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We’re taking a bit longer for the beta testing so that beta users can port their sites to the hosting service if they so wish after the testing is over. We’re also writing documentation to simplify the process for beta testers.
Also, I have to concede that the bbPress search engine is borderline horrible – I may have to rip it open and override their search algorithm to provide more relevant results.
I’ll look into it – thanks for pointing it out.
I looked through the source code of the page, and it does not look like there is anything wrong. I can’t check to see if there are any Javascript issues because that is too involved of a process – here are some observations and suggestions:
1) A majority of these ‘fade’ events only trigger after the image that you are going to be fading is completely loaded. Therefore, the delay does not appear to be javascript related – somehow, it is taking abnormally long to load the preview images. This is not definite, but is probable.
2) Have you tried viewing it without password protecting your website? Although unlikely, it is possible that the images are somehow being delayed because of the username/password authentication that you have preventing anyone from accessing the website.
3) Strip the page down, even into HTML. View source and copy the entire page into a new test.html document. Then upload it and see if it does the same thing. If so, start removing things such as unnecessary javascript and other parts of the page until you find the problem.
My guess is that somehow, the images are taking too long to load, or aren’t preloading when the page is loaded. Why that is happening, I’m not entirely sure about.
Hi Aum
1) It will be semi-automatic. This is in the sense that it will port all your images, their metadata, and most of your tags on them, but it will not import the pricing or categories. That being said, a lot of these things are improved in the new version, so you can edit pricing of all the products at once with the new plugin. If there is anything else you would want automated, let me know, and I can see if I can code it in.
2) If you can point me to your site, I can try to take a look to debug what is causing the delay in the preview. However, keep in mind that debugging these sorts of things may be a moot point if you plan on upgrading to the new Symbiostock, which should be available soon.
Robin
Hey Rick – the beta testing sites will all be purged once the beta is over. However, I can help post some details about how to export certain customizations if you want to preserve them. It is better, for the most part, to assume that the beta sites will not be exportable.
I also forgot to mention that you won’t need to go through all that trouble to test the plugin out – our hosting solution will have a free trial that you can use to fully investigate it. I may even provide a permanently free account you can use with limited storage space (like 5 megabytes or something) so you can fiddle with it and upgrade anytime in the future.
Hey Rick – great questions.
1) Yes, WordPress is extremely good at isolating itself. During development I have uninstalled and re-installed Symbiostock on fresh installs of wordpress in root domains, subdirectories, and have had them running concurrently on the same domain. Some plugins may not be coded in a way that isolates their data to the wordpress directory, but in the backend there is a variable called ‘ABSPATH’ which is basically the root directory of that specific wordpress install. All development goes through that. So if you were to say create a directory called ‘yourdomain.com/w’, everything, including your media that is imported through Symbiostock will be placed from within that directory.
2) Although I haven’t done this because mixing wordpress installs on databases can be dicey, wordpress does have an easy function to run on the same database as other wordpress installs. When you first setup your wordpress install, you have the choice of changing the table prefix for all the tables for that install. So, for example, the base prefix is usually ‘wp_’, and is probably what your current site uses. You can easily just change that to ‘wp2_’ when you install the new version. It will ask you for the table prefix during the install.
So, all in all, there is very little customization you require and wordpress is already built to accomplish what you are asking about. Symbiostock cleanly follows suit. I can’t vouch for other plugins, however, as some may create their own tables or not use the ‘ABSPATH’ variable to drive all their data storage, so there could be conflicts with other plugins.
Keep this thread on topic – if you have other questions, post them in another forum in another thread.
Hi Rolfo – that sort of a feature is not planned. Symbiostock is more along the lines of having each photographer easily and quickly get their own sites up. Symzio is what will connect everything, but this will be done across the entire network.
SymbioFan – Leo transferred all Symbiostock IP to me, as per his wishes.
Do you mean the Artist Network? No, the directory is completely free. You will be listed on the front page and this will link to a full directory list of Symbiostock sites. We’re going to be putting that up reasonably soon.
If the amount of information provided on Symzio thus far is not good enough for you, I recommend you stay put with your current solution and check back with the new Symbiostock in a few months. I’m not going to hypothesize on answers until certain concepts are more developed.
Hey Christine – I’ve posted a blog entry relating to some of the questions you’ve asked.
The Etsy idea is a good one – the main problem is that Etsy, as far as I understand it, is mostly for consumer clients, not business ones. Accordingly, digital media is a different animal, and we’d need Symzio to operate in a way that appeals to both corporate and individual clients. I already have a solid plan that should remain both competitive and provide growth, but can’t discuss it right now as I am focused on getting Symbiostock released. Additionally, Symzio will require lots of community input prior to release to ensure that its mechanisms work for all of us. I will be posting a thread where we will discuss the ins and outs of Symzio at some point after Symbiostock is released.
I’ve written a blog post that should help legacy users determine what the best move is in regards to upgrading. It all depends on how successful your current site is, and if so, what brings it that success: To Switch or not to Switch
As I am focusing on releasing Symbiostock and preparing the beta testing, I can’t get into talking about Symzio too much because that’s a huge and very important aspect of the project. At least equal in scope to Symbiostock itself. An important thing for me is that Symzio’s operation be tweaked by the community, so as development progresses, I will be creating a thread where we will all discuss the ins and outs of how Symzio will operate to maximize our ability to step out of the shadow of the large agencies.
We are now splitting the previous networking system into two different modules. The first module is the Symbiostock Artist Network. This is going to be an opt-in list of artist sites running Symbiostock. As I mentioned, this will be available on Symbiostock.org on both the front page and a full directory list. You will also be able to include this list on your site.
Dave: You are correct – the cross search is very important, and will all be taken over by Symzio. Individual sites will be able to optionally tap into the central search engine to display results from all the other Symbiostock sites that have opted into Symzio. As you mentioned, the purpose of doing this is to make it in fact easier for people to search the collective of images.
As for not giving the plugin away for free, I feel digital services are a more effective way of sustaining growth, and hopefully the worry-free hosting solution will achieve that.
I can’t get into the full details of Symzio right now, but as I’ve mentioned, it is being developed to compete on the same scale as large agencies. This includes streamlining every aspect of it so customers are not pushed towards the larger agencies.
And as I’ve mentioned before, you are under no pressure to upgrade.
Thanks for the questions.