News from Piwigo.com, online photo gallery software
Available for download since October 11th, Piwigo 13 has been recently deployed on all customer accounts hosted on Piwigo.com. Let’s take a look at what’s new in this release, which focuses on the user experience!
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We’re proud to tell you that 100% Piwigo.com accounts have been updated to Piwigo version 2.8 less than 72 hours after it was officially released. It sets a new record! Read More
Piwigo 2.7 has been released 5 days ago. You can read 2.7 Release Notes to have full details about new features and improvements. Many of you already have already asked us how they can get it on their Piwigo.
A notification email when your Piwigo is automatically updated to version 2.7
On Piwigo.com, you don’t manage updates, so it’s useless to try by yourself. The update to Piwigo 2.7 will be applied automatically without any action from you. Then you are notified by email with a summary of changes. We have started to update Piwigo.com accounts.
Don’t forget to be patient :-). Piwigo 2.7 has been released but it doesn’t mean all plugins and themes are already compatible with this new version. The update can be performed once all your active plugins/themes are available in Piwigo 2.7. So if you want Piwigo 2.7 quickly, make sure you deactivate plugins you don’t really use.
Some of you already know that Piwigo 2.6 has been released a few days ago (and even a bug fixing version 2.6.1). Once you have seen the 2.6 Release Notes, you naturally ask how to get this new version on your Piwigo.com.
New user manager in Piwigo 2.6: faster and easier to user
Be patient. Yes Piwigo 2.6 has been released but it doesn’t mean all plugins and themes are already compatible with this new version. Many of them have been updated, so we’re going to start working on Piwigo 2.6 for Piwigo.com. We have a few changes to apply, such as the account manager (subscription, referrals, data retrieval).
On Piwigo.com, you don’t manage updates, so it’s useless to try by yourself. The update to Piwigo 2.6 will be applied automatically without any action from you. Then you are notified by email with a summary of changes. The update can be performed once all your active plugins/themes are available in Piwigo 2.6. So if you want Piwigo 2.6 quickly, make sure you deactivate plugins you don’t really use.
Stay tuned
As described on previous post, plugin Autosize had too many problems. Anyway the feature of automatic photo size is an excellent one. Plugin Automatic Size is taking over, with a much simpler code (simpler code = less bug).
Plugin Automatic Size is now available for Piwigo 2.4 and 2.5 on Piwigo.com. Considering many users are still blocked on Piwigo 2.4 because they use Autosize, in the coming days we will change the upgrade script for accounts: if Autosize is activated, it will automatically be deactivated and Automatic Size will be activated. This will allow the upgrade to version 2.5.
As usual each time a major new version of Piwigo is released (version 2.5 this time) many Piwigo.com users ask how to upgrade. It’s nice to see how motivated you are! But you will have to be patient. As said on blog post Piwigo 2.4 and upgrade on Piwigo.com :
On Piwigo.com, you don’t manage updates, so it’s useless to try by yourself. The update to Piwigo 2.4 will be applied automatically without any action from you.
Version 2.5 is a much smaller step than version 2.4 was. It means that plugins and themes are simpler to adapt and that upgrades will occur sooner. I hope first photo galleries will be upgraded in less than 2 weeks.
New on Piwigo 2.5: as long as your thumbnail is not ready, we display a default icon.
Once your gallery is upgraded to version 2.5, you are notified by email with a summary of changes. The main advice to have your Piwigo upgraded to 2.5 as soon as possible: deactivate plugins you don’t really use.
A few users of Piwigo.com have also subscribed to the newsletter on Piwigo.org and of course, since last friday they know about Piwigo 2.4 availability. Several of you have already asked us how to update their gallery.
On Piwigo.com, you don’t manage updates, so it’s useless to try by yourself. The update to Piwigo 2.4 will be applied automatically without any action from you. The next question is “when?”. Here follow a few details about how Piwigo is updated on Piwigo.com.
First we must slightly adapt and test Piwigo for Piwigo.com architecture. You must understand that on a given server, thousands independant galleries are installed but they are all running on the very same source code. This is what we call a “massively multisite” Piwigo.
Then we install Piwigo 2.4 on Piwigo.com and we start to switch galleries, one by one. Of course updates are automatic. What makes your gallery updated earlier or later? It mainly depends on the extensions you use. Indeed even if Piwigo 2.4 was released two days ago, most of the extensions are not compatible with 2.4 yet.
Progressively extensions are made compatible with Piwigo 2.4 and we install them on Piwigo.com. The upgrade script detects the extensions you use and if all the extensions are available on Piwigo 2.4, then it upgrades your gallery. Maybe it would be good that you deactivate all the extensions you don’t really use, if you want to upgrade as soon as possible.
Now you understand the process we use, but it doesn’t really answer your question “when?”!. Let’s go back in time and see how fast was the upgrade to Piwigo 2.3 on Piwigo.com: the first galleries were upgraded after 3 weeks and the latest after 8 weeks. Considering that version 2.4 brings much more changes than version 2.3, it would be a real performance if we finish with the same delay.
Once your gallery is upgraded to version 2.4, you are notified by email with a summary of changes. To sum up: be patient, Piwigo 2.4 and its major changes are coming soon on your gallery!
Small update on theme Simple today. This update brings bug fixing such as centering photo on slideshow but also a new display option. On the albums page, it is now possible to display album title and description under the album thumbnail and not only next to the album thumbnail.
Piwigo and theme Simple: album description can be displayed under the album thumbnail
Piwigo and theme Simple: by default description is displayed next to the album thumbnail
To configure theme Simple, open screen [Administration > Configuration > Themes] and click on the “Configuration” link in the Simple box.
Link to configure your theme in the administration
This update automatically implies bug fixing and new option on child themes Simple White and Simple Black.
Theme Stripped, born only one year ago but already very popular among Piwigo users, is now updated to version 2. This theme was created by Julien Capitaine (aka Zaphod), amateur photographer, user and talented contributor to Piwigo. Version 2 brings improvements on graphical and layout sides.
1. 3 Styles
In the theme configuration, you can change the Interface style. You can chose between original, white and black. Style original looks like Stripped version 1. New styles white and black, which only differ by color, bring a different layout, especially on the photo page:
Piwigo and theme Stripped version 2, style White: whatever the height of your screen, the photo is centered.
Piwigo and theme Stripped version 2, style White: information tabs are sticked on the bottom and when opened, the information are displayed over the photo.
2. Photo Preloading
Stripped version 2 optionally offers to preload photos. For example, when a visitor opens the first photo in an album, then Stripped will automatically preload the next 5 photos. Number “5” can be modified. Result = faster browsing.
3. Optional Frame
Another new option in the configuration of Stripped: you can deactivate frame around thumbnails.
Piwigo with theme Stripped version 2, style Black: frame around thumbnails.
Piwigo with theme Stripped version 2, style Black: no frame around thumbnails.
The very same option is available for the “web size” photo, which now becomes optional.
4. Navigation Arrows
In addition to navigation arrows that appear on top of the photo (that’s optional), Stripped version 2 can display two big arrows on the border of your screen, with a fixed position. See the first screenshot of this post.
5. Navigation Thumbnails
With Stripped version 1, it was possible to move from one photo to another by clicking on next/prev thumbnails. This feature disappears with version 2 because the required code was too complex and this feature was rarely used (navigation thumbnails remain available with other themes of course).
Now you can test new themes Stripped White and Stripped Black on Piwigo.com multiple themes demo →
The vast majority of Piwigo.com galleries have now been upgraded to Piwigo 2.3. Our automatic upgrade tool has sent a notification email to each user as soon as his gallery gets upgraded.
So what’s new in your photo gallery with this major upgrade?
Discover the full list of new features on Piwigo 2.3 release notes (screenshots and video inside).
PS: a few galleries are still running on Piwigo 2.2. This is the case if you use a Gally theme or if your main language is Chinese or Spanish. Please be patient, as soon as we have the compatible missing extensions, the automatic upgrade script will notify you.
Today we have upgraded Piwigo.com galleries with the new Piwigo 2.2.4. This version brings several new features, here is a short list. Read More
