Weekly Recap: New Unified Sidebar, Valentine’s Theme & Pano Updates 🍬❤️

Hey photo friends! 👋

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Big week. We’ve rolled out a brand-new unified Sidebar, added new pano options, improved Dashboard speed, and dropped a Valentine’s-ready retail theme.

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Let’s break it down.

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🧭 New Unified Sidebar (Desktop + Mobile)

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The Dashboard navigation just got a major upgrade.

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🖥️📱 One unified sidebar across desktop and mobile

• No more different layouts depending on device. Navigation is now consistent everywhere.

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🔎 “Sidebar Find” (press F to search)‍

• The old command palette is now built into the Sidebar.
• Press F and start typing to jump anywhere.

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🍬 Candy Navigation Assistant‍

• If no results are found, Candy will try to take you where you meant to go!

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👀 Previously hidden items (like Extras) are now much easier to find.

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This is one of the biggest usability upgrades we’ve shipped in a while!

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🖼️ Panoramic Updates

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🖨️ New 24×8 Panoramic Print (non-group version)‍

• In addition to the group-only pano lineup, there’s now a non-group 24×8 option.

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🏷️ Existing panos renamed to “X Group Print”

• Makes it clearer which pano products are group-only.

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🧱 Extreme aspect ratio images (1:3 or 3:1)

• These are now limited to Panoramic Print products only.

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🧼 Fixed banner artwork incorrectly appearing on pano products in the store sheet.

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🛍️ Retail Improvements

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⚡ Much faster initial image grid rendering

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✨ Removed quick “No Images” flash during load

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🎨 Fixed “View Images” hero button text being too dark on some themes

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✂️ Crop size checker now correctly respects orientation for large-format products

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💕 New SweetHearts Theme (Valentine’s Ready)

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💖 SweetHearts retail theme released

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🎉 Includes custom heart confetti at checkout

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Just in time for Valentine’s Day sessions!

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🖥️ Dashboard Improvements

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🌾 Candy Culler upgrades

• Can now set an entire filter to visible or invisible (except duplicates)
• No longer also culls PhotoRoster reference images (whoops!)

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🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Group Photo toggle added for Portraits Program

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📂 Increased row limits for roster and PhotoRoster uploads

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🛠️ Fixed overlay import not working properly

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📏 Improved DPI validation on banner artwork (matching full frame improvements)

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⚡ Faster requests across many areas including:

• Profile updates
• 2FA verification
• Invoice loading/downloading
• Retail settings updates
• Bank info updates
• Password reset emails

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📱 Fixed mobile dashboard scrolling/focus issues in popups

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🧾 Fixed create event occasionally not redirecting correctly

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📸 Fixed FreePics creation confirmation spam edge case

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📬 Fixed unread inbox items appearing from before account creation

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🔐 Security Improvements

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🔒 Improved password reset security

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🔑 Strengthened 2FA flows and verification handling

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🤳 Selfie Check-In

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🖼️ Images under 100×100 are now blocked (lab requirement enforcement)

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🌀 LiveLoop

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🌫️Updated backdrop blur

• Looks better and is more performant, reducing crashes on WebKit browsers.

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That’s the week!

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A cleaner, unified Dashboard experience, smarter pano handling, better retail performance, and a Valentine’s-ready theme to boot.

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Keep creating magic,

Candy 🍬