livebooks blog

Video galleries are here! Now you will be able to add multiple videos on one page in a grid format. With the change in size of the video preview, your viewers will be able to easily choose which video they want to see. Adding a Video Gallery block to your page is simple – here’s how you can start creating yours:

1. Select Content from the Dashboard navigation bar.
2. From the Content tool, select the Page you’d like your Video Gallery on, from your list of pages.

Note: In this scenario, we will be working in a Generic page type.

3. From your page, select the green (+) button between content blocks, you will see all of your available block options.

4. Select the Video Gallery option:

5. The block will immediately show up on the page. Select the green Add Video button to input your first YouTube or Vimeo video:

6. Now, go to YouTube or Vimeo‘s website in a new tab or window. Navigate to the video of your choice, then simply copy the video’s URL to your clipboard.

• Vimeo: Select Share on the video player, then copy the URL (Right-click and Copy or CMD+C for Mac | CTRL+C for PC)

• YouTube: Select Share under the video player, then “Copy the URL” (Right-click and Copy or CMD+C for Mac | CTRL+C for PC)

7. Head back to the liveBooks Dashboard on the Page you have been working on in Content.

8. Now paste the video’s URL into the item you added earlier.
(Right-click and Paste or CMD+V for Mac | CTRL+V for PC)
Note: You may also paste the video embed code into the item, but we find pasting the URL easier.

9. Repeat steps 5-8 for as many videos you’d like to have in your Video Gallery.

You will notice that after you paste the URL, the platform grabs the video’s Title and Description from the Video source (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo)

10. When done, select the green Publish button to make it live to your website.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network protocol used to transfer computer files between clients and servers on a computer network. Though liveBooks is not currently offering an internal storage solution, we do recommend various options and platforms for cloud storage and file sharing. Some external options will allow to you to attach storage to your domain and link it via FTP.

Third-party storage and sharing services recommended by liveBooks:

• Dropbox
• WeTransfer
• Hightail

Note: If you are looking to host private proofing galleries for your clients, doing so with ShootProof or RedCart could be an option for you. 

Attaching storage to your domain and linking via FTP:

If you prefer to setup your own solution with your registrar or another company that sells cloud storage, the process is as follows:

1. Purchase a storage solution from a provider you have chosen (i.e. goDaddy cloud storage)
2. Link this storage area to their domain via a cname like ‘proofs.domain.com’. Each provider will have specific ways to do this with your registrar.
3. Once setup, you can use an FTP client like FileZilla to access this storage area.
4. If you want to, you should be able to link Adobe Lightroom and a public folder on this FTP storage area. This could be used to upload and share HTML web galleries.

Note: The registrar can be different than the storage/FTP company and it can be different than the website hosting company. There are no technical issues with this. If you choose a provider that says otherwise, this is due to their business policy, not the fact that it cannot be done. 

Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, is one of the most important features that your website can have. SEO is the ability for online search engines to recognize your site through proper indexing. With a sound SEO strategy, you will be able to organically drive customers to your business, based on keywords and common search terms.

The liveBooks8 platform allows you the ability to add SEO settings on an image/page level as well as site-wide level. This article will focus on the setting for page level SEO settings. To begin adding SEO settings to your pages, see below:

1. From the Content tab, enter your page by clicking its title
2. On the righthand sidebar, select SEO and dropdown the settings
3. You will notice 5 input boxes: Title Tag, Description, Keywords, Navigation Label, and Canonical URL.

• Title Tags: the title of the page that you see in your tab of the browser
• Description Tag: a concise explanation of the content of your web page for search engines to crawl through
• Keywords: keywords relevant to your business to be crawled and catalogues by search engines (separate keywords with commas)
• Navigation Label: set a different title/label for the navigation menu on your site
  • For example, yoursite.com/about-us can be changed to yoursite.com/abouttheteam
• Canonical URL: helps prevent duplicate content from being indexed
  • If someone tries to copy the information you have on your website to theirs, search engines will recognize you as the primary owner of the content!
• The first toggle option will allow search engines to index your site and display it in search results (we recommend always having it on!)
• The second toggle option will allow search engines to follow links and index them as well (we recommend always having it on as well!)

4. Select Publish and you are finished!

Is there a new liveBooks feature that you are excited to learn more about? Let us know at social@livebooks.com.

Diptych and triptych images are here! With the ability to place two or three images side-by-side, your portfolios will now look exactly how you want them to. This new feature to the liveBooks8 platform allows you to place two or three images that can help bring contrast or opposition to your work. Follow these steps to start your diptych and triptych galleries:

1. Select Design from the navigation bar and navigate to the page that contains your Image Gallery
2. Select the Page tab at the top of the righthand design panel
3. Select your Image Gallery from the list of blocks on your page

4. Under the Type section, you must first select the Classic Slideshow option as it is the only gallery type that includes the Visible Items feature

5. Then look for the Visible Items slider below and Choose 1 to 3 images visible per slide. You will also see the Image Spacing area that you can add or remove spacing between the visible items.

6. Select Save and Publish to make it live now! (Your image gallery will look similar to the one below)

Is there a new liveBooks feature that you are excited to learn more about? Let us know at social@livebooks.com.