New Year, New Features: Every Upgrade to Journo Portfolio in 2023
Josh Lewis
Published onOver the past year at Journo Portfolio, we've added lots of new features and some powerful enhancements, all designed to offer journalists, writers, and creative professionals a more capable, versatile platform to showcase their work. We've rolled out new features, improved existing ones, and listened to your feedback to make Journo Portfolio better than it's ever been. Here's a summary of the changes we've made in the last year to help you get the most out of your portfolio.
If you're a Journo Portfolio user you can view our change log to stay updated with new features.
1. E-commerce Features
In July we we're very excited to announce a big update for Journo Portfolio users: you can now sell products and services directly from your site. This has been a popular request, and we're happy to deliver a feature that lets you monetize your work more easily. Whether you're selling digital downloads, physical products, or offering your professional services, our platform now supports your business needs.
For the payment side of things, we've partnered with Stripe. They're great at handling the tricky stuff like secure payments and taxes, so you don't have to worry about it. While Stripe is our go-to for now, we're looking to add more payment options in the future to give you more flexibility. You can add various products, including variants (e.g. options for different sizes or colors), and manage shipping rates and taxes for different regions. It's all about making the process as smooth as possible, so you can focus on your creative work and selling it to the world.
2. Multilingual Sites
We understand many of you operate in a global space, juggling content across multiple languages. That's why in September, we added support for translating your site. Now, you can easily enable different languages, and voilà, your content gets automatically translated by Google. But don't worry, we know automatic translations aren't always perfect, so you've got the option to tweak and fine-tune those translations directly within the system.
What's really neat is that these translations are organized by URL (think /en/ for English, /fr/ for French), which is not just tidy but also a big win for your SEO. It means your content can reach the right audience in the right language, boosting your visibility across the globe.
And we're not stopping there. We're on a mission to give you even more control and customization options for how your multilingual sites operate. So, stay tuned for updates that'll make managing your multilingual content even smoother.
3. Domain DNS Editor
In December, we rolled out a handy DNS editor for those of you using custom domains on Journo Portfolio. Now, you can manage your DNS records right from your portfolio's settings. This update makes it easier to connect your domain to external services, like your email provider.
4. Undo/Redo System
In October, we changed up how you manage your site's edit history on Journo Portfolio. It's now quicker and more reliable than ever. With this update, you can effortlessly undo and redo changes in any sequence, all without worrying about losing your edit history. This means more freedom to tweak and adjust your portfolio, secure in the knowledge that every step can be traced back or forward with ease.
5. Embedding Options
Our new embedding options give you the power to embed your Journo Portfolio profile or specific sections of your portfolio on other websites. This is a game-changer for anyone looking to extend their reach and showcase their work in more places. Whether you have an external site you want to link back to your portfolio or you're looking to share your work across different platforms, embedding makes it seamless and straightforward. It's all about getting your work seen by more eyes, in more places, without any extra hassle.
6. New "Expand" Block
We couldn't go a year without a new block type — our new "Expand Block" lets you add a collapsible accordion to your site. This nifty tool means you can collapse any content you like, and the block immediately below automatically becomes the contents of the accordion. It's perfect for tidying up lengthy sections like FAQs or detailed project descriptions, making your site neater and more user-friendly. Now, your visitors can easily expand the information they're interested in without scrolling through everything.
7. Social Sharing Links
You can now add social sharing links to your blog posts, making it easier for readers to share your content on their networks. This feature is a simple yet powerful tool for increasing your work's visibility.
8. New Form Options
We've given you more control over your Subscribe and Contact Forms, including customizable submit button text and the option to add or require a name and phone field. These changes provide a more personalized experience for your site's visitors.
We've also made tracking conversions or triggering custom actions after form submissions more straightforward. This update is crucial for understanding your audience and tailoring your portfolio to meet their needs better.
9. New design options
We know how important design options and customisation are to building a unique portfolio and we are always working to make our editor more powerful. This year we have added many new design options including:
A new "header" option on page sections making it possible to create, for example, a section with 4 columns, but a central intro or heading above them.
The ability to add rounded corners to various blocks and change the design of buttons.
Control how your content fades in or appears as visitors scroll through your site using our new "Page Load Animations" option.
Last, but not least, Pro users can now add custom CSS more easily, offering unlimited possibilities for customizing and enhancing their portfolio.
10. Custom Page Title Tags
This SEO-friendly feature allows for more control over how your pages appear in search results and when shared on social media. If SEO is important to you, don't forget to check out our blog post: The Complete Guide to SEO for your Journo Portfolio Website.
11. Blog Post Image Options
We updated how images work on written articles/blog posts published on your site. You can now choose from a few different options to position the image and bleed outside of the article content, creating more impactful and visually engaging layouts.
12. Folder Dropdowns
A new feature that was often requested, you can now add "Folders" to your navigation that act as non-clickable options in a menu, ideal for dropdowns.
13. Faster Portfolios: New Fonts
We are always conscious of ensuring your portfolio loads fast, is secure and protects the privacy of you and your site's visitors. This year we switched to hosting portfolio fonts directly (instead of from Google) which is both faster (as it loads from the same domain) and is a better option for privacy. We have seen improvements in reported page speed insights test scores for portfolios as a result. We also added 90 new fonts to our library to give you more customization options.
14. Improved Auto Article Blocks
We have made it so you can better control which articles appear on "Automatic" article blocks, with new options such as the ability to limit how many matching articles show. This is great for adding a "Latest Articles" section on your site that might only show the 3 newest articles and automatically update as you add new articles.
Since 2012 when we started Journo Portfolio we have focused on gradual and iterative improvement and this year was no exception. We're excited to see how you use these new features to showcase your work and achieve your goals. In 2024 we're going to be focused on expanding and improving the multilingual and e-commerce features and refining the user experience. Here's to another year of creativity, growth, and success!
Is there a feature you think we should add? Or a bug that needs fixing. Let us know by chatting with us or submitting a feature request.
