Daniel Gilreath Photography has been updated!

Holy Update Batman!

If you have been following me on Twitter, Facebook or the RSS feed lately you will know that DRGPhoto.com has been having some technical issues the past few weeks. For that, my dear friends, I am very sorry! However, I am here today to tell you that all of those pesky bugs have been fixed (the ones I’ve found anyway…) and in the process we have improved a few things around here. I just wanted to take a small minute to jot down a quick bullet list of some of the upgrades, changes and face-lifts to old features. So if we are all ready…let’s get down to some updating-goodness!

• Obviously - the theme to the website has been completely changed. This is due, in part, to a catastrophic failure with the old web host I was using. I found a better deal out there and decided to switch from 1and1.com to Dreamhost.com (side note – looking for your very own place on the interwebs? Dreamhost has been very kind in offering a FREE domain registration if you use the code “drgphoto” without the quotes. Hurry though – expires 6-30-10!). The rates were better, the admin interface was better and well… it just had more features. In short, the switch was NOT smooth in anyway and I lost just about everything. Ground up rebuild.
  • Since I was redesigning the site a little, I decided I would go with a Graphpaperpress.com theme because, well, they are just damned beautiful. I mean look at this place. Waaay better than the previous page IMO.
  • GPP themes also happen to integrate very nicely with my official store (where you can purchase prints, cards, and other items from your shoot. This is also where you will be doing digital proofing if you choose that method). Because they integrate nicely the look and feel of the site is carried through, and just leaves a better impression on the whole.
• Newsletter goodness! I’ve integrated my newsletter sign-up into the site so you are able to sign up and manage your profile from anywhere within the site. This just makes opting in to receive updates just that much easier. Part of the destruction last week also left me with an outdated mailing list…make sure you are on it before you miss anything awesome!
• Lightboxes and favorites. Each of the posts that have pictures will have a link back to the store and also allow you to “favorite” images that you really like. You are able to store them in a lightbox to come back to and enjoy/share whenever you want!
• Open sign in system. The standard sign up process for WordPress powered sites is a little sad I think. It just doesn’t make sense for you to sign up with yet another website just to leave a comment. Dumb. I have implemented an open sign in process that will allow you to use any of the sites you already have an account with (if you do) to leave comments or what not. I really want this place to become both a way for me to showcase my work, and for a place people can really enjoy and get involved with. So far, no one has taken advantage…..wink wink, nudge nudge….
• The in-post galleries have been updated as well. When you click on an image, you should see a larger version “pop” up and darken the rest of the screen. Just click on either side to navigate through all the images in the post.
• Updated Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, Copyright and Release forms.

Those are just a few of the things we have changed over here @DRGphoto. There was a lot more to it behind the scenes that should make the viewing experience that much better. At least I hope so. As alluded to above, however, there are still plenty of bugs to be found I am sure. If you would not mind helping me find them, I would really appreciate it. Shoot me an email or leave a comment and let me know what happened!

There are more changes and upgrades planned for the future, and if there is anything you would like to see implemented or something you just plain do not like – let me know!

I appreciate everyone stopping by, and I hope you have enjoyed the stay!

DRG – [stray-random]