MediaLab News

Media Lab Releases SiteGrinder 3.5

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

SOURCE: Media Lab, Inc.

December 15, 2011 15:28 ET

For Immediate Release

Media Lab Releases SiteGrinder 3.5

Media Lab Adds Power to Its Popular Website Development Plug-In for Photoshop

LOGAN, UT--(Marketwire - Dec 15, 2011) - Media Lab Inc., premier provider of Photoshop plug-in website creation technologies, announces the release of its new SiteGrinder 3.5 website development plug-in for Photoshop. SiteGrinder 3.5 now writes HTML5 and CSS3 code allowing designers to take advantage of feature...

Media Lab releases MacOS Lion 64bit version of SiteGrinder 3

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

For Immediate Release

Media Lab's releases MacOS Lion version of SiteGrinder 3

SiteGrinder 3 users can now take advantage of Photoshop's new 64bit Flash Player support

Logan, Utah - June 15, 2011 -– Media Lab Inc., premier provider of Photoshop plug-ins that convert PSD files to HTML websites, announces that SiteGrinder 3 for MacOS Lion is now compatible with Photoshop running in 64bit mode. With Adobe's recent beta download release of 64bit Flash player support for Photoshop, SiteGrinder us...

Media Lab's SiteGrinder 3 Photoshop Plug-In Integrates Easy-to-Use Wazala Web Store

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

SOURCE: Media Lab, Inc.

August 11, 2011 13:03 ET

For Immediate Release

Media Lab's SiteGrinder 3 Photoshop Plug-In Integrates Easy-to-Use Wazala Web Store

LOGAN, UT--(Marketwire - Aug 11, 2011) - Media Lab Inc., premier provider of Photoshop plug-in website creation technologies, today announces SiteGrinder 3 integration support for the Wazala web store from Boxador. Using its powerful external media importer technology Media Lab makes it easy for users to add a Wazala web store to SiteGrind...

Media Lab Announces "OpenGraph" Support for Facebook

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

July 21, 2011 15:32 ET

For Immediate Release

Media Lab Announces "OpenGraph" Support for Facebook

Photoshop Plug-In SiteGrinder 3 Integrates More Tightly With Facebook

Logan, Utah - July 21, 2011 – Media Lab Inc., premier provider of Photoshop plug-in website creation software, today announces Facebook "Open Graph" support for SiteGrinder 3. OpenGraph is a way for web pages to provide identifying information, such as special description text and administrator information, to Facebook. When connections are made between a Facebook user and your site, such as when a site visitor "likes" a page, the OpenGraph information will display in the Facebook users news feed. Having this data in essence makes any web page part of the Facebook network.

SiteGrinder with Facebook OpenGraph support now provides an easy to use SG3 control for setting OpenGraph information as part of the external media plug system that is part of the SiteGrinder Content Manager. External media importers already exist for web images, Google Word Processor Documents, Google Presentations, HTML pages and snippets, HTML objects and iframes, generic text, Adobe Lightroom galleries, ShowItWeb galleries, Zoomify, Adobe Flash SWFs and FLVs, Quicktime, Microsoft and other video formats, MP3 audio, and PHP includes. Media Lab is constantly expanding this list.

"Media Lab is continually adding new features and functionality to its SiteGrinder 3 Platform to make the Facebook and social media experience more productive," commented Tom Summerall, President of Media Lab, Inc. "With the release of OpenGraph support for Facebook we are making it easier to create amazing Facebook-integrated pages with Photoshop."

The Media Lab SiteGrinder 3 platform automatically converts Photoshop PSD files into standards-compliant pages that will enhance a Facebook user's web experience. SiteGrinder 3 creates elements such as customized CSS text, web-optimized images, interactive buttons and menus, drop shadows, rounded corners, transparency, CSS animation and more.

Additional Facebook Fanpage features using SiteGrinder 3

Pages created with SiteGrinder 3 work with Facebook iFrame apps
SiteGrinder 3 pages work with the Developer app so you can create your own iFrame app
Create special content only visible to Fans
Place QuickTime and MPEG movies anywhere on your pages
Create finger friendly drop down menus for mobile users
Supports CSS drop shadows, rounded corners and transparencies
Embed Flash or animated CSS photo galleries into your Facebook Fan Pages
Bring full website content and capabilities to your Facebook pages, including eCommerce

Requirements
SiteGinder 3
On the PC, SiteGrinder 3 is compatible with Windows XP and later, including Windows 7. It requires Photoshop 7 or later including the latest Photoshop CS5, or Photoshop Elements 6, 7 and 8. On the Mac, SiteGrinder 3 is compatible with Mac OS X 10.1 or greater, Photoshop CS3 CS4 or CS5 (Mac OS X 10.4 or later for the Intel-based Mac), or Photoshop Elements 6, 7 and 8. Visit www.medialab.com for complete details and to download your copy of SiteGrinder 3.

About Media Lab, Inc.
For over a decade, Logan, Utah-based Media Lab, Inc. has specialized in creating interactive Photoshop tools that make it easy to bring amazing web designs to life. In addition to its flagship product SiteGrinder 3, Media Lab's SiteGrinder 2, has enjoyed an array of favorable reviews and accolades since it debuted in April 2000 under the the name of Photowebber. Prior to the release of Photowebber, Media Lab's innovative multimedia design tools, PhotoCaster, PSD2FLA, and AlphaMania, were used to create pioneering special effects seen at Disney World's EPCOT Center in Florida, as well as in numerous popular music videos and motion pictures, such as "X-Men 2," "Spiderman 2," "Air Force One," and "Armageddon." For complete information on Media Lab, Inc. and its current products, visit www.medialab.com.

64-bit Windows version available for download

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

For Immediate Release

Media Lab Releases 64bit Version of SiteGrinder 3 for MS Windows

SiteGrinder 3 Now Takes Advantage of Photoshop's New 64bit Flash Support

LOGAN, UT - Jul 12, 2011 - Media Lab Inc., premier provider of Photoshop plug-in website creation technologies, announces that SiteGrinder 3 for Microsoft Windows is now compatible with Photoshop running in 64bit mode. With Adobe's recent beta download release of 64bit flash support for Photoshop, SiteGrinder users can now convert their...

WordPress Sites with SG3xpress Photoshop Plug-in

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

For Immediate Release

WordPress Sites with SG3xpress Photoshop Plug-in

Creating Fully Functioning WordPress Themes is easy
with SG3xpress for WordPress

Logan, Utah - March 22, 2011 -– Media Lab Inc., premier provider of Photoshop web plug-ins and website editing software, announces that designers can now create WordPress Themes in Photoshop with Media Lab’s NEW SG3xpress for Wordpress Photoshop plug-in. In addition, Media Lab has released the SG3xpress Add-on for its SiteGrinder 3 for users ...

SiteGrinder 3 PSD to HTML Website Templates Now Available

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Creating a website in Photoshop is easy with SiteGrinder 3 Templates

Media Lab Inc., premier provider of Photoshop web plug-ins and PSD to HTML website editing software, announces that you can create a website in Photoshop even faster with Media Lab’s new SiteGrinder 3 pre-hintedPSD templates. SiteGrinder 3 users will be able to immediately upload these website templates directly to their website hosting service and use SiteGrinder’s built in Design Manager and CMS to modify the design, add ...

Creating an eCommerce store using Photoshop and SiteGrinder's Gallery features

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

We’ve discussed creating basic ecommerce buttons and using forms to add options to your products, but with both of those techniques, it’s a lot of work to create a store if you have more than a few products. With SiteGrinder, you can use the Gallery features to build a store much more quickly.

Note: Before making a gallery with ecommerce you'll want to be familiar with the Gallery Documentation, including the use of metadata in galleries.

Using a gallery to manage a store:

Intergrating with a ...

Choosing Between FoxyCart and PayPal for your SiteGrinder3 Site

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Guest Post by Brett Florio of FoxyCart

When building an e-commerce site with SiteGrinder and the Commerce module the most important first step is to explore your requirements and available solutions. Of the two options that the Commerce module offers, FoxyCart and PayPal, there is no "right answer" for every situation, but there are important considerations that should be explored before you even start designing.

Even though I am the co-founder of FoxyCart, our goal is to help web professional...

Q and A: Can I get SiteGrinder 3 now and add the Commerce add-on later?

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Question: I'm preparing to add a simple ecommerce page to my website on SG3. When I created the website design I didn't select the ecommerce setting when I deployed. I'd rather not deploy a new site if possible due to how large the website is. Is there a way to do this without creating a new site?

Answer: Ideally, you should purchase the Commerce add-on at the same time that you purchase SiteGrinder 3 and deploy your site with the ecommerce settings that you will be using. We all know that t...

SiteGrinder 3 printed documentation now available!

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

SiteGrinder 3 Documentation

As most of you know we have complete documentation for SiteGrinder 3 in the learning center on our website. You can also format the complete documentation into a PDF and print it at no charge.

However, many of you have requested that we provide printed documentation. We are pleased to announce the availability of our Getting Started Guide and Feature Reference manual from LuLu.

The Getting Started Guide has 86 pages with many tips <span>that will help you get goi...

Creating eCommerce forms with SiteGrinder and Photoshop Pt. 2

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Part 2: Configuring the form in the Content Manager
OK, now that you’ve finished creating your ecommerce form in yesterday’s post, and you’ve built and deployed your page in SiteGrinder, you are ready to finish configuring your form in the Content Manager.

Remember: anything you want to show on the form must be set in Photoshop in the form text layer, but you can send extra data to the shopping cart by adding options in the Content manager. These extra options will not be visible in the form....

Creating eCommerce forms with SiteGrinder and Photoshop

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Adding product options with the -form and -$ hints
Last week we took a look at how to make an ecommerce button with SiteGrinder and the Commerce add-on. Today we’ll look at how to add more options, like size or color, to our items using forms.

One problem with ecommerce buttons is that they can only represent one specific item. If you have the same item in 3 colors and 5 sizes you would have to make 15 (3 x 5) ecommerce buttons! That would be annoying, right?

SiteGrinder Commerce forms save ...

SiteGrinder 3 and Commerce Example Site: BootyWax Corporation

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Here's a really cool ecommerce site that was built with SiteGrinder 3, the Commerce add-on, and using FoxyCart for a shopping cart solution.

http://bootywax.com/

Your site visitors will work with your page's ecommerce controls in three ways:

1) They'll see your ecommerce buttons and forms on your pages and click on them.

2) They'll see a shopping cart displayed in a "lightbox" on top of your site whenever they click an ecommerce control that affects the cart, like "Add to cart". When viewing t...

A simple store using the -button and -$ hints

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

The simplest estore is just an ecommerce buy now button, usually on a page describing something to buy. (You need a FoxyCart or PayPal Standard account to provide the shopping cart and process the financial transactions.) Commerce buttons are just regular text or image buttons with the -$ hint added to the layer or layer group name. You can place ecommerce buttons anywhere you like on any of your page designs.

Let’s look at an example where we’ve created an add to cart button using a layer gr...

SiteGrinder 3 eCommerce overview

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Here's a quick overview of the process for using the Commerce add-on with SiteGrinder 3.

The SiteGrinder Commerce add-on allows you to create buttons and forms that represent simple or complex eCommerce activities like "Checkout", "Add to cart", specifying quantities, selecting colors, etc. These buttons and forms can look like whatever you want and can appear anywhere on your pages. You can also use galleries to create and manage larger stores and the metadata from each image provides the ...

Did you know...that forms can be used to modify or set the price of an item in your eCommerce st

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Using forms to collect ecommerce information like size, color and quanitity, is easy if you have the optional SiteGrinder 3 "Commerce" add-on.

Ecommerce forms are created exactly like normal SiteGrinder forms with one difference: you add the -$ hint to the -form layer's name, as in "Order-form-$".

Ecommerce forms tell your ecommerce system to perform an operation, and, just as with buttons, you (the designer) can provide additional options using the Content Manager's ecommerce operation co...

Q and A: Can I use SiteGrinder Commerce to sell digital downloads?

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Yes, you can. If you're using the FoxyCart shopping cart solution. Here's how:

The admin side of things will need to be accomplished in the FoxyCart interface, but you can modify your "Add to Cart" ecommerce button created in SiteGrinder by doing the following:

1. In the Content Manager, set a -button-$ (ecommerce button) to use the Add to Cart operation in the ecommerce tab.

2. Provide the product name in the field provided, but leave the Price field blank (since downloadable products have ...

Can I have a shopping cart or online store without the SiteGrinder Commerce add-on?

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Of course, there are ways to sell things on your website without using the SiteGrinder Commerce add-on. Without the add-on, the only ways to sell things are:

1) Use the -embed or -xmedia hints to include code from an external shopping cart system on your page

or

2) Use a third party store solution like eBay or Amazon and link to your store from your website

But that means you’re not designing your store in Photoshop and SiteGrinder. You lose a certain amount of control over how your store wi...

Introduction to eCommerce with SiteGrinder 3

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

So, you want to sell something on your website? You're in luck. This month Media Lab will be featuring tips, tricks, and tutorials all about setting up an eCommerce website with Photoshop and SiteGrinder.

You’re a Photoshop user and a designer, not a programmer or an accountant. With the SiteGrinder Commerce add-on, you can design - and build! - your online store right from inside Photoshop. And you can use either PayPal or foxycart to handle the back end for you.

When do you need the Comm...

SiteGrinder uses Photoshop Layers to Create Websites Without Coding

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

SiteGrinder uses Photoshop Layers to Create Amazing Websites

Make Websites using Photoshop Layers and Layer Comps without Coding

Logan, Utah - Sept 21, 2010 -– Media Lab Inc., premier provider of Photoshop web plug-ins and website editing software, announces that building complete websites with Photoshop using only your knowledge of layers and layer comps is easy using the SiteGrinder 3 plug-in. Media Lab's SiteGrinder 3 uses Photoshop layers and layer comps to output XHTML and CSS websites w...

Media Lab Releases SiteGrinder 3.1 with Paypal support

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Paypal Support Added to Photoshop Website Development Plug-in

Media Lab Releases SiteGrinder 3.1

Logan, Utah - Sept 8, 2010 -– Media Lab Inc., premier provider of Photoshop plug-in website creation technologies, today announced release 3.1 of its SiteGrinder 3 website development platform.

The Media Lab SiteGrinder release 3.1 contains many features including support for Paypal Standard. This and many other recently released features will enhance the user's website development experience. Grap...

SiteGrinder 3 now has optimized web hosting through MidPhase

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Media Lab and UK2 Group announce partnership

Photoshop Plug-in SiteGrinder 3 now has optimized web hosting through MidPhase

Photoshop World, Las Vegas - September 1, 2010 -– Media Lab, Inc., today announced a partnership with UK2 Group, a world leader in web hosting, providing SiteGrinder customers with an optimized hosting solution for SiteGrinder generated and managed websites. The partnership will greatly enhance the SiteGrinder 3 user experience providing a complete solution from the in...

SiteGrinder 3 Generated Websites Compatible with Apple iPad

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

SiteGrinder 3 Generated Websites Compatible with Apple iPad

Media Lab adds CSS components to Photoshop plug-in

Logan, Utah - July 6, 2010 -– Media Lab Inc., premier provider of Photoshop plug-in website creation technologies, today announced that websites created with the SiteGrinder 3 platform are fully compatible with Apple's new iPad, iPhone and the iPod Touch.

The Media Lab SiteGrinder 3 platform has many features that will enhance the iPad user's web experience such as animated galleries, lig...

Media Lab and PageLime Announce SiteGrinder 3 Integration

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Media Lab and PageLime Announce SiteGrinder 3 Integration

Partnership to provide easy to use permissions-based CMS for SiteGrinder 3 client websites

Longmont, CO - May 4, 2010 -– Media Lab Inc., premier provider of Photoshop plug-in website creation technologies, today announced an integration partnership with PageLime's permissions-based Content Management System (CMS) to complement its own SiteGrinder 3 Control add-on.

PageLime is a cloud-based CMS which gives website designer/developers an e...

Webinars Week of 4/19/10

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Wednesday, April 21st, 3 p.m. ET

The Nuts and Bolts of SiteGrinder 3 - with Tech Support Lead Eric Hussmann
How to turn your Photoshop file into a multi-page website. Edit design elements and content live in the browser without returning to Photoshop.

Click here to register.

Friday, April 23rd, 3 p.m. ET

An Introduction to the New SiteGrinder 3 Page Layout Controls - with Tech Support Lead Eric Hussmann
This webinar will discuss the flexible and powerful new layout controls in SiteGrinder 3. We w...

More SiteGrinder 3 Webinars this Week

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Wednesday, April 14th, 3 p.m. ET

The Nuts & Bolts of SiteGrinder 3 - with Tech Support Lead Eric Hussmann
How to turn your Photoshop file into a multi-page website. Edit design elements and content live in the browser without returning to Photoshop.

Click here to register.

Friday, April 16th, 3 p.m. ET

An Introduction to the New SiteGrinder 3 Page Layout Controls - with Tech Support Lead Eric Hussmann
This webinar will discuss the flexible and powerful new layout controls in SiteGrinder 3. We wil...

SiteGrinder 3 Webinars Begin This Week

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Thusday, April 1st, 1 p.m. ET

An Introduction to SiteGrinder 3 - with creator Chris Perkins
An overview of new features and functions in SiteGrinder 3. Covers new workflow concepts.

Thusday, April 1st, 4 p.m. ET

The Nuts and Bolts of SiteGrinder3 - with Tech Support Lead Eric Hussmann
How to turn your Photoshop file into a multipage website. Edit design elements and content live in the browser without returning to Photoshop.

Friday, April 2nd, 1 p.m. ET

The SiteGrinder 3 Workflow - with crea...

MediaLab Releases SiteGrinder 3

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:28:39 -0700

Powerful Website Development Plug-in for Adobe Photoshop

Adds eCommerce and Content Management to New Platform

Media Lab Introduces SiteGrinder 3—next generation web site development platform with over 300 new features and functions

Longmont, CO - March 29, 2010 -– Media Lab Inc., premier provider of Photoshop plug-in website creation technologies, today announced SiteGrinder 3, its next generation web site development platform. In addition to over 300 new features, Media Lab SiteGrinder 3 suppo...