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  • British-American system of units, sales tax rates, Google Maps service

    03.05.2012, 06:21

    We updated Pixlpark service on May 1. It includes the following new features:

    • Metric and British-American system units
      In the “Settings—Site” section of the admin area you can choose either metric or British-American system of units to set weight and size of created products.
    • Configuring sales tax rates
      In the “Settings -> Payment -> Settings” section of the admin area you have possibility to set sales tax rates, its calculating and displaying options.
    • Google Maps service
      Google has changed API for working with its maps service. It has caused some issues with maps on our site. We have resolved this problem getting support of new API.
    • Creating order through admin area
      You can set notes and add several states to an order. Please try it clicking “+” button in the “Orders” section.
    • Payment gateway authorize.net
      Payment gateway authorize.net enables internet merchants to accept online payments via credit card and e-check.

  • API, integration with Digilab software, downloading orders by packages, coupon system

    20.04.2012, 10:37

    After the latest update, the following features of Pixlpark service are available:

    • API (Application Program Interface)
      You can find API on http://api.pixlpark.com site. It allows you to get information on orders and users of the site. You can enable an access to your site by API through control panel in “Settings -> Site” section.
    • Integration with Digilab software
      The system has the additional editor “Digilab Photobooks” which allows to integrate Digilab desktop software to make photobooks and the site.
    • Adding orders through control panel
      There is a new button on the right side of the additional menu in the “Orders” section in the control panel. It allows to add new order. Note that ordering requires to specify user name, shipping address and ordered product as well.
    • Downloading orders by packages
      You can download all the orders by one click in the “Orders -> Export” section in the control panel. You just check needed orders from the list and then download all of them clicking the “Download orders” button.
    • Expanded coupon system
      You can set a coupon creating rule during generating coupons or a coupon checking rule during entering a coupon list for any discount. This way you can use most of existing coupon services in your marketing campaign.
    • Tags of email templates
      There is a help popup window in the control panel on the email template editing page. It shows the list of tags which may be used in a message.
    • Large size file generating with arbitrary resolution
      The canvas editor and the gift editor allow to create files with specified size and resolution. For example, a result file may be 10x10 m with 300 DPI.
    • Convenient order agreement interface
      The new order agreement interface allows to contact clients and employees more convenient.
    • “Postprint handling” state
      The new state allows to notify some company department that an order has been printed and is ready to be postprint handled.
    • Notification on “Order issued” event
      This notification allows to know a client opinion on your products or to offer some additional services.
    • Upload multipage PDF files to mockup editor
      The advanced mechanism of uploading multipage PDF files reduce the time of checking loaded file.
    • Settlement section
      There is a new section in the control panel which displays all the settlement between you and Pixlpark company.

  • Canvas printing, transparent logotype, mutual work of designers on orders

    10.02.2012, 04:23

    The today’s update has the following features, except fixing the issues:

    • Loading transparent logotype. Graphic files with alpha-channel can be used as a logotype. It will allow to set the most appropriate logotype for a theme that would depend on your needs.
    • Exporting users subscribed for news. There is the additional filter by clients, who checked for receiving news to their emails on the registration page, in the “Users” section on the administration pane.
    • Restriction on the employees’ access to the base of clients. All the employees, who have the limited access of the set of delivery methods, have the access to the base of clients on the level of users, made an order for these delivery methods only.
    • Setting a discount for selected products in the Shop/Printing modules. In the new version of the system, a discount is applied to selected products only. By default a discount is not applied for all the products of the Shop/Printing modules as it worked in the previous release.
    • Mutual work of designers on orders. If several employees develop a design of an order, there will be the option for each order to specify designer. It is needed to assign all the designers with “Designer” role and select necessary employee in the corresponding notification on receipt of an order. There will be the modal window with selecting a designer after transfer an order to developing a design.
    • Canvas printing. We embedded the updated online canvas printing editor. You can try the new editor on our demo site www.pixlpark.com.

  • New Pixlpark demo

    30.12.2011, 08:38

    Today we release new demo site of Pixlpark system. This blog describes and demonstrates different variants of configuration and usage of our solution.

    First of all, you have to pay attention to receiving online orders. We have added demo categories of products to the following directions:

    — printing production;
    — gift printing;
    — canvas printing;
    — photo printing.

    Each category has several demo products. In the given case, we do not aim to demonstrate all possible product categories. However, there are no limitations in range of products for your clients on your custom Pixlpark site. The editor which allows making orders is the main feature of all products. For example, to receive orders for printing business cards you can offer several methods of ordering for your clients.

    Secondly, we would like to show that there is an online gift shop in Pixlpark. You can provide clients with ready-made gifts belonging to various themes that would depend on clients' needs. The cost of a gift can be defined by different configurable parameters.

    Thirdly, another addition to new Pixlpark demo is the administration panel. We have configured demo site with real conditions of usage. Thus, in the administration panel you will be able to find set discounts, different methods of shipping and payment, possible templates of orders’ export, and products with different pricing. We hope that it will make easier for you to set and configure your custom Pixlpark site which will be attractive for clients.

    The last point we would like to discuss is that our demo site has a new design now which matches our corporate style:

    Домонстрационный сайт Pixlpark

  • Documentation of Photo Kiosk

    20.12.2011, 14:46

    After releasing new version of Photo Kiosk its online documentation is available. It describes the following:

    • Photo Kiosk concept and its features.
    • Using Photo Kiosk as:
      • self-service print order station;
      • instant print station;
      • photo gallery access and order station;
    • How to set and configure Photo Kiosk:
      • customizing user interface;
      • configuring external data storage items;
      • configuring photo paper formats and types;
      • configuring prices and discount;
      • configuring receiving/printing orders and burning CD/DVD;
      • configuring payment;
      • order managment.

    If you could not find anything interested you or related to your problem in the documentation, please feel free to email your questions to support@pixlpark.com. We will be glad to assist you.

  • Photo Kiosk 7.0 is available

    16.12.2011, 08:28

    New version of Photo Kiosk is available now - v7.0.

    Let's see what Pixlpark Photo Kiosk offers comparing to the previous versions.

    Payment workflow support

    The common issue is how to organize payment process on the kiosk. Now Photo Kiosk offers the following approach:

    1. When the user places the order, Photo Kiosk displays the Order ID.
    2. To proceed with the order, the user prints a receipt with the Order ID or writes it down.
    3. Then the user goes to the cashier and gives him/her this Order ID.
    4. To confirm the payment, the cashier uses special Payment Confirmation Tool (supplied with Photo Kiosk) to get a Confirmation Code.
    5. The user enters the Confirmation Code to the Photo Kiosk to confirm that the order is paid.

    This workflow can be used for instant print or CD/DVD burning features. 

    Flexible price configuration

    Now you can configure prices more flexible. In particular:

    • You can set the minimum accepted price (the order won't be accepted unless the user orders items for this price or higher). 
    • You can configure a sales tax.
    • You can set different prices for instant and minilab print.
    • You can set different prices for different quanitities (volume discounts).
    • You can configure additional services, e.g. additional image processing, etc.

    Improved Photo Order Process

    We have improved the photo order process:

    • If the photo is too small to be printed with a specific size, Photo Kiosk will warn the user.
    • If an image is not JPEG, Photo Kiosk can automatically convert it to JPEG.
    • If a photo aspect ratio does not match to a print size, the user can select a print area.

    Advanced Order Management for Minilabs

    In addition to old Order Manager feature which allowed renaming photos in the order to contain the order details (file and folder names), now Photo Kiosk has additional options:

    • Generate human-readable HTML document with the order details.
    • Generate DPOF file for each order to print photos in minilabs automatically (for those minilabs which support DPOF).

    Feel free to download the new version and check out new features yourself: http://www.pixlpark.com/products/photokiosk/download

    If you are interested to upgrade or have any other questions, feel free to email at info@pixlpark.com.

  • PDF and PSD file support, Custom product editor, GeoIP module anf other features

    08.12.2011, 08:54

    It’s been about one month since my previous message. Since then we made a number of updates and bugfixes. Also, we have introduced a new module - Shop. Let’s see what improvements have been made in this month.

    • Fixed the issue with user password recovery. Now when the user requests to recover the forgotten password, the email always contains a proper link.
    • Fixed the problem with the incorrect canvas price. Now the canvas order page displays items sorted ascending by price, and prices are correctly displayed based on additional options (such as Mounted canvases width different borders).
    • Fixed the problem with switching the canvas type during the order process. Now it is possible to change the canvas type from «White edges» to «Gallery edges».
    • Fixed the problem with notification for the order approval.
    • Fixed the issue with the professional photobook orders. Now files are uploaded properly.
    • PDF and PSD file support. Now users can upload not just JPEG/GIF/TIFF/PNG files, but also PDF and PSD.
    • Improved photo gift order module. Now it is easy to change the item type when ordering photo gifts/t-shirts/calendars - just pick an appropriate item in the dropdown list.
    • Added an ability to re-arrange items in the template list. Now all templates are arranged by last modified date. To «pop up» the template, just open it and hit Save button.
    • Improved CMS module.
    • Implemented Twitter support.
    • Increased max file size limited. Now users can upload files up to 130 Mb.
    • Added an ability to grant personal discounts. Just specify email addresses of customers you want to grant a discount (separated by semicolon), and that’s it! You can do it on the Users tab of the discount.
    • Added a custom product editor. Now you can specify your own fields for a product and specify which ones are obligatory. Try it now by creating new category with «Products editor» selected.
    • Improved the postcard editor. The following changes were made: extended the font list, added an ability to specify the color of the text, background, Bleed and Safity lines.
    • Implemented new module - Online Store. In this module you can create various items and specify the parameters which will affect its price. For example, for T-shirt it may be the color, size or type. When the customer selects these parameters, the final price is automatically recalculated.
    • Now you can specify additional order ID and customer ID fields. This feature is useful if you need to integrate Pixlpark with your internal enterprise management system. If you keep orders and customers in your system, you can use these fields to store IDs assigned by this system. This way, you can easily search orders and customers by your internal system ID. You can specify additional order and customer ID on the order and customer page accordnigly.
    • Now users can change the payment method. Earlier once the customer selects a payment method, say, “cash on delivery”, they could not use any other payment method. Now you can allow users paying online or using wire transfer even if cash is selected. To do it, go to admin panel, select the order, open the payment method modification dialog, and remove all invoices.
    • Added order cancellation by the customer. As Pixlpark does not support automatic refunds yet, customers cannot cancel paid orders themselves. However if they agree how the refund is made, you can cancel such orders.
    • Added possibility to limit the delivery method based on the product category (both for Print and Online Store modules). If you want to limit the delivery method for specific product categories, you can do in from the admin panel on the appropriate delivery page.
    • Australian payment gateway eWay.com is now supported.
    • GeoIP module. If you work with customers from different countries, and want to use different websites for each country, you can configure Pixlpark to redirect the customer to the appropriate website based on the country. To do it, go to “Settings —> GeoIP” and specify here the redirect rules.

    If you have any questions regarding these features, please contact us at info@pixlpark.com. I will be happy to tell you more detailed about this.

  • Canvas editor, Postcard editor, Discount for delivery, Customer black list and other features

    08.12.2011, 08:24

    We made a lot of various improvements in our service since our last update released on May 5, 2011. Here are some of these changes:

    • Bugfixes. We have fixed few bugs related to email notifications, image upload, and verification with long logins.
    • Unpaid/incomplete order notifications. Now it is possible to notify customers if they have unpaid/incomplete orders. You can configure the notification text in the admin area (Settings­­—Notifications).
    • Facebook Likes. Now you can add the Facebook Like button. To do it, go to the admin area and place your button code in Settings—Site.
    • Search orders by invoice ID. If your payment system requires invoice ID instead of the order ID when placing the order, now you can find this order not just using the order ID, but also the invoice ID. You can do it in the admin area, Orders—Search section.
    • Min order amount. In the Orders—Settings section of the admin area you can now specify the limitation for the min order amount. The customer cannot place an order until the total order amount exceeds this value.
    • Customer black list. If for some reason you want to prevent certain customer to place orders, you can do it in the admin area under the Clients section. You can also track the IP address this customer used during the last login.
    • Two address lines. Before this update, customers could specify the address only using one line during the order process. Now it is possible to configure it to split the shipping address in two lines (Address 1 и Address 2). To do it, go to admin area, Settings—Delivery (you can change this setting for Courier Delivery and Postal Delivery).
    • Attach any file types to orders. In the order discussion area now it is possible to attach not just images, but also any file types. The customer will be able to download such files directly from the order discussion.
    • Discount for delivery. Now you can apply the discount not just for the ordered items, but also for the delivery price. You can use it to make your marketing campaigns more flexible.
    • Configurable payment methods for each delivery type. Now you can specify different set of allowed payment methods for each delivery type.
    • Updated uploaders. Photo uploads became a bit faster due to the new upload components. Make sure yourself – just select Standard or Fast upload method.
    • Coupon activation improvements. Now to activate a discount coupon, your customers must register. This way you won’t “loose” coupons when a customer abandons the order in the middle of a process.
    • Multiple coupon support. Now the customer can activate multiple coupons in advance. In this case the customer will get as many discounts as many coupons they activate. To do it, specify One time per coupon when you add new coupon discount.
    • New canvas editor. The canvas photo editor was improved so that it could allow receiving canvas orders both for rolled and mounted canvases. Also, now you can specify list of supported canvas materials.
    • New print production editor. We have added a new editor for a wide range of printing products such as business cards, flyers, postcards, etc. You can prepare templates in Photoshop, save them as .psd files with especially marked layers so that it could recognize editable text fields. You can find an example of such editor on our online demo. You can find some examples of .psd templates for this editor.