Spruz Owners' Community For owners of websites powered by the Spruz Platform

Today we released an update that greatly improves the rich text editor you use for adding content to your site. The rich text editor is used on custom content elements, forum posts, blog posts, etc.

This update was focused on speed improvements and get the new editor to work with the content builder system. You will also see it has a brand new look and improved functionality overall. Like anything new there may be bugs, problems or issues with it. Please report problems you encounter in a support ticket including if you run across an area that the editor does not load. The key thing about the editor is it loads much faster then before.

Other Improvements

Blog Improvements - New Settings added to the main blog page element and blog preview element

• Featuring - You can now feature blog entries, this works with the blog preview element and it's new set of options for display by different types including featured entries.
• Approval options - On the main blog page you can click the edit icon for your blog entries and set require approval for new blog posts. This will cause blog entries entered by members to be approved before displaying. If you have pending blogs for approval a new Pending Approval link will appear with the number of blogs for approval. Any blog moderator can approve blogs.
• Views - Now when an entry is posted it will track views. The views is only visible to blog moderators and to the person that posted the blog entry.

Video Improvements - New settings for approval, and featuring

• Featuring - You can now feature videos, this works with the Video box element and it's new set of options for display by different types including featured videos, the great thing about elements is you can create as many as you want and mix and match with different display options.
• Approval options - On the main videos page you can click the edit icon for your videos and set require approval for new videos. This will cause video entries entered by members to be approved before displaying. If you have pending videos for approval a new Pending Approval link will appear with the number of blogs for approval next to the view all link. Any videos moderator can approve videos.
• Video Quality Improvements have been added for video uploading by our Enterprise clients. This greatly enhances video quality on play back and full screen.

In addition to these updates we have made a number of small fixes and adjustments. Remember we depend on you reporting problems, anomalies and help with pointing out small usability improvements to improve our platform and service. Please report any issue you have in a support ticket, all websites have quick access to support from your website management area.

One of the greatest advantages you have by using us as your technology solution is the way we add new features and make improvements on a regular basis. When we update, your site is automatically updated allowing you to take advantage of these changes right away.

We have been working hard at developing improvements and features for your future enjoyment. Many times we will post inside information on our Twitter page at http://twitter.com/spruz

Below is some updates on features we have been working on and we have planned for release.

New and Improved Event System

Our new event system that was originally slated for release at the end of last month will be ready for roll out in the next few weeks. The new event system greatly improves the look and functionality over using the existing event calendar. Once released we will begin to phase out the old event calendar system. Some new features include a whole new look, better moderation options, event commenting options, event photos, setup pay events, and much more!

Overall system improvements

Over the next few weeks you will see changes with how elements work and the way things are loaded on the page.

• We are moving forward with converting a number of our elements with the way they load and request information using Ajax (Ajax is a programming method of loading in a block of HTML rather then the whole page). This will reduce full page load time and give the appearance of a faster website.
• Featuring of Videos, Blogs, Photos and other information
• Adding Content Moderation to areas like Videos, Blog, Photos and more to allow you to approve content before it is viable by the general public.
• Adding more RSS feeds to things like the forums, site activity, etc
• We are tackling a whole list of small tweaks, adjustments and usability improvements to polish out current systems.
• New element options to add more personalized customization.
• New Admin/Management Area Welcome Page Coming Soon.

Major New Features on the Horizon (Slated for completion by the end of the year)

• Wiki type knowledge base system. This system will allow anyone to edit and create pages with full moderation controls with a very deep page structure.
• Member Points System. This will be a customizable system that allows you to set point values for site participation from your members
• Member Titles and Prefix Options based on access level.
• Element Viewing Options similar to the Profile Elements. So that you may select elements you want to show only to people visiting your website then show something else to someone that is member on the page or display the element to everyone.

Need more help? Want to Contribute? Visit our Website Owner Support Community at http://my.spruz.com today!

Ever wanted to automatically start your members our with a new friend? Well now you can! Next time you visit the Site Profile Settings page you will see a new option called Default Profile Friend. Type the name of the member you want to be the members first friend and click save. Now when a new member joins that member account will automatically be a friend of that person.

You will notice that we have added an auto complete function that searches your members as you type to make it much easier to set the default friend and default profile template user account. More information on the setting the default profile page element arrangement go to http://my.spruz.com/?page=content&cid=32021&show_id=40570

Important If you had previously set a UID number for the default profile template you need to go back and use the new by name for the default profile template for your default profile to get copied to newly created member profiles.

Remember you can change your site and profile settings from the Settings link located in your website management area.

Comment Boxes have a new look

We have changed the styling of the comment boxes so that blend better with websites. The new look takes out the rounding and we kept it open for 3 slicing so that with CSS you can customize the comment boxes to have rounding if you chose.

Basic Content Editor the default

A while ago we released a new basic version of our content editor and the editor for Free websites. Now free and upgraded sites can use the Advanced editor and we have set the basic editor as the default content editor in admin. If you rather use the old editor (Advanced Editor) just click the advanced button and it should remember your setting.

Please make sure to report any bugs you see in support tickets to help us improve current features.

There have been many new changes that have taken place over the past few weeks. Make sure to follow us on http://twitter.com/spruz to get the latest as it happens.

Site Properties on website administration has been renamed and revamped.

To make it easier for people to find where to change core site settings we have updated the Site Properties link with the label of Settings and on that page you can access your global website settings and update the site profile settings. These areas provide you with a number of options to further tailor your community to your liking.

New Display options on the Members Box Element

Our goal has and always will be to provide our users with an incredible level of customization. That is why you will now see a new Display Style option when editing some elements. The display types will change the look of the information within the element. Right now there are 4 display styles (List, Card, Small and Tile) for you to play with. To check this out just click on any members element on your website.

Profile Comment Notifications

With the shout box element users can set an option to get an email every time someone comments directly on their profile. This can be turned off from the element settings on the shout box element if added to their profile page.

Customize the default profile elements members start with

Be default all profiles normally start with a Friends box and a Shout box, but now you can create a custom profile arrangement for your members to start with when they first join your website. More information on this can be found by going to http://my.spruz.com/?page=content&cid=32021&show_id=40570

New Themes Added to the Theme Library

Want to try a new look for your website? We have a theme library that allows you to quickly install new themes to your website. To check out the theme selection go to your theme library by going to your website, login, then click on Manage Site, then the red design tab. You will see an option in the menu for Theme Library, new themes are added all the time.

Blog Preview Element Changes

On the Blog Preview element that you can add to your home page you can now set the number of words to display and it will automatically post the first Image or Video from you post to display in the preview.

Blog Changes

We have removed the large date block next to the title of a blog entry when viewing and replaced that with the Picture of the person that posted the blog entry. We have also corrected an issue when editing a blog where the category box was not keeping the category selection properly.

Some new SPI codes have been added.

- $member_profile_image will return the URL of the members profile image, and we have added #load_xmlpost(http://example.com)# that is designed to allow you to post to another server page information. Thus allowing developers to really intergrate 3rd party features into our platform. More information about SPI

In addition to the above we have made a number of other small fixes and adjustments.

In our latest update we have made a few small changes and fixed a few things.

New Videos Page, this page allows people to add, view and search videos added from Youtube. If you are using the old video search page please delete it, and click on add new page then select Videos Page.

New Group page, we have revamped the group page to make it a little easier to use, to update your current group page delete the one you have and then go to add pages and select groups. Don't worry you won't lose anything in the process.

In addition these pages are fully element based, thus allowing them to be customized with addition supporting elements.

A few fixes that we have applied:

• Link Directory - We have corrected an issue with the link directory where if the page was set to allow anyone to add links they would get a access denied type of message when submitting there entry. The page should now follow the correct access rules. We have also addressed the problem with deleting link categories.
• Members Photos and Video Pages - We have added options directly on the photo or video view to make it easier to delete, and edit the video or photo. This is also where the new featured option will be soon where you can pick photos and videos to be featured in a photos or videos box element.
• Profiles - Profile shouts no longer will show in the main site activity. It was intended that those should be more private and not broadcasted to the world.
• File and Uploading Speed Improvements - In some cases sites with alot of files would see slow downs when loading any file uploader, such as when uploading a photo to profiles or going to the file manager. This has been improved so those things should load up much quicker now.
• Elements - When you leave the header text blank on an element it will no longer draw the top header row. Thus making a much cleaner look, so if you do not want to have a title header on an element you can leave it blank and it will now draw correctly.

A snap shot of what you will see in the next few weeks:

New and Improved Event System, Member Search Page, Site Settings page and member titles