Over the past couple of weeks I've made some tweaks to the site, polishing things up to work just a little bit more smoothly wherever I can. Here's a quick breakdown of things I've done that might've gone unnoticed:

• Revamped payment pages to reintroduce PayPal and added "update payment info" to Stripe
  As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I enabled the ability to subscribe via PayPal again since support for it never actually went away. Furthermore, I enabled a newly implemented feature that allows you to update your payment info on Stripe subscriptions without having to cancel and resubscribe.
• Polished gallery and YCH views, making the layout and ordering more consistent
  Since the metadata for each post could vary to the point of affecting the height of the entries in the layout, this led to a strange behaviour where the order that they were displayed in wasn't always consistently chronological. Now, the layout is perfectly aligned along a fixed grid. YCHes will also be making a return soon, along with the planned but delayed commission schedule.
• Changed SSO options because of Elon Musk
  Twitter sign-on broke with the advent of new and creative ways of driving an entire social media network careening straight into the ground. There was no way for me to reimplement it without huge expense, so I removed it and added other options instead. You can now log in using Discord, Facebook, Google, OneAll, Reddit, Steam and Tumblr, which can be set up on your profile management page.
• Improved "Lightbox" image viewer for art posts
  Image galleries inside posts have been given a better, smoother viewing experience. You might have noticed this already, but it now allows you to navigate with swiping on your phone, zooming in with a click/tap, and even download the image easily with a dedicated button at the top right, which is visible while in viewing mode.
• Tweaked caching for faster response times; more work pending
  This is still only a minor improvement as of right now, but I noticed the site getting increasingly sluggish over time and I'm looking into getting it back up to scratch again.

I've been mulling over revamping the entire site's layout with a brand new template because I worry that it might be a little bland, but I think it still does the job and it's gained a new lease on life with these key improvements.

Since migrating onto Stripe, things have been going swimmingly on the site. Reduced transfer fees, simplified payment processing, and so on.

The vast majority of you have migrated to the new system but a few have held on tightly to your PayPal subscriptions, which has prevented me from entirely disabling support for them in the backend. A while back I received a note from a fan on DeviantArt who asked if it was possible to sign up to the site using PayPal instead of Stripe, so I figured that if some folks are already using it anyway, why not update the site to support them both instead?

While existing subscribers won't notice much of a change, if you've been held back from signing up because of my Stripe exclusivity, now's your chance to check out my tiers and sign up!

Please note that to make up for the higher costs of using PayPal, a slight markup of €1 to €2 will be added to the membership price depending on the tier. The final prices are listed on the checkout form for your information.

Thanks!

13/6/23 Update: I've reinstated PayPal payments with a small markup to cover PayPal fees and general expenses with its use. Now you can subscribe using whichever method you prefer.

The Candy Shop is finally fully integrated with Stripe! PayPal's recent update to their fee structure was the last straw for me, and I spent the past week or so testing and tweaking things in the background to make the switch.

Here's how to switch your billing method to the new system:

1. Go to your profile page
2. Click on "Manage PayPal Subscription" and log in to PayPal to cancel your subscription there

NB: You should cancel your subscription from now, to avoid forgetting to do so before your next payment date.

3. Refresh your profile page to see when your subscription runs out
4. At a later date, or whenever your renewal is due, click on "Manage My Subscription" and sign up again via Stripe

If you're not currently subscribed and would like to rejoin as a result of this change, you can skip from step 1 straight to 4.

By the way, as you'd expect, I don't get to see any of your financial details and that's all handled by Stripe on my behalf. Stripe is a big company whom I trust to handle your data with care, and that's why I picked them.

It's perfectly fine if you'd rather stick to PayPal for the time being; your membership will still be renewed via any subscriptons that are currently active, but I won't be taking new pledges that way any more unless necessary. Be aware that I lose out due to higher fees on PayPal though, and would appreciate it if you could make the switch at some point.

If you run into any issues with the new system, do let me know. Thanks a lot!