Blocs 2.5 Beta Build 1

So here it is folks Blocs 2.5 beta build 1. This release includes lots of new features and fixes. The biggest one of course is the new Asset Manager. I’ve pulled together some notes that you need to read before you start using this versions as files saved in 2.5 will not load all new asset data in older versions of Blocs.


Important Read Me

Blocs 2.5 replaces the old Asset Manager (the only remaining part of the app from Blocs version 1) with a new and improved one. There are lots of benefits to the new Manager but there are also some important things you need to be aware of before you use this beta.

File Data Structure
The data structure of files saved in Blocs 2.5 is different to previous versions. Any changes made in Blocs 2.5 regarding project assets will not be reflected if you open the project up in a version before 2.5. So adding new assets, removing them and grouping them will have no effect when you open the file in a version of Blocs before 2.5. This is because Blocs 2.5 writes a new data structure to the Blocs file that previous versions of Blocs can’t read.

You will need to make backups of your work before you use Blocs 2.5 and only these backups as once a file is changed and saved within 2.5, the changes made to the asset data structure will not be loaded in older versions of the app.

What Happens to the old asset data structure?
That will remain within the file so if you do go back to an older version of Blocs your original data structure will still exist, but it wont include any changes you may have made to it within 2.5.

Groups
One of the main new features in the new Asset Manager is the grouping function. You can create your own groups and all assets can be added to multiple groups, including the stock images. Please note, at this time groups cannot be nested within other groups, grouping is one level only.

Basic Notes

Select All - Hold command when clicking the select button to select all assets within a group.

Pattern Group - Any image asset added to the pattern group will automatically have its style value set to repeat when applied to a bloc background.

Tile Background Colour - If you add an image that has a transparent background and requires a light background colour. This can be set by right clicking the asset tile and selecting a light or dark background colour.


Ok so you know you need to use project backups with 2.5 and new Asset Manager data wont be read by the old the Asset Manager :sunglasses:

Oh and don’t forget to hard reload the beta page incase your cache blocks it.

Download Blocs 2.5


Dev API
For those of you who are interested in the developer API, its coming Im just finishing the Docs and basic resources to make it easier to get started.

10 Likes

I really like the new asset manager. I was wondering about the pdf support. I added a pdf file to the asset manager and set it to the default download. I uploaded a test and the button shows but when I clicked on the button i get a file not found error? Do you still have to manually upload the pdf?

Casey

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No it should be included in the export. I just checked and I forgot to collect the download file and store it in the export resources.

Good find!

I’ll get that added for build 2.

2 Likes

@norm Congrats on 2.5 Beta and the continued progress with Blocs. Starting to see the beginnings of good things to come moving forward, keep the good work.


Regarding the new Asset Manager in 2.5, when in list view are the file names to be over the top of the assets or to the right of them, this is what I am getting?

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Well done @Norm I think this milestone deserves some inspiring music :slight_smile:

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Nope, that’s broken. Anyone else seeing this?

What OS version is that @Blocs_User?

No.
Works fine here.
MacOs 10.13.2 Beta4

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It looks OK to me. 10.13.1.

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Thanks Norm I thought it might no be right, the list view is showing perfect for me. That’s a nice touch…

Casey

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looks fine on 10.12.6.

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Nice @Norm, I like the new assets manager view is fine (MacBook-pro 10.13.1)
Nice also the extra html lang=“nl” in the settings, and the “add hosted assets” very cooool

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Oh yeah I forgot I added the language tag feature :joy:

2 Likes

New Asset Media manager is a game changer.

I didn’t see the overlapping issue reported above using 10.12.6.

I did notice that in the single line manager view that hosted assets don’t keep their aspect ratio and look squashed but are fine in the grid view.

I dragged a hosted image from an FTP App (Forklift) into the image well in the Add Hosted Asset. To my surprise, it almost worked. If I copy the same image URL from Forklift (right click & Copy URL) I get www.domain.com/assets/image.jpg which is correct. When I drag it into the Add Hosted Asset well, I get public_html/assets/image.jpg and if I edit public_html for http://domain.com, it works.

Wondering if this to be expected or if a hosted asset can be dragged from a remote folder viewed in an FTP App. Moving forward it would be perfect if a folder of images could be dragged into the Asset Manager.

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Hi @Norm - I’m running 10.11.6 and my asset manager has lost the plus sign in the top right. Al I can see is a small white dot even when I hover over it.

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Interesting, I never tried that. I’ll take a look and get that working if it’s possible

I’ll take a look at that and see what’s up.

Curiously that doesn’t seem to work at all if I simply drag the image over when I use Yummy FTP Pro, because it shows the url as something like ftp://blahblah@blahblah.com:@ftp.test.net/images/2.jpg. Imagine how cool this would be if you could drag over a batch of images from a server in one go.

On the other hand, if I copy as web url in Yummy it appears to work perfectly. I gather some effort is required behalf of the user to set up the bookmarked address properly, so that the url is accurately formatted, but this is brilliant. I would absolutely prefer to add images this way, rather than locally. Unlike Rapidweaver it also works when Hotlink protection is enabled on the server…

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It would be handy to have some added intelligence on the add hosted asset URL box. I.e. if you enter Website Domain Names, Online Stores & Hosting - Domain.com it doesn’t enable the Add button until you add the http:// infront of www.

One other thing which makes entering media is that when an image browser is brought into focus on top of Blocs App, Blocs remains visible underneath, but the Asset Manager disappears.

The way that I think would be perfect is for users to drag a folder of images from local storage into an FTP App to add theme to the host for remote use. Then the ideal way to use them would be to drag them back from the FTP folder via the FTP App into the Asset Manager window in one drag and drop.

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Or maybe use the current system as it is and be able to add the URL of a folder and add a refresh button as a live refresh would be overkill and not be needed.

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I’ll see what’s possible, I’m not sure what the FTP apps copy to the paste board.