COVID + Big WooCommerce Update

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Don’t put the Camera Down

It has been a difficult year – bush fires & COVID, but as social media lights up with positive endeavors by individuals such as yourself, it becomes abundantly clear that different as we may be, we are all together in this.

Images such as the one above allow us to appreciate and signal the current time, which, years from now will not be remembered in the same detail. That’s why, isolated from each other, it is us, the photographers, the videographers and the artists that keep pushing forward, ensuring that every moment is captured, and every piece of media tells a captivating story.

We’re with you + WooCommerce Update

We’ve always been vigilant supporters of your creativity, and will continue to strive for your ability to work and make a living on your terms.

Accordingly, we’ve just released a large update to Symbiostock which synchronizes it to the latest version of WooCommerce. As well, all our premium plugins and themes have also been upgraded.

Proceed to your WordPress install and follow the upgrade prompts, starting with Symbiostock Pro.

As always, free lifetime upgrades for all users.

 

Now’s the time.

With more and more moving online amidst all the social distancing, the demand for relevant photos has never been greater. If you’re new to it, or are just getting started, or are trying to figure out what to do with all your time, this is a great opportunity. Dust off the camera, and start shooting. No better time to start building or adding to your portfolio and getting your store online than if you’re stuck at home, where with a little creativity and a lot of sunlight, you can make some magic.

Symbiostock Pro is 100% free, with lifetime updates. If you have any questions, pop them on our forum.

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Symbiostock 4.0 Is Here

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It’s been a little while since our core Symbiostock system received a major update. Symbiostock 4.0 is a massive update and it’s available now!

Remember, our updates are completely free, just like Symbiostock Pro, so there’s no reason to think twice about keeping your site up to date with the latest version.

There are two large developments that come with this release:

  • Symbiostock 4.0 is compatible with Woocommerce 3.0.7 – this is the very latest version of Woocommerce. Woocommerce 3.0 was released last month and was a key update that added a variety of improvements and additions to Woocommerce. Once you have updated to Symbiostock 4.0, you can update your Woocommerce install by manually uninstalling then reinstalling Woocommerce (this will not affect your products).
  • Symbiostock 4.0 is compatible with PHP 7.1.

Other practical improvements to note:

  • Max image size default increased to 200MB from 100MB
  • Downloading of original media tweaked for large files
  • Fallback resolution for unspecified licenses changed to 5000 pixels from 6000 pixels

Symbiostock 4.0 also has a variety of systemic and security improvements, adding to the robustness of the software.

Download Symbiostock Pro >>

 

Maps

Sale: Grab Symbiostock Maps for half price!

To celebrate the Symbiostock 4.0 update, we’re temporarily marking down Symbiostock Maps to $25 (normally $49).

Symbiostock Maps was released six months ago and it’s a fantastic way of sprucing up your website with an interactive element for your visitors. Symbiostock Maps reads GPS information from your images and uses the Google Maps API to create an interactive, clickable map which showcases the locations of your media products. You can also manually add GPS data to your vectors and videos by editing individual product pages, to include these media files on your map. Maps is a cool optional plugin and highly customizable in appearance to match the design of your website.

Take a look at our live demos to see Symbiostock Maps in action:

Demo 1     Demo 2     Demo 3

The sale price is only for the next week, so grab it while it’s hot!

Symbiostock Maps >>

Improvements & The Top 4 Benefits of Choosing Symbiostock Hosting

Our Symbiostock Hosting platform has undergone a number improvements over the last few months and continues to run smoothly. We have also increased email limits and the number of domains that can be hosted on all of the Professional Hosting Plans. The new limits are as follows:

Economy Plan – 5 websites (previously 1); 15 email accounts (previously 3)

Business Plan – 10 websites (previously 5); 30 email accounts (previously 15)

Super Plan – 15 websites (previously 10); 45 email accounts (previously 30)

For full details see our Hosting Plans >

Not only do these upgrades apply to new registrants, these increased limits are also applied for our existing hosting clients to benefit from.

If you are new to Symbiostock and are thinking about starting your own online digital store, here are some of the top reasons to consider jumping onto our hosting platform:

Hosting

1) PERFORMANCE – We provide higher dedicated CPU and RAM (memory) resources to to meet the processing demands for high resolution image/EPS conversions.

2) VIRTUAL SYSTEM – Experience the benefits of a virtual private server (VPS) environment within a shared hosting platform. We provide resources of a VPS without the complications.

3) 1-CLICK INSTALLS – Simplified CPanel interface with a one-click WordPress installer means you don’t need to manually install databases or configure PHP settings.

4) SCALABLE – Expand your resources as your business grows. Fully automated upgrades allows you to increase your storage space seamlessly without hassle.

When you’re ready to make the switch to Symbiostock Hosting, keep in mind that we offer a Free Migration Service to make the transition easier for you!

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Symbiostock 3.3 Delivers Ease for Vector Artists & Various Improvements For All

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Symbiostock 3.3 update is out now!
This update contains various additions to make your lives easier and a major addition for our vector artists. Firstly, let’s go over some of significant additions that applies to everyone:

NEW: Customizable checkout notice for customers
You can add a custom message that will show up to customers on the ‘Checkout’ page and again on the ‘Order Received’ page after they have completed placing their order. This handy mechanism provides a great way to quickly and clearly inform your customers of what to expect next after placing an order. We’ve added default text that reads:

‘Please note that it may take a few minutes for your download to get processed. You will receive a download notification via e-mail when everything is ready.’

But you can change this to say whatever you like. Plus we provide a custom css class that you can use to stylize the way the message appears.

Your Checkout Message can be edited through Symbiostock Settings > Downloads

NEW: Increased security feature for CRON processor
We’ve added the ability for you to reset your secret cron processor code. This as an added security measure for unfortunate circumstances whereby you suspect your cron code is breached. This is a significant security upgrade to the previous version where you only had one permanent cron code.

‘Reset Cron Code’ can be found through Symbiostock Settings > System

IMPROVEMENT: Optimized Symbiostock variable checking
A number of systematic checking operations have been optimized to run more efficiently, bringing speed improvements to certain Symbiostock processors.

IMPROVEMENT: Easier setup for new users
We’ve disabled the Woocommerce startup wizard to make the Symbiostock installation process easier and more seamless. Store pages are now automatically generated behind the scenes.

NEW: Option for improved WP Emailing
A new option which delivers minor improvements to the way WordPress handles and delivers emails sent through it. This setting ensures that all mail sent via WordPress has a valid return-path in the headers, thereby reducing the chance of your mail being viewed as spam. This setting is also necessary for advanced server mail routing.

This setting is called ‘Add Return-Path fix for all emailing through WordPress’ and can be enabled/disabled through Symbiostock Settings > System

MAJOR ADDITIONS FOR VECTOR ARTISTS:
1) Batch Processing of Alternate JPEGs
Vector artist can now batch upload vector files with corresponding JPEG files, and Symbiostock Pro will automatically associate that JPEG and add it as the Alternate JPEG for that vector. Previously, vector artists had to manually upload Alternate JPEG’s one-by-one for each product – a tedious and time consuming process. Now you can FTP all your files and Symbiostock Pro takes care of it. Time saving efficiency!

2) Alternate JPEG Metadata Population
You can also set Symbiostock Pro to write and read metadata to/from Alternate JPEG’s. So if your Alternate JPEGs have metadata embedded, Symbiostock Pro will use that information to populate your vector product information such as title/description/keywords/GPS. The feature allows vector artists to, like photographers, do all their prep work before hand and just upload media for a one-step solution to getting all their stuff online and ready for sale.

Alternate JPEG settings can be enabled/disabled through Symbiostock Settings > Media

Remember, detailed guides on how to use all aspects of Symbiostock Pro are available through Symbiostock Documentation.

 

Love Symbiostock and all the amazing free software provided? Show your support by writing a review on WordPress about how Symbiostock benefits you. Or you can even buy a coffee for our wonderful development team!

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Symbiostock 2.0: It’s here

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Launched only a few months ago, Symbiostock has grown dramatically in just a short while. Based on the WordPress platform, Symbiostock has evolved into a feature rich media management and sales system that does so much more than just offer you a storefront for your images.

By being streamlined and  non-intrusive, it has proven to be highly compatible with just about any theme, allowing an eclectic mix of different looking sites power themselves with its code. In fact, there are so many different variations that aside from a few unique elements, even our developers sometimes have a hard time knowing if the Symbiostock engine is running in the background.

Initially conceived and developed years ago, Legacy Symbiostock was a dramatic idea – provide independent artists a way to monetize their images so that any reliance on third party corporations was minimized. It was embraced by the community. And though it ultimately did not achieve the throughput intended, the simple drive towards independence is still alive and strong in the microstock community.

 

Symbiostock 2.0 is now the realization of a revolutionary
new way to achieve that independence.

 

By improving nearly every single aspect of the plugin, from the processor to watermarks to licensing and security, it most importantly introduces us to the Symzio Network Widget. Now, users can integrate beautiful and seamless search results from across the network on their WordPress pages. The key to this system is immediate and relevant results; each Symbiostock site will now operate as a node, contributing a portion of its traffic every day to the whole network. It is through the well integrated implementation of the Symzio widget that we can now operate as a cohesive collective while still maintaining an absolutely independent and fully controlled distribution system for our own images.

The grandiose number of features, fixes and upgrades that are coming with Symbiostock 2.0 is nothing to sneeze at; we now have really relevant related products (probably superior, even, to the built in WordPress search system). We have complete video support on our PLUS servers – just upload any video, and within a couple of minutes it’s available for sale, fully protected with a watermark and secured downloads for your customers. You can even submit your uploaded videos to agencies like Shutterstock and Fotolia, absolutely free with our PLUS service. We have tonnes of localization upgrades – change the way licenses show up on your storefront and even translate some of the phrases that show up throughout the customer experience.

We have quick editing for professional stock photographers who want to upload hundreds of images and keyword them quickly and efficiently (title, tab, description, tab, keywords, tab, enter – saved, including metadata writing!). We have geodata parsing – customers can now see a beautiful Google map on the product page relating to the image itself.

There are too many things to list. And though you will certainly want to familiarize yourself with the upgrades and new features, the real purpose of all of this is to make it easier for you to get your images up there, ready to be sold, and to maximize the number of sales you get for all your hard work.

We truly believe this is a big step in that direction.

Documentation relating to the new features will begin to be populated in the next few weeks, so be aware that some guides may be slightly different than the way Symbiostock now works.

If you’re already a Symbiostock user, you should go and sign up for Symzio before even upgrading so that your account is activated sooner rather than later. This way you can join the network along with everyone else at the same time. Once we get an influx of signups, it will take more time to process them, and accordingly, delays will ensue.

As always, post any queries and comments in our forum. Take care Symbiostockers!

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Symbiostock 1.3: The Compatibility Update

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By popular request, we have now enhanced Symbiostock to work with systems that do not have Imagick installed. This is extremely good news for individuals who desire to use Symbiostock, but have been unable to due to the limitations of their web host providers. As well, if you don’t have shell access through PHP, Symbiostock will also read metatags.

While most features of Symbiostock will now work without Imagick and shell access, certain enhanced features of Symbiostock will be limited without them:

– only JPEG files can be supported without Imagick
– meta data will be imported but meta data changes made through WordPress cannot be saved to images.

Some features, such as vector processing will not work without Imagick, but for all you photographers, this is a huge opportunity. You can set up your Symbiostock powered image store very quickly and easily by following our 3 Minute Guide to Launching your Store.

Download Symbiostock today and give it a go!

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Symbiostock 1.2 Released

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This release is a relatively large one. The largest changes involve minimizing memory and CPU usage for the processor which has been retooled to evade most of WordPress’s heaviest built in functions. Along with this are a number of bug fixes that rectify a host of minor issues all relating to WooCommerce integration.

It also adds a big feature missing from WordPress which is the inclusion of keywords/tags in the search engine. This has not only been added, but implemented in a manner that is approximately 85% faster than most third party plugins.

This release signifies a significantly large stride forward in providing a truly stable digital media distribution system.

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Speed, Tag Searching and Metadata Writing

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Metadata Writing

Symbiostock 1.1, released about half a week after 1.0, introduced metadata writing. With this powerful feature, you can now save your WordPress edits directly to your images. This only works on images that readily support metadata, such as JPEGs.

What’s this good for?

Well, now you can use Symbiostock as a full-fledged metadata editor. Anyone who is a professional stock image producer knows that metadata editing is never that easy, and now being able to both manage your store and tweak your titles, descriptions and keywords, not just in your store, but right in the core of your images.

But again, what’s this good for?

Simple. If you download this image, submit it to an agency, or even sell it, all that data is stored in it. You don’t have to manually repopulate titles, descriptions or keywords with agencies, which is in itself a large and tedious task. Do all your editing in one place. Thanks to WordPress’s great tagging system, duplicates are automatically removed. So you can just keep typing relevant words, click save, and you’ve got an image ready to go. Couple this with our PLUS hosting system, and you can even automatically submit your images to agencies. This means that as a PLUS customer, once you upload your image to Symbiostock, you never have to do anything else. Edit it there, update it there, and submit it to agencies there.

Massive Search Speed Boost + Tag Searching

Speed? Speed. You may or may not know this, but neither WordPress nor WooCommerce search tags in their search engine. Don’t believe me? Try it out on your own site. Add a tag to a product or article, do a search, and it won’t show up. This is a known shortcoming and isn’t easy to overcome. Why? Because tag searching adds a lot of overhead, and if you have thousands of articles or products, you’re looking at a 1-2 second delay on every search query.

Well, not anymore. In Symbiostock’s next release, the search engine has been revamped to include built in tag searching.

The best part?

We’re talking 0.2 seconds overhead. We’ve cut it down by up to 90% using the Symbiostock engine. In fact, the more images you have, the more tags you have, the more you will see a massive difference between this and third party plugins that provide similar functionality.

This is just one of the many fantastic new developments that are going to keep coming with Symbiostock. And soon, even the Symzio project will come online – a wonderful, community driven search engine that takes all your beautiful images, and presents them to customers in one cohesive and speedy interface. Exclusive to Symbiostock users like you.

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Symbiostock is here!

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Symbiostock is now released!

You can download it directly from your WordPress install by going to Plugins > Add New and searching for Symbiostock.

Offering a fully featured FTP/web uploading system, thumbnail and watermark generation and re-generation, and a robust but simple licensing system that permits you to customize your media sales in any way you see fit.

Fully integrated with WooCommerce, Symbiostock offers a secure and automated way for customers to buy your media, receive download links, all without you having to do anything.

Decide on the sizes and set the price for the downloadable image. Upload your own watermark. Globally change pricing and licenses at the click of a button.

Use any WordPress theme to customize your store. Change your theme at the drop of a hat.

Compatible with every plugin WordPress has to offer, from search engine optimization to marketing and analytics, you can now take your media store to the next level.

Be one of the first to try out this powerful new tool: Download it through your WordPress install or download it here!

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Legacy Symbiostock Updates – Don’t do it!

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If you’re a wonderful legacy Symbiostock user and are eagerly awaiting the new release, don’t jump the gun when you see an update available for your website. We no longer have control over the update feature connected to the legacy Symbiostock software which departed with a previous developer.

To keep up to date with the new release, subscribe to our forums or keep track of everything through our blog.

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