Important status for widget updates July 2017

Hi to all MuseShoppers,

Recently, an image hosting website called photobucket, which has been used by millions of users (us included) for free image hosting has done the worst possible move towards their trusted customers and basically cornered millions of users hosting billions of images into having to pay for their hosted images. This has affected some of our widgets so please read on to learn more

Photobucket launched more than a decade ago and it was one of the most convenient providers for free image hosting so it was used worldwide as a trustworthy source for free image hosting. On July 1st 2017 suddenly they changed their policy and forced payments for the once free hosting service affecting millions of us who were accustomed to their services. This is truly the worst possible move they could have done to their trusted customers.

What does this mean in general?

It means that anyone who used photobucket to host images for free now has to pay an unreasonable monthly amount for that service, otherwise their images are replaced with a photobucket logo and a message to upgrade their photobucket account

How does this affect MuseShop.net widgets/themes?

In 99% it has no direct effects to the final website you create with our widgets. The 99% of the bad effect is that when you drag some of our widgets onto canvas, instead of our widget’s cover image, you’ll see the photobucket logo mentioned before but the widget itself will retain functionality and you will still be able to produce the original widget effect. The 1% is our SnazzyMaps widget, which uses a default icon image which is hosted on photobucket, so if you did use our SnazzyMaps widget you should change the icon by hosting your own icon image on a different free hosting service or, better yet, on your own hosting and paste in the direct link to that icon image instead.

Which widgets will show the photobucket logo inside Muse?

Here is the list of our widgets that will show the photobucket logo inside Muse:

Animated Page Preloaders V1.0.1
Animated Skill Bars V1.0.1
Back to top Button V1.0.1
Instant Animated Counters V1.0.1
Muse Animate (engine & block) V1.0.1
On Scroll Menu Restyler V1.0.1
Ultimate Scrollbars V1.0.2
Video Backgrounds V1.0.6
Video Backgrounds – Light V1.0.6
Video Backgrounds – Light – Darkwell Edition V1.0.6

Which widgets will show the photobucket logo on the final website?

SnazzyMaps V1.0.1 (Critical, will show on final website)
SnazzyMaps Light V1.0 (Critical, will show on final website)

What should I do?

Firstly, it is important to understand that none of your projects are affected, the widgets will keep their functions. As stated previously, only the image inside Muse will show the photobucket logo instead of our widget image, for the widgets listed above.

I have an active MuseShop.net Membership

If you own an active membership you should log in, go to My Account and then on Downloads tab and check if the new widget versions are available to download. Download the new widgets, delete the old widgets from Muse and install the new widgets. Pay attention to the widget version, cross reference it to the affected widgets list in this article and download only when the new versions are available (e.g. Animated Skill Bars V1.0.1 is affected, wait until Animated Skill Bars V1.0.2 is available before downloading)

I do not have an active MuseShop.net Membership but I was a Member

You will still be able to use all your downloaded widgets even though the ones listed here will show the photobucket logo inside Muse. Your final project will not be affected.

I have a theme that uses affected widgets

You should either wait for the theme update and then download the new version, copy the widgets from there and update your website project but remember, you don’t have to do this because your final website will not have been changed. If your theme used the SnazzyMaps Light widget you should wait for the new SnazzyMaps widget to be released, then download it and update it on your website because it WILL show the photobucket logo on the final website. If you don’t want to wait for the theme update, see ‘I have used SnazzyMaps Light Muse Widget’ below and follow the instructions.

I have used the SnazzyMaps Muse Widget

You should immediately change the icon image to a custom icon image (as explained in the video tutorial) because photobucket logo will be showed on your final website.

I have used the SnazzyMaps Light Muse Widget

You should contact us requesting a new version of the SnazzyMaps Light widget. You must include:

• an item name for the item you purchased and
• the order number for the item you purchased.

Conclusion

We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused you. We believe in fair play and when we say that something will always be free, we mean it! This cannot be said for the photobucket guys and unfortunately we are among millions of their users who have been a victim of unfair play to say the least. Photobucket has done an equivalent of Google suddenly charging 80$ per month for gmail and this is why we advise you NOT to use photobucket in the future.

Sincerely,
MuseShop.net team