Demo
There is a demo of ProofBuddy available at http://demo.proofbuddy.com. Feel free to login and see how ProofBuddy looks from the client site.
One note: the demo is of the Pro version of ProofBuddy. You will notice pricing categories and packages, both of which are features available in the Pro version.
I'm interested in using Proof Buddy, but I have no idea how this works...my clients look through their proofs, pick out what they'd like printed, and pay via PayPal. Then what happens? Please walk me through the process, step-by-step so I can understand it.
Thank you!
After the client submits an order there are two emails sent. One to the client, and optionally cc'd to you, that contains the total price, shipping, etc for the order. The other, sent to the email address set under Options -> Company, has a PDF file attached that gives you information on their order. I've just added a documentation page that has a screen shot of the PDF and a link to download a sample so you can see what it looks like.
The client then sees a thank you page that by default has a link to Paypal to pay for the order and your company name and address if they would rather send a check. That page, like every other page on the client side, can be totally customized to say whatever you would like.
Once you get the PDF you fulfill the order just like you would if they had called on the phone. Edit and crop the images in whatever software you're using and upload the files to your lab.
So how do I customise the thanks page? I've looked everywhere but can't figure it out. Any help would be appreciated :)
I was curious the program offers options to make the photo B&W how is that communicated on the order? Does the client have an option to provide feedback on certain images if they want something edited? Can you add product options to this program?
Thanks,
Al
When you get the email for an order it tells you whether they ordered a color, b&w, or sepia image.
You can optionally allow comments on the images.
Product options will be possible with version 2.0 which I'm currently working on.
Is it possible to modify the sepia toning on the site? I would like to show images with my own sepia tone style. This may be asking for too much, I've never seen a site that would allow this, but if it's possible, I'd like to have the option.
Thanks.
You can change the somewhat change how ImageMagick does sepia toning by changing the sepia threshold. See this page for a little more on that. The default threshold is 80 which is a pretty good starting point, but you can tweak it a little.
Version 2.0 is slated to let plugins affect how these conversions are done, although it hasn't been coded yet so I'm not totally sure how it's going to work.
Ok, I checked out the demo. How in the world do you add a photo to the cart? I can't find it for the life of me. Or have you just disabled that in the demo?
The demo is for the client side. There isn't a demo for the admin side.
Hi Ryan,
I have use proofbuddy for quite some time. I have been exploring my options with other providers because I wanted to be able to do packages. I noticed that you have that option on the pro version. Do you have a demo of this feature? I love Proof Buddy and have really appreciated being able to use it. I would love to continue, I just want to see it in action. Thanks so much.
Is there any way to disable the "view as: color | bw | sepia" below the photo? I'd like to upload my conversions instead. Thanks!
Two choices.
1 - When you import images you have the option to allow / disallow either grayscale or sepia. If you disable the option for both the links won't show.
2 - You can also edit the theme file fullimage.tpl and take out the variables that show the links.
Great! Thnx!
How can I see a full demo of this product and how the shopping cart works from the clients point of view? Price is good but I have to see a full demo and the full shopping cart before I will decide on anything.
Thank you.
Kristi
We've been pushing to get version 2.0.3 and the documentation together. Next on the list is to get a demo of version 2 online. Right now it's version 1.0. From the client side there's not a whole lot of difference though.
You list a link to the demo but what do I type in to access it?
There are several listed on the login page for different themes.
I guess the obvious question is, what stops a client from right-clicking and downloading the image for free? Without some way of preventing this, I might as well give my images away.
If it's on their screen, the image is already on their computer. Right click blocking isn't going to prevent people who are going to copy the image from getting it. Nothing will. If you want to be absolutely sure that nobody can save the images off of your website, don't put them on your website. It's the only 100% sure way.
That said, ProofBuddy does offer right click blocking. It, by default also checks that the user is logged in before serving an image so copying and pasting the link wouldn't work.
The Pro version can also watermark images as you import and put a transparent overlay on top of the image so that if they right click save, the file that's saved is a small transparent gif.
Is there a way to add sales tax to orders before giving the final total and sending them to PayPal?
It does. The demo probably isn't set to collect sales tax in your state so you won't see a charge.
Got the following on the demo of NewsPrint when I hit the back button from the shopping cart and also when hitting the back button just looking at one photo to go back to the previous. The navigation buttons seem to be working fine, you just can't use the back button on your browser (Google Chrome). Same issue with 18% Gray - didn't try the others.
Fatal error: Call to a member function item_count() on a non-object in /home/buddy/demo_html/index.php(8) : eval()'d code(3) : eval()'d code(575) : eval()'d code on line 43
There is also an issue with converting from color to B&W and sepia in News Print. I'm very interested in purchasing the Pro version, if these errors don't exist in them.
Apologies for the delay. Your comment got caught in a mountain of spam posts.
The demo's actually running a bit of an outdated version. Your best bet would be to download and install the free lite version and install to your server.
Ryan,
I am interested in the pro version and want to make sure I am set up for this. I have my domain name, web server and soon to be website through godaddy.com Are there specific requirements I will need from them to install proof buddy?
Also, I would like to give descriptions of not only my packages, but single specialty items as well (travel mugs - etc.) - can descriptions be used for single items? Also, can I upload sample photos of specialty items as well as holiday card samples?
Last, I will be using proof buddy to load large events such as school jobs, the largest of which is about 2,000 images. Can these images be loaded by classroom/group folders for ease of parent navigation?
Thanks in advance. Carol
Basically, if your host can run WordPress it can run ProofBuddy. WP and PB have fairly similar requirements. With GoDaddy you'll want to go with one of their Linux hosting plans. ProofBuddy will usually run on a Windows host, but we've run into some snags on the GoDaddy windows plans.
Photos of items is not something that's built in to ProofBuddy. What I've seen users do is create a page off of their ProofBuddy site with sample images though.
Two choices on splitting. You can either create separate albums for each group. Or, if you're using the Pro version, you can create child albums. And since you're asking about 2000+ images in an album, you'd need the Pro version for an album that size anyway.
Thanks Ryan - I do have a mac and I am wondering if you would recommend another hosting site that would be more compatible with proof buddy than the godaddy site. I am not naturally inclined to be a computer tech so I am looking for the most seamless, least problematic way to go with this. Thanks.
You having a Mac doesn't really matter. It's the software that's running on the GoDaddy server you're leasing. ProofBuddy tends to work better with their Linux accounts. And unless you specifically asked for a Windows server they probably put you on a Linux server.
Okay last question before deciding whether to download the pro version or have you/proof buddy host which I now see is an option. My preference is to pay once and have the program on my website to use. Having said that, my number one concern is customer support. That is, if I have a problem showing images or something else, would I have as much immediate support for fixing the problem as I would if proof buddy did the hosting? Thanks in advance.
Hi Carol,
What happend to the support question? did you get an answer ?
I seem to do the same photography as you. Have you found out how to deal with login/password for each kid ? big privacy issue !
Hi Soren,
I never heard back from Ryan. Even sent a contact email through the proof buddy site. So I am still in limbo... I would like to go with proof buddy one way or the other but not sure why there has been no response to my last concern/question. ...and I have not even asked about your other question.
@Carol - I got your email and replied to it. Suggested that you go with the self-hosted version rather than hosting with us. Going forward to PB3, a hosted option isn't something we're planning on offering anymore.
Thanks Ryan. Very odd that I never got your email......
Hi Carol,
yes can be really frustrating sometimes. Especially handling each kid I think that Picturespro.com and the Dave's uploader does a better job :-)
soren