It's not 100% where we want it yet. Most notably the iframe is a bit jumpy as it resizes. But it is a much easier way to get your proofing pages to look like your main site if you're using WordPress.

So the question for today is, if there were a WordPress plugin that interacted with ProofBuddy, what would you want it to do?

Here are my thoughts, roughly in order of likelihood. Let me know what you think in the comments if this is close to what you would like to see.

Shortcode for WP pages / posts
This is what I'm guessing most of the requests were after. Basically some way to insert a gallery from ProofBuddy in to a WordPress post. Maybe something along the lines of [ pbGallery passcode=123 ] that would pull a gallery out of the ProofBuddy database and insert it into a WordPress post.

Done correctly, this would allow you to basically wrap ProofBuddy inside of your WordPress theme and your visitors may not even have to know they're using ProofBuddy.

Dashboard widget
Possibly a dashboard widget for WordPress that displayed info about your ProofBuddy albums when you login to wp-admin. Something similar to what's in the ProofBuddy dashboard already where you could see sales, image counts, that sort of thing.

Insert Image
Some sort of interface that would let you insert an image that you've already loaded in to ProofBuddy without having to upload again.

Not sure how this one would work though.

Your thoughts?
Most of the really great features that have made their way in to ProofBuddy have started as a request from a user. Y'all are the ones using ProofBuddy every day with your clients and know all of those little nit picks that could make it better, and we truly appreciate any input you may have. 

ProofBuddy 2.0 is dependent on server settings on whether it can install plugins and themes automatically, and most hosts aren't setup to allow ProofBuddy to do what it needs to do. And they're setup the right way. While it would be nice for ProofBuddy to have access to write anywhere it needs to, it's generally safer for a host to not allow that to happen.

With ProofBuddy 2.1 we're adding the ability to upload themes and plugins using your FTP login information instead which should make it easier to add new plugins and themes. ProofBuddy will also occasionally check for new versions of any plugins and themes you have installed and let you update to the newest versions automatically as well.

The goal is for this also to allow you to update ProofBuddy through this same process.

And here's an obligatory screen shot of the first step to installing a new plugin via the new FTP uploaded.

The first step in uploading a plugin in ProofBuddy 2.1

Screenshot of mobile ProofBuddy plugin

Ultimately this will be a premium plugin at $9.99, although Pro users will be able to get a free copy. Likewise, testers of the plugin will also receive a free copy. If you're interested in helping with the testing please leave a comment below. We'll take the first 6. And be sure to include your email address. It's not published but we do need a way to get in contact with you.

Edit...
Looks like there's a bit of a limitation on the iPhone emulator I used to get the screenshot. The actual plugin rounds the corners on the thumbnail and fullsized images to more closely match the iPhone menu icons. For some reason the emulator doesn't as you can see in the screenshot.

If you're upgrading from a previous version you can simply copy this version on top of version 1.0. 

Usage
Once installed and activated, there will be 3 new variables available for use.

<!--packageContents-->
Will display the contents of any packages available for the current image.  This variable only works within the fullimage.tpl template file.

<!--packageContents:#-->
Displays the package contents for the image specified by #.  For example, if you want to display the contents of packages for image ID 123 you would put <!--packageContents:123--> into your theme file.

<!--packageContents:album-->
Displays the contents for packages associated with the current album.  This will typically be the same as the current image, but may not be if you've set the image to individual pricing.

Customizing
In the plugin folder is a small CSS file named packageContents.css.  There are a handful of CSS selectors that you can use to customize how the list looks on page.  Each element is wrapped in a <span> so you can style it pretty much however you like. 

Download

Thanks...
And a thanks to Louis DiChello at Custom Creative Photo for the idea behind this plugin.

When activated a new icon will be on the Options -> Pricing page between the icons for a new pricing set and renaming a pricing set.  Clicking on this icon will allow you to copy the currently selected pricing set to a new set.

One note, this uses Javascript to add the icon so it's fairly browser dependent.  We've tested on FF, IE8, and Opera.  But if you come across a browser where the icon doesn't show up or you get an error please let us know in the comments.

The Show Crop plugin adds a bit of JavaScript to the client side of your proofing gallery that will mask out images to a center crop matching the proportion of the print size they have selected.  

Let's take a look at a screen shot. 

The image is roughly 4x6 proportion and the user has selected and 8x10 print.  The masks are applied to show them an approximation of what their image will look like after cropping.

Installation
You can either install the Show Crop plugin through the plugin browser or manually download and upload using your favorite FTP program.  (We like FileZilla)

Once you've gotten Show Crop onto your server you will need to active it.  Click on the Options -> Plug-Ins tab and the Activate link next to the Show Crop plugin.

Usage
Once activated, the Show Crop plugin will add two new options to the Options -> Images tab.  Crop Opacity is a number between 0 and 100 that is the percentage opacity of the mask.  Crop Color is the color of the mask and can be any string that works as a CSS color.  Literal colors (black, white, etc), hex colors (#cccccc, #123123), or rgb codes all work.

The JavaScript looks for pricing with something in it formatted as #x#.  So '4x6 Print', '5x7" Print', '8x10 Inch Print', and '24x36 Canvas' all will work.  '8 by 10 Print', 'A Really Big Print', '5"x7" Print' and '5 x 7 Print' will not work because the pattern does not match.

Feedback
We have tested this plugin in Firefox 3.5 and IE7.  But it is very JavaScript dependent and may not work as needed in all browsers.  Please let us know if you come across a browser where it doesn't and we'll see what we can do to get it running correctly.  The scripts are written so that they will silently fail rather than display an error message so your clients shouldn't see any error messages.  It just won't work.

Download
Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

When activated, this plugin will add an option to the General options tab where you can enter your Google Web Property ID.  This is a number available through Analytics that starts with UA- and identifies your site to Analytics. Enter this ID and save the options and, assuming the ID starts with UA-, which it should, ProofBuddy will start appending the tracking code to your client side pages.

Download
Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

Problem is, we only have about half a dozen ideas for plugins. But we're also not the ones using ProofBuddy on a daily basis for our business.  You are. 

So what features does ProofBuddy not currently have that you would like to see.  What sort of "it would be awesome if ProofBuddy did ..." thoughts have you had using ProofBuddy.  We want to know.  Leave a comment below with your ideas and we'll see what we can do about getting your "what if" into a plugin.

Edit...

Here's what we've got planned, or already have done...

Done

• Comments List - View all the comments for all your images in one place. 
• Twitter Feed - Adds a menu to the dashboard viewing our Twitter feed.  Similar to the menu that's already there to view our blog feed.  We're using Twitter as a mix between announcements for ProofBuddy and photo related news we come across and think might be of interest.
• Google Analytics - Adds Analytics tracking codes to the client side so you can use Analytics to track your client views.

Planned

• Copy default price lists.  This is the one we're currently working on and should be the next released.
• Link to this image.  Display a link that your clients can use to post their image into a web page or forum post, with a link back to your site of course.
• Report that will print cards with the album passcode so you have them to pass out at events.
• Report similar to the order PDF with more options for customization
• Plugin to allow you to change the PayPal graphic that's used on the checkout page