WebCards News and Updates

New Release: WebCards 2.1

We are proud to announce the immediate availability of WebCards version 2.1.

There have been many improvements in this release. Here are some of the highlights:

• Display images from child categories. This prevents parent categories showing as empty when the child categories are full of images. It is a setting that can be turned on or off.
• Added free text upload – good for YouTube videos and other embedded media. One of the problems with Webcards 2.0 was that it used file extensions to determine how to display a file. If you added a file without an extension such as a YouTube video, Webcards didn’t know what to do with it. Now you have a the option of a free text upload. Simply paste the embedded html into the box and away you go!
• Added reCAPTCHA system. This has been requested for a long time and is now available in Webcards. You can choose to show a CAPTCHA to everybody, just guests or you can turn it off all together.
• WebCards is now fully brandable. You can now choose to remove all traces of the word “WebCard” from your system and fully rebrand it to whatever you want. Instead of receiving a “WebCard”, your users can now receive a “Chuck’s bodacious e-card” or whatever you wish to call them.

There are also quite a few bug fixes and feature enhancements. Most notably:

• Fixed many SQL errors and general bugs
• More generous login attempts for your users before they are frozen out for 10 minutes
• Safer renaming of uploaded images to prevent file upload attacks
• Manually typing pickup code now works properly with friendly URLs
• Added more robust filtering of user input to prevent XSS problems
• email is checked for being banned when a user registers

WebCards is the best value e-card software available today. It is robust, powerful and great value. $50 will get your 6 months unlimited updates and support. Customers with valid subscriptions can download WebCards today from our Secure Members Area.

If you are not a member please proceed to our order area to purchase WebCards today. It will be available for immediate download when your payment has cleared.

Hundreds of Images Added to Our Demonstration

If you are looking to really test out the power of WebCards look no further than our demonstration. We have just added 217 new images so there are plenty to choose from.

Using the great bulk upload feature, it took just a few minutes to add all these images.

So try out our demo version of WebCards today.

Security Update For WebCards 1.3

In response to some known security vulnerabilities in WebCards 1.3, we have updated the release to add some extra protection.

You can download the package from the Sourceforge download page.

If you already have WebCards 1.3 installed, you only need to upload the file source/ad_login.php. If you are unsure, feel free to upload all the files. But please ensure you do not overwrite config.php.

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to post a reply to this post until we get our forum software sorted out.

Looking For WebCards Beta Testers

WebCards is nearing its next generation 2.0 release and we are looking for people to beta test the latest version.

The beta will be valid for 30 days and all you need to do is install it, test it as much as you can and then let us know how you got on with it. If you are interested in being a beta testers, please email beta@mywebcards.net to express your interest.

Every beta tester will get a very special treat, but I am going to keep what it is secret for a while. In return for this treat, all you have to do is promise to give some feedback.
Remember, just email beta@mywebcards.net to express your interest.

Did you know that members of our mailing list got this announcement last week? If you want to get updates before anybody else, just sign up for our list at the left hand side of any page. If you replied to the announcement from the mailing list and haven’t heard back from me, please contact me again. My spam filter deleted a lot of the replies.

Forum Offline Again

We are having yet more trouble with our forums. They are getting spammed like crazy and the posts keep coming faster than I can delete them. The spammers seem to be able to bypass the Captcha and the email verification too.

I will look into a more robust forum solution that will stop spammers, but if anybody has any ideas let me know.

You can email me chris.charlton[at]gmail.com if you need any support.

Latest WebCards Version 2 Updates

Lots of updates are happening with WebCards version 2 and I just wanted to keep everybody informed of what’s going on. We also have a new WebCards newsletter going out, so make sure you signup for all the latest information and updates.

You can always check out the latest updates at the development demo.

Firstly, the sending routines have been seriously overhauled. Parsing a message and sending a card is now faster, more accurate and more reliable. Send a card from the demonstration and you will see that you message will be properly parsed and smileys work now too.

Gravatar support has been added. When a user receives a WebCard from you, your Gravatar will be added to the card so they can see who sent it.

An account settings and history section has been added to the members section. You can see cards that you have sent, cards send to you and cards that are pending to be sent in the future. The does away with having to request a pickup be sent to you by email if you lose it. Just login to your account and you can see all the cards that have been sent to you that are still active. You can also change your timezone settings, your password and look at your PayPal payment history.

We have also created a new WebCards Newsletter so you can be kept up to date with the latest announcements. You won’t receive emails everyday, we promise. Use this link to signup.

Keep your feedback coming about the new version of WebCards, it really helps us to know how the new features are being received.

Looking Towards WebCards Version 2

The current version of WebCards is definitely starting to show its age. It is still a strong piece of software that can stand up with best, but it definitely needs some work doing. That is why we are looking towards the version 2 release of WebCards.

You can see it in action over at the demonstration site and some of the new features are clear to see. You need to register an account to send WebCards now but registration is very quick and easy. The demonstration also supports PayPal payments, but there is no need to pay to use the demonstration.

Let’s take a look at the new features of the latest version of WebCards.

• Membership support
• PayPal support including instant, automatic confirmation
• Bulk image Uploads
• Infinite subcategories and the ability to add a single image to multiple categories
• Rich text editor for creating more powerful messages

These are a few of the more significant features of WebCards 2. There are of course many, many smaller new features, bug fixes and security improvements.

We invite you to test this early version of WebCards 2 at the demonstration site. You can leave feedback at the special forum for version 2 feedback. It is the first category listed at the forums. Please feel free to leave any comments there.