Lulu Release 7.4.1

[jkomenda]

Lulu Release 7.4.1 is a minor release with several high-visibility aspects, including:

Redesign of the top level tabs and homepage, to add a top level "services' tab. Also, blue tabs!

Deploying the latest infrastructure update for our community site (people.lulu.com) and made some (minor) adjustments to the look and feel of the community homepage. This upgrade will allow blogs to have the same look and feel as the rest of your storefront.

Adding messaging about removing Lulu Formatting option. Lulu Formatting is scheduled to go away as of November 3rd. See the follow-up post for details.

Also included in this release is a dizzying array of minor fixes:
- Redesigned /themes/create/homepage.php
(the 'publish' tab when not logged in)
- Removal of several unused/obsolete help nodes
- A new tool on the buy now page (/services/buy_now_buttons/)
that allows you to enter a CID to generate buy now code
- Tweaked the layout of several of the main user pages;
/author, /reader, etc...
- Added a new 'buy' icon to the project list which replaces
the link from 'Available', which is now gone.
- Changed the edit/revise icon
- Fixed a longstanding bug that was causing the Lulu logo
to not appear on book spines (yay!)
- A licensing bug that would break the page if there was
no product
- Changed 'Edit' icon to 'Revise' in publish wizard
- Tweaked the All Categories page to show features only
if features are available (duh)
- Generate isbn cover real-time (that is, in a few
minutes after purchasing the ISBN)
- Added debug error if cover image can't be read properly
- Adjusted cover trim specs for LSI, adding 1/16 to the
green, visual buffer
- Adjusted the default calendar cover
- Fixed our broken Froogle feed (finally!)
- Moved all instances of >> before links instead of after
- Fix cover spine preview for ` character (backtick)
- Fixed a silent bug where contacts would error due
to a variable not being loaded

Whew! That's about it. Next release scheduled for the 3rd.

Joe K

[jkomenda]

Please Note If you're not familiar with it, the Lulu-Formatting option formats a stock manuscript with page numbers, and adds in things like a Title page, index, and copyright text. Most authors do this themselves and publish with the as-is option.

In a nutshell, the problem with the Lulu-formatting option is that it's very buggy. Unless you format your book just right, it looks awful. It's actually easier to just do that stuff yourself. We're expanding our help and knowledgebase to assist any authors who want to learn to do this.

The as-is converter is what the vast majority of people use. It's essentially Acrobat Distiller, specially set up to process to certain default sizes. That's not changing. You can still upload a pile of jpgs, MS Word docs, multiple pdfs, etc... We just won't be trying to add an index and page numbers for you, because we usually got that wrong anyway.

Also, people can still upload a single PDF and bypass the converter entirely.

Joe K

[greglondon]

people can upload multiple PDF's for a single book if bandwidth is a problem.
I discovered that approach when I ran into a page limit in cutePDF.

[ahooper]

Something that I thought was never made clear about the AS IS option is that it actually converts Word type docs to pdf. I thought before that only the lulu formatting did that, because everyone specifies that AS IS "makes no changes to your file". So thats why I previously opted for the LULU formatting, thinking that it was the only way to get lulu to "make changes", ie make it into a pdf.
Yes, I have now seen the light, and I now see that AS IS really is easier, but I wonder if I am the only one who thought this way. Perhaps a footnote can be added to say something like, "will convert your Word / Office type docs to a pdf, without making changes to the content/layout of your doc.
ops: at sounding dumb!
Cheers, Angela

[joe+jul12_test01]

Angela,

You point out yet another reason to get rid of Lulu-Formatting option - it creates much confusion. Users shouldn't have to make choices about these things; if it's a properly sized pdf (that is, within 1/4" tolerance), it should just pass through. Everything else gets converted to a properly sized pdf.

After that, all we need is a list of 'Everything Else'

Joe K

[jkomenda]

Lulu Release 7.4.1 went live at approximately 8:55am, exceeding it's maintenance window by almost an hour. Our bad. There were a number of unforseen difficulties in migration of the people.lulu.com infrastructure, but hopefully all have been resolved at this time.

Joe Komenda

[ednabarney]

Joe - I have had beaucoups problems this am! Firstly, I could not add new files to a project. Right now, while typing this message I cannot get some keys to work propertly. When I posted to my BLOG - it ended up in someone else's blog. I found that blog in the drop down list in my BLOG (have no idea why it was there as I have never posted to any other BLOG than my own). So I went there and was able to delete it. That also deleted it from my BLOG. So I posted again. For a while it worked. Then I made an addition to my BLOG entry and - you guessed it. I posted to a third person's blog. I could not get my own BLOG to come up in the drop down list - only that third blog. Very Buggyl!
~~
Neddy's Nook

[ednabarney]

I am continuing to have the same problem - of inadvertantly posting to other people's Blogs. When I click the button to post, another Blog name comes up, not my own.
NEDDY, www.ednabarney.com

[jkomenda]

From our tech:

"The problem is that if no blog_id is specified in the URL, the user is given a drop down list to choose what blog to post into. We had some 80 blogs which were public meaning anyone can post into them. I think what happened is Neddy was posting and the drop down list had someone else's blog selected by default."

This is something I hadn't noticed either, btw....

As a temporary fix, weve changed all the blogs to "Private".

[ednabarney]

I have noticed that when someone posts as a GUEST, the word "Guest" links back to my Lulu Store, which I cannot understand. I never post as a GUEST, so why is this happening? Besides, I do not agree with what is being posted.
~~Neddy