Product News: New Design, One-Click Article & E-Paper Analytics
Purple is constantly evolving to provide publishers and editors with a modern and efficient publishing platform. The highlights in this product news blog include the new Purple Hub design, the “one-click article” workflow, advanced e-paper analytics, and other optimizations to make your work easier.
New design
Our completely redesigned hub interface is now available for you. The first customers have been using the new design since the beginning of February. This means that you now have a uniform, tidy layout based on modern technology (React/JavaScript).
Why is that useful?
- Simplified navigation: Frequently used functions have remained in the left main menu, while special or less frequently used options (e.g. categories) are now bundled under “Settings.”
- Less distraction: Extensive discussions with various editorial offices showed that a streamlined, clearly structured structure supports the workflow.
- Faster charging: In contrast to the old, PHP-based interface, it is no longer necessary to reload all elements with every page change, so that the new design is noticeably more responsive.
- Consistent look & feel: The hub is the first component in a series of purple tools that are to be visually and functionally coordinated.
Practical example
- A first publishing customer has been successfully using the new design in live operation since February and has confirmed the good usability.
- Editors that work with several types of content (e.g. articles and special formats) on a daily basis benefit from faster switching between overviews — the menu loads dynamically instead of reloading individual pages.
How is it activated? All of our clients' demo environments have already been converted to the new layout, so that every customer can make up their own mind. The changeover will take place in consultation with our customers in the coming weeks. If you need help or have any feedback, our support team is here to help.
One-click article
Our new one-click article workflow is an extension of our AI integration “Purple Prompts.” This allows you to execute multiple AI prompts for different fields in your hub in a single step. This means that you can have titles, excerpts, metadata and even custom fields generated by AI at the same time — all via just one button (“Finalize Article”).
Why is that useful?
- Parallel prompt processing: Instead of filling out forms manually or waiting for several AI commands one after the other, all content is generated automatically in the background and is inserted into the article.
- Faster than writing manually: Especially when it comes to short reports or breaking news, an experienced editor can type faster than waiting 20-30 seconds for a single AI answer. By executing multiple prompts in parallel, the overall time is noticeably reduced.
- Easy correction options: If you are not satisfied with the generated result, you can adjust the AI output directly in the preview window or simply run it again.
How is it activated? Purple prompts are activated via the hub settings by your administrator. After approval, you can add any prompt to “Finalize Article” in Prompt Management.
Practical examples:
- Latest breaking news: A local editor would like to publish a short piece of news. With the help of the one-click article workflow, title, excerpt and, for example, a suitable keyword field are automatically filled in. He can then review the suggestions, adjust them minimally and publish them immediately.
- User-defined fields: If you have special metadata (such as “topic”) in your hub, you can have it automatically generated from the article title or content via AI without having to manually enter anything.
E-paper analytics
With our extended e-paper analytics area, you can record user behavior for all of your edition-based publications — i.e. both e-papers and digital editions. A special feature of this solution is that it also works without cookies, which means:
- Every page view is recorded without personal data being stored.
- The evaluation is carried out per issue instead of just on a page or article basis.
Technically, the solution is based on our own Matomo instance hosted by us, which means that no separate contract for third-party tools is required. Since no cookies are set, classic user journey analyses are limited. In return, you get a complete picture of all traffic (even if users use ad blockers or privacy tools).
Why is that useful?
- Clear comparisons per issue: Determine exactly how an individual issue (such as a special issue) performs compared to others—in terms of views or interaction rates, for example.
- Easy integration: Since Purple Analytics is already integrated, you don't need to set up any additional tools or contracts.
- privacy-friendly: No cookies and no personally identifiable information — ideal for GDPR-compliant applications.
How is it activated?
- Rollout: We are releasing the analytics dashboard step by step, it is currently still in a beta phase. Some pilot customers are already testing the system and giving feedback.
- Licensing: The feature is offered with an additional license fee. As soon as the beta phase is complete, you will receive an official price overview from us.
- Support: Our support team will be happy to answer any questions you may have or would like to activate a test.
New image metadata directly in the editor
This new feature allows you to edit image metadata (e.g. title, owner, location, author) directly in the article editor — without having to go through the media library. The configured metadata fields appear as part of the image caption and can be adjusted immediately.
Why is that useful?
- Immediate fixes: You can see directly in the article which metadata is still missing or incorrect and correct it in real time.
- Time savings: Instead of opening every record in the media library, you can now edit metadata directly where the image is used in the post — particularly useful for large photo series.
- Publishing security: All important information (e.g. copyright notices) can be easily checked and supplemented before publishing.
How is it activated? In the Purple Blocks settings, under “Image block settings,” activate the “Meta Fields as Image Caption” option and select the desired metadata fields. Detailed instructions can be found in our knowledgebase.
Practical example: An editor is working on a photo series for a travel report. Until now, all location information and author references had to be maintained separately in the media library. With the new function, all metadata can be added or corrected directly in the Gutenberg Editor without leaving the editor view in between.
More improvements
- File size limits:
Set individual upload limits for images, videos, audios, and documents in the media settings — the general limit is 100 MB by default. As soon as the specified limit value is exceeded, the user receives a clearly understandable error message. The permitted file formats are organized in groups such as images (jpg, png, etc.), videos (mov, mp4, etc.), audios (mp3, wav, etc.) and documents (pdf, doc, txt, etc.). - Responsive View Switch in the editor:
A new button in the header bar of the article editor allows you to review the article in the display for desktop, tablet or smartphone — this only changes the editing view and has no influence on the published version.
Both functions have already been rolled out and can either be activated or configured by your administrator.
We are looking forward to our next update, where we will present you with more innovative features — detailed information can be found in our Purple changelog.
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