The Blanchard Systems Software Blog: October 2013

Thursday, October 31, 2013

New upload groups system for digital ads. Preconfigure the types of ads your advertisers must supply you with in your Web Media Profile settings and keep them organized by group when delivered.
Added ability for advertisers and agencies to change their company type in company details view.

All PDF snapshots respect the current filtered view. This gives the user more flexibility to make different plan PDFs and report PDFs. (Video Link: New Snapshot Features)
New Snapshot configuration screen allows users to create a very custom plan snapshot and all settings are remembered.

Added Upload API option and VP Page option to mark as accepting merge page.
Added double click to open slot details from story details view
Page overset information added to story details view.
Added ability to toggle Section bars, inserts and signature splits in plan snapshot system
Added option to see HTML version of plan in snapshot manager. Good for quickly seeing the simple plan in html.
Added option to format .75 story page to different corners, also fixed some bugs around this.
Added new options to zoom in on slots with slider in bottom tool bar.
There is now a plan template selector at the top of the template toolbar when you are viewing a template.
New tabbed style browser for tablet based plans.
Added ability to create cover less sig auto flows.
Added ability to create single signature book or single fill minus cover.
Fixed bug concerning back side book signature menus
Added 1/3 Square and Half page Spread Ad specification shapes.

Moved preflight profile selection under color profiles to allow for more flexibility on file output and preflighting per color profile. Please check your color profiles to be sure your desired preflight profile has been selected.
Option to lock an ad during rejection to prevent further revisions
Raised Internet Explorer minimum requirements to version 9 since less than 10% of Internet users are still using version 8, and 11 is the most current. Internet Explorer users are urged to update to 9 or 10, or switch to Firefox or Google Chrome if possible.
Redesigned digital ads upload form. Upload group system will be coming very soon.

VP Images now supports fully customizable view system with savable views.
Ability added to copy a template to a different publication of the same trim size. See template details and new "Duplicate Button"
When making new plans from templates, the clipboard will be carried to the new plan. All editorials created on a template clipboard are maintained with the template.Added overset warning and amount on placed stories in story details view.
Added new option to leave story as overset when dropping on the plan and hitting a conflict.
Move tablet plan system to its own left menu option. Lots more changes to come here.
When a merged page is dragged to the clipboard more information is provided and the ability to cancel is an option.
Option added to skip removal of editorials when a plan is removed.
VP Pages now allow complete custom metadata configuration just like ads already had.
Added ability to change coverage on any story type, before it was manual when the story was in the clipboard.
Delete (backspace) key is now mapped to the DELETE action in softproofing viewer. (For removing annotations).

Interface improvements across the site.
Publication codes are now required to be unique within the publisher's set of titles.
New option to use a 3-digit unique issue ID for materials ID generation. You must enable "one issue per ad" to use this.
Web ads now allow multiple run dates.
New uploader deployed in more areas in the site, now including print ad revisions.
Web text ads can now check word count instead of character count. Determined per ad unit.
"Designed for Tablet" ads now allow device sizes to be marked as optional.
Revision Number added to list of delivery path variables.

Issues list variable in email notifications now shows materials due date instead of run date.
Duplicating a print ad size will also copy its associated InDesign template file.
Links to web ads from email notifications now work properly.
Added paging for digital ads in the table and thumbnail views.
Better performance when submitting the Ad Creator form.
Ad reservation merging bugs resolved.
Launching of trim tool when using custom message is fixed.
Interface improvements when managing tablet ad sizes.
Advertisers are shown materials due date now, not run date, on materials requests.
Preflighting for the "Separation All" (registration) now works properly after a file is trimmed.
Advanced search supports apostrophes.
Various fixes for duplicating publications.
Revising a HTML web ad is now working properly.
Web ad tag file upload improvements.

New image management module allows publishers to manage and softproof their images. Please contact sales@blansys.com for more information.
Users can now see coordinate based notes on the plan view and the magazine viewer.
Some enhancements to speed concerning drag and drop
Removal of the multi-select drag system. After some analysis we found this feature was not being used and was causing minor conflicts with drag, so we turned it off. Please let us know if you would like it back.
Hid change round system. Can be turned back on in your publisher profile setup.
Moved Editorial view out one level. Editorials can now be managed without specific plan data.
Editorial details view now shows all content in plan from start to finish of story.
New compact look
More information in footer areas
Redesigned dashboard area with more information and better layout.
Import plan data screen made more consistent and updated sample files to reflect all features.
Adding issue or plan now allows previous issues to be used as new plan sources
Removed ability to have multiple plans per issue. Just add more issues as needed.
Materials ID field available in ad reservation form if not using automated materials ID system.

Thumbnail now shown in revisions bar for original version of a file after uploading a new revision.
Added back link to SendMyAd in top bar.
Quick search entry field now works properly.
JPEG images with very large physical dimensions are rejected automatically to save processing resources.
Many improvements for new image management module.