Matrix 7.4.0

* Option to apply beveled borders to the title bar, breadcrumb boxes, navigation boxes, and thumbnail boxes. For preset styles, these are in shades of gray. If the Custom style is selected, any colors may be used. Beveled box borders work best when the border width is at least 4px.
* The jAlbum preset style has been eliminated. Maintaining it required a lot of extra coding, and it conflicted with an increasing number of user-settable options.
* Coding added to prevent IE8 and IE9 from being placed in "Compatibility View." Matrix code is fully IE8/IE9 compliant, so the browser does not need to emulate an earlier version of IE.

* Option, when using the Custom style, to use a thumbnail surround of a different color than the thumbnail box. In versions of Matrix before 7.0, it was possible to set the background color of a thumbnail drop-shadow to a color other than that of the thumbnail box. With the change to CSS3 drop-shadows, that ability was lost, since the drop-shadows are truly transparent, simply revealing whatever background they appear against. It has now been restored, using CSS rather than a jAlbum image filter. A thumbnail surround can also be applied when padding is applied to a thumbnail border, even if no drop-shadow is being used. The width of the surround is dependent upon the width of the drop-shadow and/or the amount of thumbnail border padding selected. The thumbnail surround colors may be set independently for images and for folders.
* A fix for a bug in the borders of thumbstrip thumbnails under certain conditions.
* A fix for several CSS classes whose names were not properly updated in the last release.

* Option to specify an overall page width for the album. If the user chooses fixed widths for the page elements (for example, the title bar and thumbnail table), then the width of the page is already fixed, and this option is not necessary. If, however, the user chooses percentage widths for one or more of the page elements, the page layout adjusts to the width of the viewport. In this case, this new option can be used to specify a maximum width, so the layout doesn't become overly wide on a wide monitor. (Note that the skin automatically computes a minimum width, so that the page layout does not become distorted when the viewport is narrowed.)
* Option to specify the opacity of the drop-shadow on a thumbnail. A higher number is more opaque, i.e., darker.
* Option to specify the transparency of the drop-shadow on an enlarged image changed to opacity, thereby reversing the meaning. Note, however, that because very different techniques are used to create the drop-shadows for thumbnails and for enlarged images, the same opacity won't yield quite the same results. For example, 40% opacity on thumbnails is roughly equivalent to 60% opacity on enlarged images. Experimentation is encouraged.
* Option to specify the opacity of the drop-shadow on a logo image used in the title bar.
* The "new" indicator on a folder is now triggered if there is a subfolder or image at any level below that folder whose file modified date is within the specified age range. In prior versions, the indicator was applied only if the folder itself had a file modified date within the age range.
* Skin-specific CSS classes renamed with an "mx-" prefix, to avoid conflicts when embedding the album in another page. When opening an older project, do not select "Process only updated subdirectories." All subdirectories must be processed in order to use the new CSS classes. It is not necessary to reprocess the images, however, so there is no need to invoke "Make All" in jAlbum.
* Folder and image titles and comments, caption button text, and caption button URLs for external links are now processed by the jAlbum engine, so jAlbum variables may be used in them. The variables are replaced by their values at album creation time.
* Option to create a custom caption button. The user may specify the text that is to appear in the button and the action that is to be performed, triggered by the "onclick" attribute of the button. Typically, this would be a Javascript routine of some sort, defined in the <head> section of the page, and inserted into the album via an htmlhead.inc file. Like other caption buttons, this may be applied globally, or selectively to certain folders or images. Note that the skin will wrap the action text in single quotes, so quoted material in the text should be wrapped with double quotes or with escaped single quotes.
* Minor bug fixes.

Users are strongly encouraged to read the release notes, available under Album > Settings > Matrix > About.

* Extensive changes to thumbnail presentation, both on index pages and in thumbstrips.
* Changes to the behavior of an automated slideshow.
* Changes to preset styles.
* Various other changes.

* Option to specify a text shadow on each font type. A value of zero indicates no shadow, with higher values producing progressively more offset shadows (i.e., further from the text). The effect varies considerably with background color, and is invisible against a black background. Experimentation is encouraged. No version of Internet Explorer currently supports this CSS attribute - it is simply ignored.
* Option to apply a drop-shadow to a logo in the title bar. A value of zero indicates no drop-shadow. If the logo is also a link to an external site, hovering on the logo shifts the drop-shadow from the southeast to the southwest. The drop-shadow is visible only in CSS3-compliant browsers. Larger image padding values should be chosen if the drop-shadow value is more than a few pixels. If a transparent PNG file is used for the logo, this option should probably not be chosen (try it and you'll see why).
* Option to apply scaling to a logo in the title bar. Choosing "original" bounds causes the logo image to be used unaltered in the album. The user may choose bounds from the drop-down choices, or enter any custom bounds. Be aware that the jAlbum scaling routine converts all files to JPG's. Therefore, scaling should not be applied to an animated GIF file or a transparent PNG file - the resulting logo will lose its animation and/or transparency.
* Method of specifying the width of infotxt (from a topinfo.txt or bottominfo.txt file) changed. In prior releases, the choice was between matching the width of the title bar or the width of the thumbnail table. Now, the width may be specified as any percentage of the viewport width or as a fixed number of pixels. When opening a project created with a prior version of Matrix, the user should check this setting, as the prior choice will not be carried over into this version.
* Option to include text links to the folders on a page. These are similar to the breadcrumb trail, and are centered above the thumbnail table. These links can be confined to a specified width, and the font characteristics can be controlled independently.
* Option to show the jAlbum and Matrix credits line on no pages, on just the main index page, or on all index pages.
* Option to show the W3C validation icons on no pages, on just the main index page, or on all index pages.
* Internal computation of minimum allowable album width revised to accommodate the "no boxes" variation of the Custom style.
* Fix for a minor problem with vertical thumbstrip positioning.
* Updated version of Highslide JS (4.1.13).
* Updated version of the JW Player (5.8).
* Some minor CSS cleanup.

* Video support extended to MOV files (H.264 codec only).
* Option, when using the Custom style and specifying a body background image, to auto-size the image. When this option is chosen, the background image is automatically set to have no repeat, to be centered, and to be fixed (rather than scrolling). It is then resized when the browser window is resized, though it retains its aspect ratio (so it may be cropped, depending upon the aspect ratio of the browser window). In IE8, the image is centered, but is not resized (IE8 does not support the CSS3 attribute that's being used).
* Fix for a bug that was causing background images (body background, for example) whose file names have spaces in them to be ignored.

* Support for IE7 terminated. The skin will no longer be tested in IE7, and display problems in IE7 will not be addressed.
* Simplified title bar code when a logo image is included. This is not fully compatible with IE7.
* Improvements in title bar logo positioning.
* A title bar logo that is also a clickable link may now be set to open that link in the same window (preferred), a new window, or the parent window (if the album is in an iframe).
* A thumbnail that is used as a direct link to another site may now be set to open that link in the same window (preferred), a new window, or the parent window (if the album is in an iframe).
* "jAlbum" style modified to match the current jAlbum website colors.
* Option to enter the full URL of the published album, which will then be used in the jAlbum embedding code (Album > Embed album). If left blank, the user's jalbum.net address is used (e.g., http://username.jalbum.net/projectname). When Album > Embed is selected, the skin automatically inserts a suggested width and height for the iframe, based on the minimum width at which the album can be viewed without horizontal scroll bars.
* Some default settings changed.
* Fix for a centering bug when using a text control bar.

* Minor bug fix to cure an error in caption area sizing when a Google Maps link or download icon is included.

* Selective script loading and selective CSS generation, to improve page load times.
* Selective copying of supporting files refined and expanded.
* Cured some CSS that worked properly in all browsers, but failed validation.
* Improved positioning of Google Maps and download links when caption is placed in a side panel and buttons are bottom-aligned and/or a control bar is placed at the bottom of the panel.
* Improved formatting of metadata when caption is placed in a side panel.
* Option, when using the Custom style, to specify colors for the image counter, metadata, link to metadata popup, and hover on the link to metadata popup, independently of the caption text colors.

* Minor bug fix to cure a problem in IE that resulted in false entries in the server error log (but did not produce any visible problems in an album).

* When viewing an automated slideshow, the slideshow is now automatically paused if the site visitor clicks on a Google maps link, a download icon, or any enlarged image caption button (print, open image in new window, etc.).
* Option to specify the target window for the external navigation links and the uplink from the main level that can be placed on the thumbnail page. Choices are "same window" (recommended), "parent window" (if the album is being displayed in an iframe), and "new window."
* Option to choose to include or exclude, and to choose different options for, a download icon or a Google Maps link for individual folders or images.
* Option, when displaying image metadata via a clickable link in the caption, to set the display or non-display of the metadata to be persistent from one image to the next, with the "Photo Info" link acting as a toggle. If this option is chosen, and the site visitor clicks on the "Photo Info" link to reveal the metadata, the metadata are shown on each subsequent image, unless the site visitor clicks the "Photo Info" link again, to hide the metadata.
* Supporting files, located in the "res" subdirectory of the output directory, are now copied more selectively, so that most files that aren't needed for a particular album aren't copied to the output. Because of a peculiarity in the jAlbum processing sequence, if you change skin settings, and that triggers a change in the supporting files that are needed for the album, unused files aren't removed from the output unless you save the project, close it, reopen it, then make the album again.
* Minor bug fixes.

* Option to add padding between thumbnails and their borders. This is particularly useful when thumbnail drop-shadows are not being used.
* Option to choose beveled thumbnail borders. Unlike regular thumbnail borders in the preset styles, these display at all times, rather than displaying only upon mouse hover. Upon mouse hover, the beveled colors exchange positions. If the Custom style is chosen, the colors of the beveled borders may be selected, both for folder and image thumbnails. Beveled borders work best with wider borders than the default 2px, and when drop-shadows are selected, or when some padding is applied between the thumbnails and their borders.
* Option to specify the text for the credits line ("Generated by jAlbum....").
* Simplified coding for opening new windows (open image button, download icon, Google maps icon).
* Option to specify "earth" as Google maps type.
* Improved map centering when opening Google maps.
* Simplified coding of the "boxless" option of the Custom style.
* Option to force a maximum thumbnail box width removed. This was originally used to avoid the situation in which a page with only one or two thumbnails produced thumbnail boxes that were excessively wide. The skin now handles this situation automatically.
* Significant improvements in the positioning and sizing of index page elements as the width of the browser window is reduced. The layout no longer "breaks" at narrow widths - a horizontal scrollbar appears when reducing the width further would disrupt the page layout.
* Support for rounded corners on boxes and buttons now restricted to CSS3-compliant browsers (FF 4+, Chrome 5+, Safari 5+, and IE 9+).
* Minor HTML coding improvements.
* Minor bug fixes.

* Improved handling of thumbnail box widths when a page contains fewer images than the specified number of columns.
* Option to display a globe icon in the caption area which, when clicked, opens a new browser tab or window to the Google maps site, centered on the GPS coordinates present in the image. The user may choose the hover text on the globe, the type of map, and the zoom level.
* Option to display GPS coordinates in the caption area. The display is assembled from the four EXIF fields: GPS.GPS Latitude, GPS.GPS Latitude Ref, GPS.GPS Longitude, and GPS.GPS Longitude Ref.
* Three new preset styles: Gold on Mocha, Rose, and Sage.
* A change in the loading sequence for videos, to avoid an intermittent audio problem in IE9.
* Flash warning text color changed so that it never disappears against the background.
* If "Click image for 'next'" has been chosen (under Album > Settings > Matrix > Controls > General), clicking the image now automatically pauses the automated slideshow, if running, and advances to the next image.
* Option, when using the Custom style and specifying a background image for the body of the index page, to choose the image attachment mode, either for the background to scroll with the page, or remain fixed.
* Simplified coding for the title bar when no logo image is being displayed.
* A new version of the JW Player (5.7), which can now access YouTube HD videos.
* Fix for a Highslide JS error when using the spacebar to play/pause a slideshow.
* DOCTYPE changed to HTML 4.01 Strict.

* Correction of a minor CSS bug that didn't cause any actual album display errors, but resulted in server log errors when a site was visited with a Webkit browser (Chrome and Safari).

* Extensively modified HTML and CSS, yielding improved page code.
* Option to limit the number of entries on the numbered link list shown on index pages. For example, if there are 12 index pages, if the limit is set to 7, and if the site visitor is currently at page 6, the numbered link list will read: Go to Page 1 ... 4 5 6 7 8 ... 12. The first and last index pages are always included in the list.
* The skin now imposes a calculated minimum width for the thumbnail table. In prior versions, if the browser window was narrowed, it was possible for the thumbnail images to "bleed" beyond their thumbnail boxes. That can no longer occur.
* Option to place the title/comment above, below, to the left of, or to the right of each thumbnail on the index page (formerly below only). When the title/comment is place to the left or right of the thumbnail, the text may be left-aligned, centered, or right-aligned, and a minimum width can be set for the caption area, to control line-wrapping.
* Option to place the title/comment and image counter on the same line in the caption of an enlarged image. Under Album > Settings > Matrix > Captions > Enlarged Image Caption > Image Counter > Relative to title and comment, the "same line" choice is available if the user has chosen to display the title and/or comment, the user has chosen to display the image counter in the caption area, and the title/comment is left-aligned and the image counter is right-aligned, or vice-versa. Long titles/comments will wrap around the image counter. If metadata are also being displayed, the user should generally set their alignment to match that of the title/comment.
* Option, when choosing to include an external text file as part of an image caption, to have newlines in the file replaced with HTML break tags.
* Spacing between a caption and buttons in the caption area tightened, but with an option to insert spacing (mimicking the default spacing in prior releases).
* Improved positioning of the download icon.
* Option, when including a "mailto" button, for the email message to include a direct link to the image in the album from which the mailto button was clicked.
* If the border width for thumbnails in a thumbstrip is greater than zero (chosen under Album > Settings > Matrix > Enlarged Images > Basic Settings > Thumbstrip), a colored hover border is also applied to those thumbnails.
* Option, when using the Custom style, to set the color of the hover border used around thumbnails in a thumbstrip.
* Included SWF videos are now handled differently, and a resize handle may now be applied to them.
* A fix for the problem of a vertical scrollbar appearing in IE9 on the expander for displaying a video. Now, the only reason to use IE8 emulation (see Album > Settings > Matrix > Misc > Internal > IE8 Emulation) is if the album includes a thumbnail that opens an external web page in an expander, and that external web page requires "quirks" mode to display properly.
* Various minor bug fixes, including an EXIF display problem with the aperture field, an improper button text selection when using folder-level overrides, unnecessary stripping of HTML tags from breadcrumb entries when using the box style of breadcrumbs, and a problem with video files when there is more than one index page at a given folder level.
* Highslide JS updated to version 4.1.12, with an additional hotfix for an IE7/IE8 scripting error.
* To ensure that current versions of the supporting files (e.g., the Javascript files in the res directory) are uploaded to the server when an existing project is being updated, this release includes files with updated datestamps.
* Support for IE6 has now been withdrawn completely. No patch files are available.