What's new in Blend Swap 3.0?

Hello, dear Blend Swap users! Here we are, at last, version 3.0 has hit the web! We are very happy to announce this brand new, fresh version of the site and can't wait to give you a walk though of the new features! We also have updated lots of "permanent content" and added new pages that should help you navigate your way around the site.

That said, I'd like to introduce you all to Swap Gallery our custom WordPress Theme, which was built from scratch during the last three months, and especially designed and coded for Blend Swap.

The primary reason for the new theme project was the layout, usability and the color scheme, which, although we know many of you liked, most of our users had a little trouble wrapping their heads around the UI and navigation style on it. The second goal with this rebuilt theme was code maintenance. As a developer, not knowing how a piece of software was built, makes it really hard to maintain, so I have built this theme to make it a lot easier for me and for any future developer to maintain and build upon. The third priority, was of course being able to implement a number of very requested new features that we'll talk about in just a second.

We achieved a lot of the requested features and got some others invented on the way, I hope that you guys enjoy them and come up with more cool ideas for the site to keep it thriving for many years to come :D

So, whats new?

• Bigger text everywhere. No more squinting when reading comments.
• Lower contrast color scheme is nicer on your eyes.
• Bigger indexes. WAY BIGGER! No sidebar on indexes and up to 40 blends per page, browse effortlessly :)
• Improved navigation. The main menus appear in all pages, are accessible and separated by activities: we have blend related activities on the top left and account activities on the top right. The link to your profile is always there and is eager to be clicked.
• New collapsible Top Panel with the latest news visible when expanded. It also contains all the "permanent" pages in a nice menu with drop down styling.
• Enhanced Featured Blends slide show [*]. The latest 5 Featured blends show up on top of our home page and do not take space in single entries pages, allowing more space for your blends when you are not browsing the main index.
• Improved index browsing. Browse blends by categories, ratings or license, even by download count. We even included an index to browse recently changed blends that might have been updated to new versions, this will let you know if you should update any of the blends you are using for, say, your own animation work.
• Nicer meta data display on single entry pages.
• Improved profile layout. We redesigned the profile page to make it both useful and tidy, the new profiles support paragraphs and even smiles.
• New Discover Box. Browse the complete list of users from any profile using the discover box and check out their profiles and blends in a new way. [*]
• Direct Profile Editing. You can now edit your profile from your very profile! Just click the Edit Profile button at the bottom, fill out or update your account info and hit submit, your profile is updated right away. [*]
• New configurable contact form. You have a contact form in your profile that can be configured to be accessible to admins only or to all registered users. We no longer show your email address :) You can even test your own contact form to see if your email address is correct [*]
• New User ranking system. You can earn extra privileges on the site just by being a good blend editor. Your rank is displayed on your profile as a little colored badge on the top right. More details in the Swapper Handbook. [**]
• Comments are linked to your profile and display a color band on the left side with your rank color if you are logged in when commenting, make sure you are!
• New Comment form with formatting buttons and a bunch of smiley faces buttons. [*]
• Edit Your Blends! We listened to your most requested feature and worked hard to make it happen. You are allowed to edit your blends if you have at least [sg_min_limit] blends on the site. There are some rules to follow but they are all explained very well in the Swapper Handbook, make sure to read them. The edit form has formatting buttons and a couple of short code insertion buttons that will assist you to get the job done. You can even upload a new blend file or preview image! [* & ***]
• Automatic Change Logs for edited blends. Just make sure to fill out the "What did you change?" field in the edit form to update your change log when you submit your edit, even if your change was just correcting a typo. When a blend has a change log a new button appears above the meta box, if you click it you'll see all the changes made to it (works only for changes made after 3.0 update). [*]
• New Pages like FAQ, The Swapper Handbook and Terms Of Use, you should read them thoroughly and carefully since you are bound by what they say.
• New cleaner blend entry layout. Your Preview Images are not cropped anymore on single pages, and we crop only the sides on indexes. The new blend entry layout comes with a brand new download button and preview images are still linked to the blend file. All the clutter of meta data like the download count, Blender version, tags and categories was moved to the dark Meta Box at the bottom of each entry.

  [*] This feature or access to it requires JavaScript enabled in your browser. [**] Compliance with the Editing Rules as described in the Swapper Handbook is required to gain more privileges. [***] Not all users can edit blends, a minimum number of uploaded blends is required.

There is yet another feature you can't use directly, but you are going to be able to take advantage of: Admins can now easily attribute you blends that were uploaded back in the days when anonymous uploads were possible. If the Anonymous account has one of your blends and you can prove it's yours, mail me and I'll snatch the blend from Anonymous and re-assign it to you. :)

That's pretty much it, there are more little details that should enhance your overall experience around the site but I'll let you discover them. For now go ahead with the following recommendations:

What should I do now?

After reading this note, please go to our Terms Of Use, they reflect all the rules we think apply to the use of the site and your expected behavior around here. Please make sure to read all the three sub-pages. If you find yourself in a conflict with any of the rules don't hesitate to message us from the Contact page, you have the right to opt out of Blend Swap.

And next?

Enjoy the site, we think nothing is that much different except for the usability of the whole package so take a look around, browse indexes, find new and old stuff you never saw before, download heaps of blends and of course, don't forget to swap some of your own blends with the rest of us :). Enjoy the site and make yourself at home, we know you are going to love it.

Also, don't forget to report any bug you might find! :)

We hope you have a great time with the 3.0 update, we are all ears to your new ideas and contributions.

Jonathan Acosta/ceropecero Blend Swap Moderator and Lead Developer.