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Hi Nicholas,

So exciting to play with the new Social Magick v3!

Here is my first feedback / experience :

1. it is sooo nice / handy to have the front-end button to preview!
2. in Components > Social Magick > Templates, I duplicated a Template so that I keep the originals intact. But Copy can only be made from the List view: once one has opened a give Template, one can Save but not "Save as Copy"
3. the Overlay Template is probably the one I will use the most, but unless I missed some options I noticed the following
   1. my image was a bit smaller than the default proposed size. But it was not "resized" so that it was surrounded by black area on the right and on the bottom
   2. the default overlay is very handy to give ideas to users (with its 2 rectangles: one for the Title in the middle and the "Banner" at the bottom)
      but if I want to use the Overlay I first have to create my own overlay => it would be nice to have 1 (or a few) overlays to choose from. Example : just the central rectangle, but in semi-transparent black (and not green), ...
4. after setting up the default Options in the Component, I went to the Category to change the OpenGraph options, but it would have no effect. Is it normal?
5. then I tried via the Menu item pulling this Category
   1. there it worked for the Template: if I choose Solid instead of Overlay, it works
   2. but it would not work for the the Custom Title and the Custom Description for example. Is it normal?

So that's it for the moment.
Nothing urgent, but I wanted to test immediately because I would like to install & use Social Magick by default on most of my websites (whenever OpenGraph matters).

Hi again,

1. about the overlay image

Let me rephrase:

• instead of giving multiple examples (I understand your point: it would never be enough)
• I would then
  • replace your current overlay example (which can't be used by anyone on the planet)
  • by a standard example so that people can start using Social Magick immediately (without having to create overlays, which is probably obvious for you but difficult or cumbersome for many). So
    • no green color but semi-transparent black
    • no banner at the bottom (so no social magick logo and so hardcoded text)

2. about ACL

Yep, I know the principle of ACL and I work a lot with it.

But on this website

• it is a fresh install of Social Magick
• I only configured a the Component Level
• so whatever I customize at the Menu Item level should trigger since nothing else has been configured elsewhere
  • and it does for the Template
  • but it does not for Custom Title and Custom Description for example

1.

OK, forget about the image :)
(you are speaking about licence etc, but I was only speaking of the current media/com_socialmagick/images/overlay.png which is nice as demo but which can't be used by anyone)

2.

Txs for the new beta!

I tested it (reminder of the context: there is a general configuration in the Component. Only change so far is only in the Menu Item of Type "Blog View")

Before:

- changing Template in Menu Item was taken into account
- changing OpenGraph Title was not taken into account
- changing OpenGraph Description was not taken into account

After:

- changing Template in Menu Item is not taken into account any more
- changing OpenGraph Title is still not not taken into account
- changing OpenGraph Description is still not not taken into account

I hope this helps.

1.

Txs for the clarification about the image and licence considerations (tricky indeed).

But waouw, you made me realize something: I had not noticed that the PNG overlays were available in SVG format in the `/com_socialmagick/media/images` folder.
That's great bc it makes customization easier.

So just to be sure: in Social Magick, can I use my own SVG (instead of PNG) as overlay ?

2.

I tested the new ZIP, but same result as the previous one.

(if easier for you for testing, I can give you the credentials to that website)

3.

One detail: In the front-end preview there is this Table with all the information. But on my side all texts (except the URL to the image) are white on white.
Note: my computer is in dark mode, the template is also in dark mode if it plays a role.

Yeah ! With the latest version it works: I filled in the Section "for Articles"... and everything works:

1. layout
2. og title
3. og description

So that is solved. Excellent. Txs a lot!

Just a little bug maybe that I did not mention yet but that I had already noticed when trying all the Layouts the other day: "Cutout" seems to ignore the image

• not just on my own content
• ... by also directly in the "refresh preview" of the Component itself

Coming back to the og images when they are smaller than the template: would it be possible to have them *centered* in such a case ? Then at least it would not be ugly :)

Good idea to create an "ad hoc" Template for those Categories where the Image is too small.
Settled!

But for the Cutout, I promise. I don't doubt it works for you, but from within the Component, see this screencast attached:

• I select each example provided
• I refresh
• and still there is only a black circle (instead of the image)

Hi Nicholas,

I tried as you asked: 

• removed the Base Image
• refreshed

But the result is the same : no demo image but a "black surface" (note: never before did I edit that Cutout Template).

Maybe a different version of imagick or something ?
I have put in attachment the system info (in txt and in json) so that you can easily check if you spot anything that could explain.

[ edit : the JSON file was blocked upon Saving. But you still have the TXT file :) ]

Hi Nicholas,

Txs for your numerous suggestions!
I think we have now found something concrete to investigate with 4. :

1. that was already tested (indeed at every Save or whatever, all J cache is automatically cleaned)
   => issue still there
2. I clicked on the "Clear Cache" button (btw, maybe rename it "Clear Social Magick Cache" bc it can be confusing with general caching. But do as you like)
   I then get the follwoing confirmation: `success All generated OpenGraph images have been removed.`
   => issue still there
3. even with diffferent Sample Text : the text is indeed changed in the preview but
   => issue still there
   + see Note below
4. it was on "auto-detect"
   1. with "auto-detect" or "imagemagick"
      => issue still there
   2. with "gd"
      => the image works fine !

So it seems there is something at hand with imagemagick (you have all the details in the .txt attachment of my previous Post).

(IIRC, generally speaking you were recommending imagemagick instead of gd, right ?)

Txs,

Marc

Note : even without Saving my Cutout Template, the fact that I would 1. change the Sample Text and 2. click on Refresh Preview, when I close (without Saving) and re-Open, my Sample Text gets remembered... The other parameters like Base Image were indeed not "remembered/saved", as expected

(good for the Sample Text : if it is stored in the Session then it is fine. I was just troubled by the fact that it was "saved" while I had not "saved" my Template)

btw, a side-question: if I want to be sure to restart a Social Magick configuration from scratch,

• is it enough to uninstall & reinstall
• or does one have to delete some tables manually in the database (which is the case when extensions want to allow to uninstall-reinstall without loosing anything)

Coming back to the main topic, ie imagemagick, what would be the concrete issue

• resizing
• or selecting the face to center it ? (which is probably used for Cutout but not for Overlay for example; which is my favourite Template generally speaking...so if imagemagick is OK with resizing I could switch back to it without "regression")

Txs