Blog: Launches

Press-Ready Web-to-Print Now Available

Business cards, postcards, sell sheets and any other kind of printed collateral can now be added to your company store!

Web-to-print screens Complete support for any type of print document:

  • Single and multipage
  • All fonts supported
  • Any graphics application that supports PDF export (Adobe inDesign, Microsoft Word, Adobe Illustrator, and more)
  • Press-ready files using the PDF format of your choice, including PDF x1a

Simple management: Print fields managed in Adobe Acrobat using the PDFLib plugin (available for both Windows and Mac).

Just add fields or convert a document with existing fields easily. Required field validation and field length supported using the plugin.

Web to Print screen 2

webBlox management: Simple management of files and fonts in webBlox. Upload PDFs, analyze files for fonts, and upload fonts all in one simple interface.

Web to Print Management

Ready to check it out? Try the demo site right now, or hit us up for a walkthrough or free custom demo!

Categories: Launches

ShipStation integration now available

2020 may be a year to forget in many ways, but we’ve been plugging away at some big changes for 2021 that we’re excited to show you very soon. In the meantime, we’re happy to announce that storeBlox CS now supports ShipStation!

ShipStation Logo

Yep, in addition to the roughly six-bajillion shipping options (we might be exaggerating that number, please don’t call your lawyer) currently available in storeBlox CS, you can now integrate directly with ShipStation!

ShipStation is a nifty service for shipping at best available rates, printing shipping labels, tracking shipments and a whole lot more. When you plug in ShipStation to your storeBlox CS company store (and it’s super easy, just see below), your storeBlox CS orders are pushed into ShipStation; when you ship orders the tracking information is synchronized with your storeBlox CS store automatically.

ShipStation admin screen in storeBlox CS

A few fields is all you need to get set up, but as always we’re here to help you through the process. Just drop us a line or give us a shout at 512-867-1001 and we’ll get you set up. Need to learn more about setting up your shipping options? Check out our Video Learning Center for walkthroughs and tips.

Categories: Launches

We Made a New Thing: 3M Virtual Samples

When you create technology products, you have to iterate, iterate and iterate some more to get them right. eBlox built the first “virtual sample” product in the promotional products industry about twenty years ago for Norwood Promotional Products. Many things have changed since then; Norwood is now part of Bic, and the kind of technology that was once popular for virtual samples—Adobe’s Flash—has been relegated to the dustbin.

But people still need to present ideas to their clients, so the need for virtual samples is as big as ever. Our longtime client 3M Promotional Markets decided a few years ago that they wanted a virtual sample tool where users could very quickly and seamlessly create sample Post-It® custom printed note pad designs, so we took to pen and paper —ok, not really; we used a bunch of cool programs and prototyping tools. But we made something cool, and you should check it out.

Our primary goal with the 3M Virtual Sample tool was simple: Instant gratification. Most industry virtual sample tools force you to load up popups and deal with a completely different user interface. We wanted something that was built into the existing structure, using the same look and feel as the web site:

 

3M Promotional Markets Virtual Sample

The user interface is both simple to use and accurately represents the finished product.

Secondarily, we wanted it to be reasonably bomb-proof. Virtual sample and online design tools often turn into miniature versions of desktop graphic design tools—they’re loaded up with options, transformations, clip art and all sorts of other things that distract from getting the job done quickly. So, we stripped out everything we possibly could to simplify the process. Everything you see is what you can do. No hidden menus, buried features or tricky operations. No funky technology that has problems with different browsers or touch devices. Simple and effective.

We added some cool orientation controls as well, since you can take a Post-It® note and turn the adhesive side however you’d like for printing. You can also quickly swap pad sizes to see different layouts:

 

3M Virtual Sample orientation controls

Size and orientation controls allow users to try out different layouts quickly.

Finally, we wanted to make sharing easy throughout the process. Most virtual samples let you share them; ours has a one-click PDF spec sheet, with your full sample and all related product information. Each product has a unique ID that can be shared with anyone who needs to see or provide feedback on the sample. And an instant, drop-down Project listing makes it easy to copy and share new projects.

 

3M Virtual Sample PDF output

One-click PDF generation creates a fullly-designed spec sheet/sample in seconds.

Please go check it out when you get a chance and let us know what you think!

Categories: Launches