Hey everyone,

Firstly, we did indeed create a few new bugs in our last update, and for that we are sorry.

We fixed them pretty quickly and of course, added more tests to ensure they don't happen again hopefully.

Bugs are a fact of life, and in a large and complex codebase, they are sometimes incredibly hard to predict. Our automated test system often saves us from ourselves but since such bugs are hard to predict it's unlikely we'd have a test for it. When we discover a new bug, we add a test for it to help ensure the same mistakes are not made again.

New features and enhancements

Embed videos in group posts, casting calls, events, profile pages, and articles

We have enabled you to include videos from Vimeo and Youtube in group posts, portfolio notes, casting calls, events (and our blog posts of course). 

Simply post a link to a video and save your group post, PP will convert it to a properly embedded video.

New editor for casting calls and articles

We are testing a new editor on casting calls. We've been using it for blog posts for a while, and it works well. It has a couple of extra features that our current editor does not as well as works nicely on mobile devices.

We plan to use it across all of PurplePort eventually, once we are confident with it and have ironed out any wrinkles.

It's not perfect, and sometimes a little quirky depending on your device, but at least it doesn't remove all of the formatting if you wanted to just correct a typo while on your mobile phone.

Smaller things

  • Added a link to your account stats from the Manage your account page.
  • Tidied up headings and content on a whole bunch of pages, improving consistency across the site and reducing/clarifying content as we go. 
  • Changed image uploading for new members so they can choose the Adult/NSFW/SFW settings on images they upload.

Bug fixes

We have worked hard over the last couple of weeks to eliminate many long-standing bugs as well as any new ones we have created. We now have just three known bugs in our issues system and will work to resolve those over the next few weeks.

We've also continued to expand our automated tests and add new tests for when a bug is found or when a major internal change is needed. This is a chore but long term it benefits the PurplePort community and us.

Many of the bugs we have recently fixed are not noteworthy, but these are;

  • Fixed a bug where posting a share-a-shoot from Image Manager and not filling all of the form fields would result in the post button still saying Posting...
  • Fixed a similar bug to the above when posting a group reply and the Say it button would remain disabled if you didn't write anything.
  • A long-standing bug where you had to refresh a group post after replying to get all of the reply hover options has been fixed.
  • Fixed bug where replying to a post with an image link would just display the image link until you refreshed the page. Now it properly displays the images with the usual hover options.
  • Fixed bug where sometimes, on some pages, changing the content filter settings behaved erratically.
  • Fixed bug where adding a calendar event to google calendar had the month wrong.
  • Fixed bug where image description linebreaks were removed on display.
  • Fixed bug where reporting a group post reply would fail.

Milestones

The PurplePort community just keeps growing with new models and photographers joining all of the time. We recently surpassed 43,000 active members, which for me is astonishing. I never dreamed we would grow so much.

Site activity is also showing growth with site-wide pageviews going over 28 million page views (according to Google Analytics).

With the recent changes to image collections to remove infinite scrolling, and the introduction of the Image Home page, there were some concerns within the community that image view numbers would suffer, but the opposite appears to have happened.

Let us know...

Don't forget that if you spot an error or think of an improvement you can let us know about it either by creating a support ticket or creating a discussion the Bugs, Errors, and Suggestions group. Doing so helps us, and of course every member of PurplePort.

 

What is PurplePort

PurplePort is a modelling website that brings models, photographers and other creatives together with one fantastic service. We provide the tools and help you need to get together and create amazing photos.

Established in 2010, PurplePort has grown from strength to strength and now has 40,000+ active members worldwide. With features such as integrated messaging, calendar, shoot plans, image albums, references, credited photos, busy member forums, hundreds of articles, and dedicated full-time staff to help you, it's easy finding the perfect creatives you need for your next photography project. It's a fresh, fast, and feature-rich alternative to ModelMayhem.

Join the fastest growing, most feature-rich service of its kind and start making magical photos a reality!

Be inspired; Follow us on social media

We regularly post beautiful and inspiring images from our incredibly talented members to our social media.

Would you mind following/liking us on social media so you can stay inspired whenever you are away from PurplePort?

Please browse our social media, and you are sure to be inspired.

Join now and start networking

Join the community and start your modelling or photography career now.