Tales Logo

Changelog

v1.9 - October 6, 2025

Added

  • **SEO Optimization**: Created `sitemap.xml` and `robots.txt` files to improve the application's visibility and indexing by search engines.

Changed

  • **Documentation**: Updated the main `README.md` file to include details about our new, more robust collaborative protocol, ensuring a clear record of our improved workflow.

v1.8 - October 5, 2025

Added

  • **Comprehensive Documentation**: Created new markdown files (`README.md`, `desktop-mobile-switch.md`, `DEAR AI CC...md`, `hydration-fix.md`) to thoroughly document the project's complex history, major architectural decisions (like the mobile/desktop split and the manual canvas download solution), and standard procedures for fixing common issues like hydration errors. This improves project maintainability and knowledge transfer.

Changed

  • **Code Quality**: Replaced the deprecated `googleai` Genkit plugin with the official `@genkit-ai/google-genai` and updated the initialization to the correct 1.x syntax. This also involved updating all `genkit` packages to a consistent version to resolve dependency conflicts.
  • **UI Components**: Updated the `Alert`, `Input`, and `Textarea` components to use theme variables for colors instead of hardcoded values, improving consistency across themes.
  • **Artistic Style**: The "Stick Figure" style has been correctly removed from the style selection dropdown to prevent its use.

Fixed

  • **Recurring Hydration Error**: Implemented the definitive solution for the persistent React hydration error by creating a reusable `ClientOnly` component. This component ensures that any UI elements with client-side state are only rendered on the client, preventing the server-client mismatch that caused the error.
  • **Build Errors**: Corrected multiple JSX parsing errors in the changelog page that were caused by unescaped special characters.
  • **TypeScript Error**: Fixed a type mismatch where an `undefined` value for the `signature` was being passed to a function expecting `null`.
  • **Server Module Error**: Fixed a runtime error by removing the `'use server';` directive from the `genkit.ts` configuration file, which was incorrectly flagging a non-function export.
  • **Progress Indicator Visibility**: Corrected the styling for the progress indicator to ensure waiting steps are always visible against a white background by changing the text color from a light gray to black.
  • **Settings Dialog Layout**: Fixed the layout of the settings dialog by adding padding around the tab list, preventing it from touching the edges of the container.

v1.7 - October 5, 2025

Added

  • **About Us Page**: Created a new `/about` page to share the story and vision behind the "Tales" application.

Changed

  • **Footer Redesign**: Re-architected the footer into a clearer, multi-column layout for better organization of branding, social links, quick navigation, and legal information. The "About Us" and "Changelog" links are now correctly placed in the "QUICK LINKS" section.

v1.6 - October 3, 2025

Added

  • **"Generate Another" Button**: Added a button to the mobile view to allow users to easily start a new creation after finishing one, improving the workflow.

Fixed

  • **Persistent Artistic Style**: Fixed a bug where the user's selected artistic style was not being saved, causing it to default back to "Stick Figure" on every page load. The selection is now correctly remembered.
  • **Mobile Download Logic**: Fixed a bug where the "Lock Layout" button was incorrectly disabling the "Download" button. The logic is now inverted, so downloading is only possible when the layout is locked.
  • **Mobile Default Layout**: Completely overhauled the initial layout of the mobile canvas. The text block is now wide and rectangular by default, and both the image and signature are properly centered horizontally, creating a much better starting point for users.

v1.4 - September 23, 2025

Added

  • **Settings Documentation**: A new `settings.md` file has been created to provide clear documentation for all options in the settings dialog.

Changed

  • **Form Layout**: The generator form has been restructured into a clearer five-step process and made wider on desktop screens to improve usability.
  • **Settings Dialog**: The "Text Generation Model" selector has been moved into the "Appearance" tab of the settings dialog to declutter the main form.
  • **UI/UX Polish**:
    • The `+` and `-` buttons for font size adjustment are now more visible.
    • Preset pills now have inverted text color on hover for better readability.
    • The information icon has been moved to the top-left of the canvas to prevent overlap.
    • The main canvas now has a subtle white glow effect around its border.
  • **Copyright**: The footer copyright has been updated to attribute the work to "SocialSpark".

Fixed

  • **Settings Dialog**: The "Done" button was restored to the settings dialog to provide a clear action for closing it.

v1.3 - September 15, 2025

Added

  • **Code Refactoring**: Extracted the hero section "pills" into a reusable `HeroPills` component to improve code modularity and maintainability.

Changed

  • **Footer Redesign**: The footer has been completely restructured for better organization.
    • The social media icon is now placed directly under the brand slogan.
    • All legal links have been grouped under a clear "LEGAL" heading.
  • **Sub-Footer**: Created a new sub-footer section to house the `HeroPills` component and copyright/version information, cleaning up the main footer area.
  • **Changelog Link**: The link to the changelog page has been moved next to the version number for more intuitive navigation.

v1.2 - September 15, 2025

Added

  • **Use Case Section**: Added a new "What can I do with this app?" section to the landing page to clearly articulate the value and creative possibilities for users.

Changed

  • **Visual Polish**:
    • Implemented a subtle, animated glowing gradient border for all key informational cards on the landing page to create a consistent, premium aesthetic.
    • Darkened the overall background of the application for better contrast and a more modern, focused look.
  • **Hero Section**: Shortened the content and width of the "share" and "support" pills in the hero section for a more compact and clean appearance.

v1.1 - September 15, 2025

Added

  • **Back to Top Button**: Implemented a new, reusable component that provides a "Back to Top" button on all pages to improve navigation on long scrolls.
  • **Enhanced Landing Page Engagement**: Added two new "pill" components to the hero section: one for easy one-click copying of the site URL and another for a prominent support email link.

Changed

  • **Showcase Carousel**: Enabled autoplay for the example showcase carousel on the landing page to make it more dynamic.
  • **Landing Page Design**: Wrapped the "Features" section items in white cards for better visual consistency and design alignment.
  • **Visual Polish**: Replaced the "noisy" background texture with a more subtle and clean dot pattern based on user feedback.
  • **Footer Design**: Increased the footer height and vertically centered its content for a more balanced and spacious layout.
  • **Admin Link Visibility**: The "Admin" link in the user profile dropdown is now only visible to authorized admin users.

Fixed

  • **Critical Sign-In Bug**: Resolved a `404 Not Found` error that was breaking the Google Sign-In flow. The issue was caused by an incorrect `authDomain` in the Firebase configuration, which has been reverted to the correct value.
  • **Layout Glitch**: Removed an unwanted margin above the footer to create a seamless transition from the main content.
  • **Icon Centering**: Corrected the alignment of the stacked icons inside the "Back to Top" button to ensure they are perfectly centered.
  • **Critical Drag-and-Drop Failure**: The core drag-and-drop feature in the editor completely broke due to incorrect component architecture. The issue was resolved by a complete rebuild of the `EditableElements` component, removing faulty wrappers that were blocking user interaction events.

v1.0 - September 14, 2025

Added

  • **Complete Landing Page Redesign**: Overhauled the public-facing landing page for a more professional and engaging user experience.
  • **Dynamic Hero Section**: The new hero section features an animated "aurora" background with a subtle noise overlay for visual texture.
  • **Example Showcase Carousel**: Replaced the static card stack with an interactive carousel to elegantly display all 10 example creations.
  • **Detailed Features Section**: Added a new section to clearly explain the app's key features: custom signatures, a wide array of artistic styles, selectable AI models, and premium AI power.
  • **Prominent Legal Links**: Added large, underlined links to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy directly below the hero section to meet Google's verification requirements.

Changed

  • **Modernized Section Transitions**: Removed horizontal lines between sections for a cleaner, more seamless page flow.
  • **Branding Consistency**: Standardized the design of all primary call-to-action buttons to match the official app branding.
  • **Copywriting Enhancements**: Updated the marketing copy in the hero and features sections to be more descriptive and highlight the creative possibilities.
  • **Visual Polish**: Alternated section background colors and refined the background pattern opacity for a more subtle and polished aesthetic.

v0.6 - September 14, 2025

Fixed

  • **Critical Persistence Bug**: Fixed a major issue where several user settings (including Audience, Model, and creative direction) were not being saved correctly, causing them to reset on page reload. All form settings are now properly persistent.

Changed

  • **Engaging Loading Indicator**: The progress display during generation is now more detailed and includes randomized, humorous steps to make the waiting period more enjoyable.
  • **UI Polish**: The main "Generate" button is now larger and features a subtle shadow effect to make it more prominent.

v0.4 - September 14, 2025

Added

  • **Audience Selector**: Users can now choose a target audience for their story ("For Kids", "General", "For Adults"), and the preference is saved automatically.

Changed

  • **Artistic Styles Updated**: The dropdown list of artistic styles for illustrations has been replaced with an official, more descriptive list for better results. The styles are now managed in a separate file for easier maintenance.
  • **Default Style**: The default artistic style is now "Stick Figure/Minimalist" to match the app's original theme.

Fixed

  • **Critical Model Name Bug**: Corrected the identifiers for the generative AI models (`gemini-pro`), finally resolving the persistent `404 Not Found` errors.
  • **Credit Balance Refresh**: The user's credit balance now updates automatically in the UI after a generation, removing the need for a manual page reload.
  • **Console Error Spam**: Removed redundant `console.error` calls that were logging raw technical errors to the console when a model was overloaded.
  • **Hardcoded Image Style**: Fixed a major bug where the image generation prompt was hardcoded to "stick figure," ignoring the user's selection from the dropdown.

v0.3 - September 13, 2025

Added

  • **Chaos Slider**: Introduced a slider to control the AI's creativity level, from 0 (faithful) to 100 (wild).
  • **Signature Presets**: Added a preset management system for signatures, allowing users to save and reuse them.
  • **Tabbed Settings Dialog**: Redesigned the settings dialog with tabs for better organization and usability on small screens.
  • **Personalized Greeting**: Added a "Hello, {user}" message in the header for a personal touch.
  • **Changelog Page**: You're looking at it! A dedicated page to track version history.

Changed

  • **Major Code Refactor**: Broke down the main logic into smaller, specialized hooks for improved modularity and maintainability.
  • **UI Enhancements**:
    • The "Generate" button now has a 3D effect.
    • Cards have a subtle shadow for better depth.
    • The page background now features a subtle dot pattern.
    • Form inputs have a new subtle lime-green border.

Fixed

  • Resolved "Module not found" errors by correcting import paths.
  • Fixed a CSS parsing error in the global stylesheet.
  • Made the settings dialog scrollable and more compact to prevent it from being cropped on smaller monitors.

v0.2 - September 12, 2025

Added

  • Initial public release.
  • Core functionality for story and illustration generation.
  • Draggable and resizable editor for content layout.
  • User authentication with Google.
  • Preset management for phrases.
  • Custom font and color themes.
  • Reliable download functionality using a manual canvas implementation.