the Guide to Digital Products on Zenfolio.

Redesigned price list editing

The new price list editing pages are many times faster than before and allow you to manage many products easily. As part of this redesign we have introduced separate formulas for each product category including a dedicated formula for framing and mounting. Look for more more related features coming soon including export to Excel and printing.

Friendly URLs

You can now use plain words to create easy links to group, gallery, or collection pages (such as http://demo.zenfolio.com/weddings). You can use letters, numbers, and some punctuation including dash '-' and a slash '/'. This works with custom domain names as well.

Updated Reports

We have overhauled the Reports to make them more consistent and easier to understand. We've added a Summary report and a Coupons report under SELLING > Reports. The Summary report makes it easy to view high level financials for any time period. Coupons are now accounted for everywhere in the reports.

Additional Visitor View page customizations

New setting in Customize Visitor View > Options provides the ability to hide the path to the Gallery/Collection/Group (also known as breadcrumbs) displayed at the top of a Visitor page.

Private paths no longer display in breadcrumbs on Visitor pages allowing you to create "branches" in your organizational hierarchy. This really helps keep visitors focused on specific galleries or groups. For example, if you have a private group in the middle of a path to a gallery, the path leading to that group and the group itself will be hidden from your visitors.

"Publish to Zenfolio" plug-in for Windows Live Photo Gallery

Released a plug-in to export to Zenfolio directly out of Windows Live Photo Gallery. If you are not familiar with this product from Microsoft, it is a free application used for managing and previewing photos on your Windows XP or Vista system.

Other feature enhancements

In addition, the following enhancements were released:

Streamlined Account Statement with mini summary reports for each order sold
Added easier access to links from the Edit View
In the Add to Cart window we have renamed 'Back to Categories' to 'Back to All Products' to help navigation
By popular demand from our forum members, added a new subcategory: Artistic > Picture a Day (PAD)

New Mpix products and services

More canvas gallery wrap sizes available from Mpix:

8"x10" $55.00
10"x10" $55.00
10"x20" $75.00
10"x30" $90.00
16"x16" $80.00
16"x24" $100.00
20"x20" $105.00

Photo Comments and Guestbook are released

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:00:00 GMT

By a special arrangement with Santa, we are very happy to bring you the Photo Comments and Guestbook functionality in time for the holidays. We know some of you have been waiting for this feature for a long time, and we apologize for taking so long.

Photo Comments and Guestbook Features

This is a fully functional implementation and includes the following features:

Available Guestbook allow visitors to post messages on your Home page as well as any group, gallery or collection. Photo Comments are associated with individual photos.
Photographers have full control over allowing or disallowing photo comments or a guestbook for any group, gallery, collection, or individual photograph
Ability to allow Public (for anyone), Private (for photographer only), or both types of comments and guestbook entries
Control over non-registered users leaving comments
New E-mail Notification Preferences which control how often you are notified when new entries are posted to your pages. Options include sending immediate e-mail (default), daily, or weekly e-mail digests.
A new comment browser makes it easy to read all the comments attached to photos in a single gallery
Photo comments offer special tools including suggesting alternate cropping or bringing attention to a specific area of a photo
Entries can be edited or deleted later by registered users
Photographers can customize how much presence comments are given on photo pages, including the display of the Last Comment left

By default, all current users have this feature turned OFF. If you would like to enable it, select the item you would like to apply this to in the Organizer (such as your home page or a specific gallery), then click the Edit link in the Access Control section of the Toolbox. You can enable both Photo Comments and the Guestbook under the Comments tab in the Access Control window.

Other feature enhancements

In addition, the following enhancements were released:

Your own page views will no longer be counted by Google Analytics when you are logged in
Theme selected for the Visitor View is now displayed in the Edit View (listed in the Cover Photo section of the Toolbox)
Improved photo Title and Caption alignment for photo layouts with a centered image

New Mpix products and services

We continue to extend our integration with the Mpix Lab:

New 24" x 36" print size which was made available a few weeks ago from Mpix.
This print size is available in E-Surface Color Paper finish only, and it is possible to add double-weight backboard, foam core mounting, and Lustre coating to it during checkout. No frames are available for this large size print.
Added 4"x8" custom blank greeting cards.
You can print greetings with your own design by applying it to this full image card
It is now possible to mix prints of the same size with mounting and framing services in the same order, this saves on shipping charges
Lustre coating service was added for greeting cards, magazine covers, and other specialty prints

Our next release will include selling digital products, which we have been working on concurrently.

Support for Google Analytics, new Eco Theme, larger thumbnails, more Mpix products and frames, and many more improvements

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:00:00 GMT

As promised, we are working hard on having more frequent feature releases. This release was supposed to be a small update but we kept getting more features completed and tested so now we have a pretty big update rolled out.

Support for Google Analytics for visitor tracking

We have added support for Google Analytics to collect detailed visitor statistics. You can find the new Visitor Tracking page under the PREFERENCES menu. This is available for all Zenfolio plan levels.

Google Analytics is a free tool that allows you to collect aggregate information about visitors to your Zenfolio pages, such as the number of unique visitors over time, their location, length of visits, and much more. For more information about Google Analytics visit the main Google Analytics home page.

Introduced a new Theme: Eco

We have a new Theme designed called Eco. This design was inspired by clean air and green leaves. We hope nature lovers will find it particularly suitable for nature photography.

Sorting of photos is now "sticky"

We have been wanting to change how photos and galleries are sorted for a while, and this is finally here. Now the sorting criteria you select for a gallery or group is going to apply all the time, no longer do you need to resort after uploading new photos. In the process we have also fixed a bug where sorting of sequentially numbered files was not consistent with desktop sorting.

New Mpix products and services

We continue adding support for more Mpix products:

Three new print sizes: 8.5"x11", 9"x12", 12"x24"
Wall Clings products, all sizes
Three new square Standout sizes: 8"x8", 10"x10", 20"x20"
New foam core backboard mounting

Brand new Frame Editor with support for new frames and options:

Sixteen (16) different frames available for all print sizes
Frames can be ordered with an actual overlaid mat in two colors: white or black
Frames can be ordered with no glass, standard glass, or non-glare glass

Also note that we had to rename matboards to backboards to eliminate the confusion with the framing mats introduced as an available option.

Larger 200px thumbnails

By popular demand, we are introducing a large 200px thumbnail size. Photos uploaded after September 12th, 2008 have this new thumbnail size available immediately. Photos uploaded prior to September 12th, 2008, will have this thumbnail size generated the first time it is accessed, which may take a few minutes.

Current users need to explicitly select this new thumbnail size under Customize Visitor View > Options when looking at the Home page or Group and Gallery pages. There are three Auto settings there now:

Auto 1 (Small and Medium) – this is what we had in the past, and this continues to be the default for your pages
Auto 2 (Medium and Large)
Auto 3 (Small, Medium, Large)

New features and improvements:

It is now possible to include a Password Hint for password protected items. You will find it in the newly redesigned Access Control window.
New coupon type "Discount to base prices". Using such coupon during Checkout will change product prices to base cost. This has been requested by many users and is particularly handy when you have friends or family wanting to buy prints that are otherwise marked up. Can also work as a promotion for clients (Premium feature)
Focal length is added to short EXIF whenever available
By popular request the Login link in the Visitor View is moved to the footer when Zenfolio brand is replaced with your name under Global Preferences (Premium feature)
Increased the number of characters allowed in the gallery and photo captions (up to 10,000 characters) and in the About Me field (up to 10,000 characters). Titles can now be up to 200 characters long.
A notice is posted to your Home page in the Edit View if there are pending orders that need your attention (Premium feature)
Access Control window was redesigned to better separate items and make room for new items
It is now possible to view the actual password assigned to photos. This applies to all new passwords assigned after this update. Passwords assigned prior to the date of this update cannot be viewed, but they can be typed over.
If disabled by owner in the price list, the Cropping link will not be displayed in the Cart. Same for Color Enhancement and Color Conversion options. This eliminates any client confusion during Checkout (Premium feature).
New page under PREFERENCES called Upload Settings includes the option to copy file names to photo Titles for all future uploaded photos as a new default. This option is disabled by default, can be enabled.
There is a new page under MORE RESOURCES called Spread the Word, it includes information about using Zenfolio referral buttons with a referral code embedded in a URL. Several button designs are provided in two sizes each.
Better grouping of transactions in the Account Statement makes it easier to read them

Our next release will include user Comments functionality which we have been working on concurrently.

Improved visitor pages, many new products from Mpix, and more Premium features

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:00:00 GMT

This release includes many improvements to the Visitor pages as well as new products and changes from Mpix. Zenfolio Premium users will also find many new features related to customization and ordering.

In preparation for the upcoming release of the Comments functionality, we have rewritten all Visitor pages. Visitor pages now load much faster, navigate smoother, they are easier to customize, and include underlying support for the comments and other upcoming enhancements.

We have decided not to wait until the comments are ready, and release these changes to the site with many improvements that can be utilized right away.

There are many new options available for customizing Visitor pages now under Customize Visitor View > Options. With these options available, you can really make your pages clean and simple:

The ability to hide identifying icons, such as gallery/collection/group
The ability to hide access control locks for a cleaner presentation
The ability to display cover photo thumbnail in place of a group folder graphic. Many of you have asked for a better representation of a group.
Gallery/collection pages can display photo Titles below thumbnails. This makes it easier to select photos just by looking at thumbnails.
You can customize which fields are displayed under each thumbnail on all visitor pages

Other improvements to Visitor pages include:

The new Dim-the-Lights mode replaces Larger Image view, you don't want to miss this one. You can click any image to open it.
The Slideshow gets a Close button and an option to auto-show titles/captions
Featured section on your Home page now displays as many items as you add to it. It was only displaying two rows previously.
Keywords became clickable and result in search queries for your account. Long live tagging!

For a complete list of Visitor page changes, please read the release notes.

Many new products and services from Mpix now available through Zenfolio

We have been working closely with Mpix on adding many of their products and services to the Zenfolio site. With this release, the following products are now available for ordering to you and your customers:

Canvas gallery wraps (6 sizes)
Standout displays (6 sizes)
Puzzles (3 sizes)
Trader Cards (26 templates in several colors each)
Tickets (18 templates in several colors each)
Calendars (vertical and horizontal, three colors)
Button (round 3")
Greeting Cards (150+ templates, includes envelope)
Statuettes (2 sizes)

Here is the complete list with previews and descriptions. We continue to work with Mpix on adding their newest products, which should become available very soon.

Additional changes affecting ordering from Mpix are:

The ability to mix different paper types in the same order
Support for backprinting on the E-Surface Color paper prints. Premium users can find this option under SELLING > Selling Preferences
Shipping rates from Mpix are increasing by $1 across all shipping methods.
Specialty photo products include product configuration interface with previews and customizations

New Zenfolio Premium features

With a large number of print products now available on the site, we are introducing product Categories for easier Add to Cart navigation. Click the Add to Cart button in this gallery for a preview. Premium users can still enable "flat view" in their price lists, if desired.

One important change that we know many of you have been waiting for is the ability to hide vendor name from the Checkout flow, customer e-mails, and order packaging. This is now possible with all current vendors. Premium users can make this change under SELLING > Selling Preferences.

Other new features include:

Larger thumbnail size in the Cart with improved cropping notifications
Cropping window showing print-safe area
Updated order Approval page displays file names and allows changes to Color Correction and other settings. Time stamps now include seconds for sports shooters.

And last but not least is Premium users can request profit payouts using PayPal now. There is no fee for PayPal payouts, and the way we have implemented this, PayPal does not charge you fees, either. This is really a win-win situation for everyone.

For a complete list of all the features and improvements in this release, please read the release notes.

Updated product pricing pages and smaller image resolution requirements for the IYP Photo Products

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:00:00 GMT

We have updated the Prints & Products pages to include more details and make them easier to read.

We have also worked with the Imagine Your Photos company to lower the image resolution requirements for their photo products. You can see the new requirements posted on the updated page.

Availability of batch Photo Replace, VeriSign EV secure encryption, and ordering fotoflōt products

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Sat, 17 May 2008 23:00:00 GMT

It is now possible to Replace a Photo with an updated file while keeping the original links and metadata intact. You can do that for a single photo or as a batch operation for any number of photos at once. The interface allows to batch upload files into a separate gallery first to make it easier to replace a large number of photos, or upload new files directly in the Replace window.

Increased security with VeriSign EV certification

All pages on Zenfolio collecting sensitive credit card and personal information are now protected with the best SSL encryption technology from VeriSign.

VeriSign is the leader in SSL encryption and their Extended Validation (EV) certificates include secure transmission of information and verification of business identity. For more information about VeriSign EV certificates and benefits see VeriSign for Consumers.

fotoflōt your photos

In other news, Zenfolio and fotoflōt have teamed up to offer Zenfolio users an innovative way to display digital images. fotoflōts present photographs without glass, frames or mats using breakthrough digital imaging and mounting technologies.

Zenfolio members receive a special discount on all fotoflōt purchases. And the best part is that you can access your Zenfolio galleries and photos directly from the fotoflōt site by providing user name and password.

New fulfillment partner offering photo gifts, more products from Mpix, new features

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 09:00:00 GMT

Order T-shirts, Mugs, Key Chains, Mousepads, and More from a New Merchandizing Partner

We are happy to introduce a new fulfillment partner to the Zenfolio e-commerce platform. Please welcome Imagine Your Photos gift fulfillment company based in Miami, Florida. The IYP Photo Products company delivers the highest quality photo merchandising by using the latest imaging and transfer technologies on a variety of surfaces. You can find out more about the company and their products here. The new products are available immediately to ship anywhere in the world, and we will be adding more products from them over time.

If you are an existing Zenfolio customer, and would like to make available the new IYP Photo Products, you will need to enable them under the Print Ordering or add them to your price list.

Color Correction is Now ON by Default for Mpix Products

One of the best services the Mpix lab offers is the Color Correction service. An actual trained and experienced technician analyzes each image and makes subtle adjustments to ensure the best color reproduction, sharpness, and density. And the best part is that this service is included free of charge.

We have always offered this service from Mpix but it had to be explicitly selected in the Cart. We were so impressed with the results that it is going to be turned ON by default now. For those who do not care for it, you can still disable it in the Cart and in your price lists.

New Mpix Products

We are adding three new value products from Mpix. The three value sizes are 3.5"x5", 4"x5", and 4"x6" printed on Kodak Professional Endura E-Surface Color paper. The best part is that these prints are only 19 cents each. The new products can only be ordered with no color correction applied.

Several New Features and Fixes

This release also includes several new features and a number of bug fixes. Here is the list:

The ability to Copy one or many photos to another gallery instead of re-uploading
Groups, galleries, and collections can now be sorted by Date Created, Date Modified, and Title.
There was an intermittent problem while using the Firefox Web browser where some buttons did not always respond to user input. This problem is now fixed.
If you have IPTC Copyright field filled out in your uploaded photos, it will now correctly transfer and display next to your photos avoiding the double © symbol problem.
Many of you have told us that you want a link to the user forums to be available from the Edit View. We are happy to oblige.
Added three new subcategories for "Sports > Water Sports > Kayaking", "Sports > Water Sports > Rafting", and "Transportation > Spacecraft"

Infrastructure Upgrade

With this release we have significantly increased our storage and transaction capacity. A lot of work has been done behind the scenes to ensure smooth growth and scalability.

Zenfolio User Forums and Team Blog are now available

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:00:00 GMT

Please visit the newly released User Forums and bookmark them. With your help, we hope to make them a valuable source of information and a place where we can exchange ideas.

Zenfolio Team Blog will help us better communicate our thoughts and ideas about the service, as well as generate discussions around photography subjects in general. Please visit often and leave comments.

New Premium feature: review and approve orders before sending to print

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 10:00:00 GMT

Many Zenfolio Premium subscribers have been asking about this important feature: you can now select an option to approve orders placed for your photos before they are sent for fulfillment to a Zenfolio partner lab. That means that you can review and make changes to orders before they are printed.

Here is how it works:

When a new order is received, it is placed on hold, and you immediately receive an e-mail notification. You can then login to your account and review the order.
While you are reviewing an order, you can make changes to Cropping. You can see the original customer-selected cropping and make changes to it, if needed.
You can also replace the original photo files used in the order. This is particularly useful if you want to apply additional image processing but you only want to do that to the photos that are ordered, to save time. Or you may choose to initially upload low resolution files, and once an order is placed, upload high resolution files cropped for specific print sizes.
When you are finished making changes, click Approve, and the order will be submitted for fulfillment.

To select the option to have your orders approved first, open a price list from the SELLING>Price List page, and make the choice at the top. Don't forget to Save. This is also where you can edit the message displayed to your customers about the potential fulfillment delay.

We have also updated the upload protocol to make it more robust and resilient to file upload interruptions caused by fluctuations in Internet connection quality.

Gift subscriptions, updated Cart with no registration, and new upload tools

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:00:00 GMT

After a short break from getting the Premium plan released, we are back in the saddle. By popular demand, you can now give a gift of Zenfolio at any subscription level. Simply pay for a subscription and then send an e-mail with activation code to that special someone. Your billing information will not be saved in the gift account, and you get full referral discount (total value of $10). You can also use your account balance to pay.

Something else we have been working on for a while is a more streamlined Shopping Cart checkout. Registration is no longer required when buying prints and other photo products. While there are advantages to opening a free account during the checkout, the default option is to continue with a Guest checkout.

We have also improved Cart pages by removing information that was not needed, and by adding Ordering FAQ with answers to the most common questions that may arise during ordering.

Building up on the available Zenfolio Public API, we have two new upload tools available.

Apple iPhoto '08 Export Plug-in is an internal product featuring a streamlined interface to match the ease of use of iPhoto.
Export-to-Zenfolio is a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom that allows uploading photos to Zenfolio directly from Lightroom. This plug-in was developed by Jeffrey Friedl and it is available directly from his Web site. Please take a minute to leave a "thank you" note for Jeffrey for developing this very useful tool that we now use every day ourselves.

A small but useful addition is the ability to read the IPTC Copyright field from uploaded photos, and copy it into the photo Copyright field on Zenfolio. This happens automatically when you upload original photos.

Lastly, a small update to the way the Cart link is displayed at the top of Visitor pages. The Cart link is now displayed only if something was added to it.

Turn your passion into a business with the Zenfolio Premium plan

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 10:00:00 GMT

As many of you know, we have been hard at work on a new Premium subscription plan, and it is finally here. Big thank you goes to our Beta testers who provided the feedback and helped us put the polish on.

The Premium plan lets you create a fully-functional Web store with customizable look-and-feel and flexible price lists. Here are the highlights:

Create price lists of products by adding markups to base lab prices

The price lists can be assigned to individual photos or entire galleries. This process is completely transparent to clients, who experience the ease and simplicity of ordering prints and other products, and receive a package delivered directly from the lab.

You can use our partner labs or your own

In addition to fulfilling products through Zenfolio partner labs, photographers have a choice of creating and fulfilling their own custom products. Zenfolio Premium subscribers can offer products fulfilled through any lab of their choice, or they can print photos themselves.

Apply custom Watermarks to photos for extra protection

Create and assign custom watermarks with full control over placement and opacity. Supported watermark file formats include JPEG, TIFF, GIF, and PNG with transparency. Original uploaded photos are not watermarked so they can be used for ordering prints.

Replace Zenfolio logo and name with your own

For additional visitor page customization you can replace Zenfolio logo and links with your own name to make it look more personalized. This powerful option makes the site look yours with a click of a button. Combine that with using your own domain name and you have a branded Web store with all the benefits of Zenfolio under your name.

Use Coupons for extra marketing help and promotions

You can create your own coupons including percent-off and amount-based discounts with expiration dates, specified number of uses, and order minimums.

Detailed sales reports

Review and download detailed sales reports compatible with any spreadsheet program. Reports include Orders, Products, Customers, Coupons, and Photos based on any time period and sorted any way you want.

Unlimited storage with individual file uploads up to 24MB each

Zenfolio Premium plan subscribers can upload files up to 24MB each to support super large print sizes. And, of course, there is no storage or bandwidth limit.

Pricing

The Zenfolio Premium subscription plan is priced at USD$100 per year. Until December 31, 2007, current and new users can sign up for the Zenfolio Premium plan at the special discounted price of USD$80 per year. This special price will stay with you for as long as you remain a subscriber.

For orders fulfilled through the Zenfolio partner labs, there is a service fee of 12% which includes credit card transaction fees and customer service. For custom orders fulfilled and charged by photographers directly, the service fee is 6%.

Try before you Buy

All current Zenfolio users, including Basic and Unlimited subscribers, will have access to all the Premium features until November 30, 2007. This allows you to try before deciding to upgrade. NOTE: if you do not upgrade by November 30, the Premium features will be automatically removed from your account along with any related items you create during the trial, e.g. watermarks, price lists, custom products.

Three new Theme designs, updated Print Ordering controls, and file uploads up to 12MB each

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 10:00:00 GMT

This is a small update as we get ready for the rollout of a new Premium subscription level.

The Premium subscription plan will include more professional features such as offering products for sale at custom prices, creating and applying watermarks, and a complete front end to order fulfillment. It should be available as soon as we are finished hunting down bugs.

In the meantime, current users can enjoy these new features:

Three New Themes

They are really worth checking out:

Museum – tasteful accents on dark background bring the right amount of attention to details without distraction
Bricks – dark and edgy, this theme is great for B&W and street-scene shots. What's on your brick wall?
White Sand – clean and airy, this light-colored theme is like a day in a desert

Completely redesigned Print Ordering controls

It is now a lot easier to control which galleries and photos are allowed to be printed, as well as to manage which Zenfolio partner lab should be doing the fulfillment. If you are not into making your photos available for printing, just select your Home page in the Organizer and confirm that "Do not allow print ordering" option is selected.

You can now access Slideshow directly from the Edit View while working on organizing your photos (this is for you, fishpix).

Lastly, we have increased the file size limit for uploads to 12MB per file to accommodate the latest swell in camera sensor sizes.

Zenfolio Downloader, EXIF in generated images, and miscellaneous updates

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 10:00:00 GMT

Small update was released today. The main additions are:

Zenfolio Downloader is a free tool based on the Zenfolio Public API making it easy to download back original full size files previously uploaded to your Zenfolio account. It is very easy to use and it makes your Zenfolio account a true backup solution. Download it here.
EXIF information in generated images. Some of you have been waiting for this for a while, and it is finally here. The resized display images generated for your uploaded photos now include the same basic EXIF metadata as the original files, including shooting information, camera make and model, copyright field, and even the IPTC Copyright, if present. It will take a couple of weeks for the system to index all previously uploaded photos, but all newly uploaded photos will have this available right away.
An e-mail notification is now sent to you when you earn referral credit
It is now possible to add or move photos from one collection to another collection as a batch operation

Additional bug fixes and small improvements are also part of this update. Here is the complete list:

'Clear formatting' option was added to HTML-editing fields
An option for links to be opened in the same window was added to HTML-editing fields
More robust handling of files with color spaces other than sRGB
Fixed a problem with using double-quotes in IPTC keywords
Introduced support for non-Roman UTF-8 keywords in IPTC
Fixed a problem with left and right quotation marks not being recognized as IPTC keywords
API: included a way to sort photosets and change the position of a photo in a photoset
API: included support for searching of the most popular and recently added items
Updated Help section with custom domain name configuration instructions
Added Recommended Sites section under FREE TOOLS

Many new features and enhancements from user feedback

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:00:00 GMT

This latest release includes almost exclusively the features and enhancements requested by our users. Some of the requests were so popular that we were getting questions about them daily.

Here are the highlights of the new features:

It is now possible to include clickable links and formatted text in captions and descriptions. No HTML knowledge is needed, all the formatting is done using visual rich-edit tools similar to the ones found in Microsoft Word.
It is now possible to assign cover photos to Groups. A new design of group icons was implemented allowing the assignment of any of your photos as a cover. Or you can leave the default icon – your choice.
You can subscribe to RSS or Atom feeds for Recently Added and Featured items, as well as for any gallery or collection
Searching individual user's photos is now the default search from all visitor pages. Search can also be completely turned off.
A new option under Access Control allows you to specify what is added to and displayed in your Recently Added list of items
Ordering your own prints can now be done directly from the Edit View

For a complete list of updated items read the release notes.

Public Zenfolio API is released

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 10:00:00 GMT

Public Zenfolio API is made available for third-party development of software applications, plug-ins, utilities, and tools interfacing with the Zenfolio service.

The Zenfolio API provides outside developers with the same features and functionality of the Zenfolio platform used internally for our own development. The Zenfolio API is platform-independent and is based on open standards. It can be used from any programming language on any platform as long as it supports sending and receiving HTTP requests.

The following Help chapter provides detailed information describing the Zenfolio API.

As the first example of using the Zenfolio API, David Holmes has written a plug-in for Apple Aperture. The ApertureToZenfolio plug-in allows for uploading of photos to Zenfolio directly from with the Aperture application.

One-year anniversary release brings you ordering prints and new features

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 10:00:00 GMT

This is something we have all been waiting for: the ability to order prints and photo products directly from Zenfolio. It is here now, and, boy, is it exciting!

Zenfolio team has been hard at work for months integrating with not just one, but two very different photofinishing labs. And the underlying e-commerce platform allows us to add more labs in the future including different geographies.

Zenfolio is very excited to have full integration with EZ Prints and Mpix. Read more about these partner labs under Prints & Products.

And be assured that with this foundation in place, we are working on extending the E-commerce platform to allow photographers to set their own custom pricing and sell for profit in the near future.

This is a major release marking our first anniversary of going live with the service exactly one year ago. The following features and enhancements are immediately available:

Powerful Shopping Cart Built for Photographers

Built from the ground up for photographers, this is the most powerful and streamlined shopping cart of its kind. The Cart features such innovations as ordering products from multiple vendors, applying additional services such as mounting and framing, and performing precision cropping using advanced cropping tools. The end result is a smooth checkout flow making purchasing a continuous and elegant extension of viewing photos.

Integrated Add to Cart Interface

Purchasing a print or a photo product begins with an Add to Cart menu on a photo page and takes a user through the vendor and product selection in easy to follow steps. The Add to Cart interface is fully integrated with visitor pages matching them in Theme and style.

Advanced Crop Tool

A robust cropping tool is available as part of Cart configuration. Cropping options include:

Auto crop trims off a small area of an image if it does not fit the aspect ratio of a print
Fit includes the entire image area even if that means having small white margins
Manual crop with rotation and edge-snapping

Three New Themes

Introduced three new themes:

Cosmic - make your photos bright constellations with this theme in the background
Antique - aged parchment and rusty leather folios provide timeless backdrop
Zenbaby - designed specifically for surrounding images of little ones, giving the warm pastel colors and lots of toys to play with.

Managing Email Notifications

Preferences: Email Notifications: you are now in control of e-mail messages you receive from Zenfolio. You can select what types of communications you would like to receive and opt out of the ones you don't.

For a complete list of changes please refer to the release notes.

Internet Explorer 7 Web browser is now supported

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 10:00:00 GMT

As Microsoft is nearing the release of a major upgrade to their most popular Web browser, Zenfolio site is now fully compatible with Internet Explorer 7.

The official Web browsers supported by the Zenfolio site are:

Internet Explorer version 7
Internet Explorer version 6.0 +
The latest version of Mozilla Firefox
The latest version of Safari on Mac OS X

Other Web browsers may work but are not actively tested.

Several improvements and fixes posted

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 10:00:00 GMT

This update addresses Slideshow usability and fixes several issues.

Slideshow usability is improved

A few people have pointed out that the captions in the Slideshow were too intrusive and covered up sizable portion of images. We have addressed the issue by introducing mouse-over captions with subtle notification.

Transitions, or fades, can now be disabled for those who do not fancy them. And we have labeled the playback speed controller to make it easier to find and use.

Zenfolio Web site was refreshed with new featured photographers and redesigned pages

The front page is now cleaner and easier to read. We have added new work from some outstanding featured photographers. We are very proud to have such talented and enthusiastic users.

The Overview page was redesigned completely, and we have added a lot of screenshots. It now looks more polished and presents information in a more organized fashion.

The Tour was updated with the newest features.

There are also a number of fixes, for a complete list please refer to the release notes.

Introducing Collections and a whole lot more!

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 10:00:00 GMT

This turned out to be one big release with major new functionality and enhancements addressing user feedback.

Put Together your Favorite Collections

Collections can be used to save links to photos from you and other Zenfolio users. You can now reference the same photo in several Collections without having to upload the photo many times. Collections are also great for saving together photos from several Zenfolio users taken at the same event or location. Or for collecting in one place your favorite photos on a specific subject. There are many ways to use Collections so be creative!

As opposed to Galleries, Collections hold only links to the photos but not the actual files. And if you wish, you can specify to not allow your photographs to be added to Collections by others.

Free Subscriptions for Registered Visitors

Registered Visitors can save photographs from other Zenfolio users in Collections, and show them on their own Home page with a custom address. Registration takes less than a minute and subscription is completely free.

Ability to Setup Custom Domain Name

This was a highly requested feature that we are certain will make your galleries look even more custom. If you have your own domain name registered you can now setup the CNAME record for it to point to your Zenfolio account. It will become the address to your Home page and all the links to your photo pages and galleries will begin with it. If you are an Unlimited plan subscriber, check Preferences for more details.

Larger Thumbnails

By popular demand we are bringing out larger 120px thumbnails in addition to the existing ones. The new thumbnails have more than double the size of the original thumbnails. By default, smaller thumbnails are displayed for lower screen resolutions, and larger thumbnails are displayed for higher screen resolutions achieving the best presentation experience across all screen resolutions. Users can override this default in either direction on a per gallery basis.

Current Themes and Layouts Updated

Complete overhaul of current page layouts resulted in more functional pages and more customization options. All current themes received visual enhancements and improvements.

Other new features include:

Two new themes: Subtle and Playground
Customizable e-mail invitations visually matching gallery and collection theme
Sending referral invitations is now easier using automated message system
Photographer Copyright field is now editable per photograph so you can give proper credit

For a complete list of changes please refer to the release notes.

You speak, we listen!

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 10:00:00 GMT

Numerous enhancements and new features released.

You give us feedback and we keep making Zenfolio better. This update includes many usability improvements, bug fixes, and new features. The following is an outline of main changes:

Streamlined and intuitive user-interface feels even more like using smart software than browsing a Web site
Presentation pages with cached images now load faster and can be controlled using keyboard shortcuts
Visitors can zoom-in to see a larger version of any photo by simply clicking it
Completely redesigned Slideshow is unlike any slide show you have seen before, you really have to try it
A brand new Wedding Theme surrounds special occasion photographs with elegant colors and subtle backgrounds
Redesigned Customization interface is a lot easier to use
Introduced Display Name which can be changed at anytime
The option to specifically exclude public photographs from Search and Browse
Complete online Help with 13 chapters and 75 topics
Updated Web site includes redesigned main page and in-depth Zenfolio Tour

For a complete list of changes please refer to the release notes.

Zenfolio service goes live!

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 10:00:00 GMT

Zenfolio service is now open to subscribers.

Big "thank you" to our Beta users and the hard working team at Zenfolio for finishing everything in time for the launch.

Zenfolio service now features complete photo management and organization functionality including galleries and groups. Six beautiful Themes combined with page Layouts create truly impactful and elegant presentations.

The service also features industry-leading access control management applied from the Home page level down to individual photographs including options to password-protect, limit access to a list of users, and making items private as well as public.

We are particularly proud of the image processing quality we were able to achieve. The uploaded full size photographs are converted to display images in six different sizes using the best quality resizing algorithms available. The resulting images preserve the fidelity of the originals when displayed across all screen sizes.

And last but not least is the Search & Browse functionality. Powerful queries search descriptions, including keywords, categories, titles, and captions returning results in your choice of galleries or photographs. The Browse option gives visitors access to the Most Popular, Recent, and subject-matching galleries and photos with a single mouse click.

Zenfolio service goes Beta!

support@zenfolio.com (Zenfolio) — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 10:00:00 GMT

We are now officially in Beta with a limited feature set and a lot of enthusiasm from the users. We really appreciate everyone's suggestions and feedback, more features and functionality will be rolling out in the coming months.