Hey Kevin! No worries, they aren't tied together.

The good news is that the "mass" batch edit is mostly already done... we're in the product review stage right now... it still has to go through our QA phase and whatnot so it will still be a few months... but there is no stopping it now!

One thing I just thought of... I have been trying to see if we could get out of the "mass" content editing by just not showing headlines and captions if they were repetitive or not useful.

However, if we did that, and did not require proper headlines or captions, then those images become almost orphaned in the system because they would have so little metadata... At least if they had a proper headline and caption, it would let you find the image based on the sports team or maybe location, etc.

So I hereby rescind that idea. =)

Or, what if when you're doing a BATCH UPLOAD there is an option (on the final "upload is done" window) that allows you to set headlines and captions (and "copy to all") at that point?

It doesn't help with FTP uploads... but for photographers who are doing batches to create galleries it would be a big help.

Another request we have already that would help would be that ability to batch edit from within the child assets panel.

There are several different requests in here:

1. A "mass" batch edit. We are working on this currently... it should be available in Q2 of this year. It allows you to create a search and then apply batch edit to that entire search results, even if it affects thousands of assets. There will be an extra confirmation process where you must type in the number of assets so that you are sure that you know how many assets you are affecting. The task on large amounts of assets happens as a background task (so it can take as long as it needs) and then sends you an email when you're done. So, for Nick's needs, this would definitely work).
2. The ability to see more assets on a search results page in the BLOX admin. The solution for this will likely come as part of our new backend UI, which will likely end up being some kind of infinity scroll.

Lastly, there is the request for a batch edit function to change headlines and captions. To be honest, we are worried about allowing content to be changed in a batch editing process. Firstly, it's considered bad SEO to have similar titles on multiple pages in your site. Secondly, having all headlines (such as on a vertical gallery) is kind of annoying and repetitive to the reader.

On the other hand, I of course realize that if you don't add a title, we'll use the filename instead. And typing 200 unique, accurate titles is a very time-consuming task to say the least! Also, the only thing worse than a vertical gallery with repeated identical headlines is a vertical gallery with filenames as headlines instead! And, we currently provide no mechanism for them to be hidden as an option.

However, maybe we can fix some of those underlying problems instead. Basically, we're thinking that batch editing headlines and captions is a symptom of a bigger problem rather than a problem in and of itself.

What about something like this:

- A collection asset has the option of not showing photos and captions, even if they exist.

- In places where we have to show some kind of title (such as search results) maybe we show the parent's title instead?

Or:

- A way for the photo itself to know whether or not it has a unique headline, and if it does, display it. If not, display the parent (unless on a collection page). I would have to think more on how it can know it is a unique title... 

I'm still trying to get a super definitive answer on this... I will let you know!

The TotalCMS aspect is complex because the product launch phases are so different. So we had to built the new hosted environment so that it understands the legacy TotalCMS broadcast system, as well as the new Total CMS Notifier system at the point where it is launched in the future on appliances. Because of that, I may actually have to get someone to replicate the specific workflow, but I will let you know. =)

Yes, it defaults to the start date/time as the asset, and since it won't send out something that isn't live yet (to answer your second question), it just goes out as soon as it hits the start date/time (within a few minutes).

We also have a protection timeframe on items as well... if the start date/time is more than X minutes/hours ago (you can define this) then we won't send it. That way, we don't send out old stuff on accident.

Hi Dakota! We'll need more information... is the the mobile version of your website? Or in a native app? And if it is the native app, is it the TownNews Now App?

Also, if it is a TownNews App or webpage, can you give an example page? I looked at your website and didn't immediately see any ads that were covering anything. 

Just about all of this will be in an upcoming version of BLOX. We will be formally announcing this soon, but I will give the loyal community site users a preview!

The Broadcast feature will become a new application called BLOX Notifier.

BLOX Notifier will enable messages to be sent to multiple targets:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Email Reach
• SMS List
• Now App push Notifications
• Web push notifications
• Webhooks

It will allow you to set up automatic triggers, so you can say things like, "All article assets in the news section which have a flag of 'breaking' should go to the Breaking News channel."

Notifier will support multiple channels, and each channel will support multiple targets (such as multiple Twitter accounts, Email newsletters, etc.)

Inside the Editorial application, you can create multiple new messages for a single asset. So you can create one message with custom messaging & headlines for Facebook, and another message with a different headline for Twitter.

These messages can also be targeted to be pushed at a different time other than the start date/time of the asset. Each message tied to an asset can have a different time (i.e. the asset goes online at 7:30 am (start time), post to Twitter at 8 am, post to Facebook at 9 am, send an email newsletter at 12 pm)

What do you think? Any questions or thoughts so far?

Changing photos is not supported yet.

Thanks!

The problem isn't really about the billing hassle... It's just more of the issue that if the API keys are split up across all of the sites, there are many more free transactions to take advantage of. With 250k free transactions, we would very quickly cross into paid territory with one API key for all of our sites. With 250k free transactions a single site with a unique API key is much less likely to hit the point of having to be billed.

That being said, we are not removing Google Maps... you will have an option of which API key to use and can use one or the other, or even both (it's a per-URL setting). 

We do work closely with Google, so some kind of deal is not out of the question per se... but we really need to address this issue as quickly as possible, so we wanted to be able to provide alternatives.

Hi Alfonso!

To start: it might be better to put this question into our ticketing system where our support staff can help. They will often have quicker response than posting here for these sorts of questions. Or, call our Customer Support line (we offer 24/7 emergency help!) and one of our support staff can help you.

Incidentally, I'm actually serving as that after-hours support right now, so I will try to help. =)

Firstly, if you're trying to get the weather alert into the Breaking News (NOTICIAS DE ÚLTIMA HORA) block at the top of the page, that block is populated by the "breaking" flag, not the "weather alert" flag.

There are lots of ways to fix this:

• You can just flag the article as "breaking" instead, and it should show up.
• You can change the block to also include stories based on the "weather alert" flag.
• You could use the "pin" feature to add the story to the block even though it didn't meet the block's requirements.

Will all that being said, I believe there is a weather alert on your breaking news block already, so perhaps you've already figured this out. =)

If you need more help, let me know. Thanks!