Get a Sneak Peek at SmugMug's new design!

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Comments

  • cmasoncmason Registered Users Posts: 2,506 Major grins
    edited January 4, 2013
    I can't say I have noticed any performance problems or slow loads myself. I believe the improvements posted in the first post are more along the lines of page design and layout, though it is possible it goes deeper than than. The 'beta' doesn't seem to load any faster for me anyway.

    Do remember that there are limits imposed by physics. Your hard drive, even a slow one over USB 2.0, can transmit photos at 480Mb/sec, compared to the internet, which unless you are on Google Fiber, is going to be much less than 'standard' fast ethernet's 100Mb/sec, and likely around 5-15Mb/sec, depending on your provider. So, don't expect ANY service on the net to serve up your images as fast as your local hard drive on your computer. Smugmug is using Amazon as a backend provider, so you really will be hard pressed to find a faster service.
  • TBTTBT Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
    edited January 4, 2013
    Videos in slide shows
    Is there any chance the redesign will allow videos to be played in slide shows as you can on phanfare and zenfolio?

    This is the #1 feature keeping me off smugmug right now. Most folks I send web albums to just go straight to slideshow and on smugmug that means they get a single frame of my gorgeous movies.

    Your solution for this right now is a total unacceptable hack. Just make the whole slideshow a video and pay extra for the hassle? No thank you!
  • mbonocorembonocore Registered Users Posts: 2,299 Major grins
    edited January 5, 2013
    jhofker wrote: »
    Happy New Year!

    Any update on what's going on with this? Answers along the lines of "it will be done in February, here's a link to an updated sneak peek" would be much appreciated. ;-)

    Hey Jordan,

    Now that the holidays are over, I will be working on gathering information to provide some information to you, and to all the other SmugMug customers.

    Michael
  • mbonocorembonocore Registered Users Posts: 2,299 Major grins
    edited January 5, 2013
    mattsanf wrote: »
    Hi, I am also new here. I just moved a large number of photos into a Smugmug account about 6 months ago.

    Is the site typically very slow for page refreshes, etc? I am satisfied enough with the feature set given that I am only using this for a personal collection and not a business, but the site is very slow most of the time and I find myself looking for things on my hard drive so that I don't have to deal with it. Is that a problem that others have seen with Smugmug? Is the "new design" expected to be faster too, or just have more features?

    As CMason said, SmugMug speed performance is some of the fatest you will see. But I can tell you a gallery takes 2 minutes to load on my 2009 Macbook Pro, which is heavily impaired because of years of hard use and outdated components. So as CMason states, many factors can make web pages "slow"...ISP speeds, memory usage, etc.

    Michal
  • mbonocorembonocore Registered Users Posts: 2,299 Major grins
    edited January 5, 2013
    TBT wrote: »
    Is there any chance the redesign will allow videos to be played in slide shows as you can on phanfare and zenfolio?

    This is the #1 feature keeping me off smugmug right now. Most folks I send web albums to just go straight to slideshow and on smugmug that means they get a single frame of my gorgeous movies.

    Your solution for this right now is a total unacceptable hack. Just make the whole slideshow a video and pay extra for the hassle? No thank you!


    TBT,

    At this time, I cannot tell you what features and changes are currently being developed. What I can tell you, is that we do review the feedback feature requests, as it helps guide our planning and development. Here is the feature request you are speaking off.

    Feel free to add your votes!

    http://feedback.smugmug.com/forums/17723-smugmug/suggestions/314392-play-videos-when-in-slideshow-mode

    Michael
  • TBTTBT Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
    edited January 5, 2013
    mbonocore wrote: »
    TBT,

    At this time, I cannot tell you what features and changes are currently being developed. What I can tell you, is that we do review the feedback feature requests, as it helps guide our planning and development. Here is the feature request you are speaking off.

    Feel free to add your votes!

    http://feedback.smugmug.com/forums/17723-smugmug/suggestions/314392-play-videos-when-in-slideshow-mode

    Michael

    Thanks!


    Given it's currently a choice by smugmug, not a technical limitation, I would wager this feature will not be included in your upgrade. My guess is your deal with animoto (or whatever the slideshow folks are called) prevents you from adding a compteting feature.

    Whatever. AS-IS your service is unacceptable. This year my photo busines goes with zen for their forward thinking support of video in slide shows.

    BTW I was a smug customer and left both because of your lackluster video support and your disjointed mess of a backend. I just tested you out again and it's unbelievable the lack of progress y'all have made in the last couple of years.

    See you again next year if I am unhappy with Zen....
  • WinsomeWorksWinsomeWorks Registered Users Posts: 1,935 Major grins
    edited January 5, 2013
    mattsanf wrote: »
    Hi, I am also new here. I just moved a large number of photos into a Smugmug account about 6 months ago.

    Is the site typically very slow for page refreshes, etc? I am satisfied enough with the feature set given that I am only using this for a personal collection and not a business, but the site is very slow most of the time and I find myself looking for things on my hard drive so that I don't have to deal with it. Is that a problem that others have seen with Smugmug? Is the "new design" expected to be faster too, or just have more features?
    When looking through photos in any of my galleries, trying to cull them, etc. it seems very slow as far as going from one photo to another. The first time I click on any thumbnail in a gallery, I'll get a second or two of black space before the photo comes up. It seems to me it should go straight to a new photo w/o the black space. After the initial click on a thumb, the load time will be almost immediate if I choose to go back to that same thumb. However, I realize that few of my viewers would be doing that, so I assume they're getting the slow movement through a gallery all the time, which is frustrating. And the aggravating thing for me as the gallery owner is that every time I've refreshed the page (or gone to a new page in the same gallery, or clicked to a tool for an edit or whatever) I've then "lost" all the loading time I "gained" by having clicked once on a thumb. In other words, if I cull some on page 3 of my gallery, or edit them, then return to page 2 where I've already clicked through all of them, I now have the longer wait times (& black space between) while I go from photo to photo. When there's not an immediate transition to the next photo, it's very hard to decide which one is better. So it's better for me to cull them before uploading. But knowing viewers are having this same slow experience (& maybe much worse, since I have a fast computer & connection) is a real bummer. I don't really have other photo sites to compare with, however. But I noticed that on some other sites, you hover over a thumb & get an instant view of a larger image, rather than just a caption-when-hovering like we get here on Smug. That too is a bummer, especially since lots of other sites have had that for years.
    Anna Lisa Yoder's Images - http://winsomeworks.com ... Handmade Photo Notecards: http://winsomeworks.etsy.com ... Framed/Matted work: http://anna-lisa-yoder.artistwebsites.com/galleries.html ... Scribbles: http://winsomeworks.blogspot.com
    DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
  • darklightphotographydarklightphotography Registered Users Posts: 45 Big grins
    edited January 8, 2013
    mbonocore wrote: »
    TBT,

    At this time, I cannot tell you what features and changes are currently being developed. What I can tell you, is that we do review the feedback feature requests, as it helps guide our planning and development.

    What a surprise. I've lost count of how many times I've heard that line. Given that this thread is about new features and design promised back in 2011, and which you can't/won't talk about, what is your purpose here? After so long what I think most want to see here is some actual information about what is coming and when it is coming.

    You ask that people vote for feature requests as if this will somehow make things happen, when hundreds of posts here did not.

    Remind me again what I'm getting for the extra $100/year?
  • T. BombadilT. Bombadil Registered Users Posts: 286 Major grins
    edited January 8, 2013
    What a surprise. I've lost count of how many times I've heard that line. Given that this thread is about new features and design promised back in 2011, and which you can't/won't talk about, what is your purpose here? After so long what I think most want to see here is some actual information about what is coming and when it is coming.

    You ask that people vote for feature requests as if this will somehow make things happen, when hundreds of posts here did not.

    Remind me again what I'm getting for the extra $100/year?

    A Smugmug account is still a good value when compared to competitors offerings, even if it costs more than it used to.

    Baldy was on TWiP (This Week in Photo) being interviewed (for the second time in recent weeks). It was an interesting discussion, and gave some insight into why programming hasn't happened at the pace that everyone (customers and employees) would like.
    Bruce

    Chooka chooka hoo la ley
    Looka looka koo la ley
  • JamesGPhotoJamesGPhoto Registered Users Posts: 150 Major grins
    edited January 8, 2013
    A Smugmug account is still a good value when compared to competitors offerings, even if it costs more than it used to.

    Baldy was on TWiP (This Week in Photo) being interviewed (for the second time in recent weeks). It was an interesting discussion, and gave some insight into why programming hasn't happened at the pace that everyone (customers and employees) would like.

    When will the podcast be available??
    James Geiger M. Ed.
    "Being a photographer is not about taking a photograph, it is about being curious about life."
    ~ Jared Platt
    http://www.jamesgeigerphoto.com
  • uncooluncool Registered Users Posts: 96 Big grins
    edited January 8, 2013
    Well every person you can know,
    And every place that you can go,
    And any thing that you can show,
    You know they're nouns.
  • mbonocorembonocore Registered Users Posts: 2,299 Major grins
    edited January 9, 2013
    What a surprise. I've lost count of how many times I've heard that line. Given that this thread is about new features and design promised back in 2011, and which you can't/won't talk about, what is your purpose here? After so long what I think most want to see here is some actual information about what is coming and when it is coming.

    You ask that people vote for feature requests as if this will somehow make things happen, when hundreds of posts here did not.

    Remind me again what I'm getting for the extra $100/year?

    I do understand your frustrations. However the votes DO count. They are easier to base decisions off of than having to troll though thousands of dgrin threads.

    The referenced TwiP podcast with Baldy is informative, and I hope you watch it. I am working on writing up something as well.

    Michael
  • mbonocorembonocore Registered Users Posts: 2,299 Major grins
    edited January 9, 2013
    A Smugmug account is still a good value when compared to competitors offerings, even if it costs more than it used to.

    Baldy was on TWiP (This Week in Photo) being interviewed (for the second time in recent weeks). It was an interesting discussion, and gave some insight into why programming hasn't happened at the pace that everyone (customers and employees) would like.


    Thanks for the kind words Bruce. Until December, when I was hired, I was a nothing more than a long time SmugMug pro, and like you, felt that the unlimited storage and rich feature set, especially with the strong features in events and e-commerce, made SmugMug worth every penny, even after the price increase.

    Michael
  • darklightphotographydarklightphotography Registered Users Posts: 45 Big grins
    edited January 9, 2013
    mbonocore wrote: »
    I do understand your frustrations. However the votes DO count. They are easier to base decisions off of than having to troll though thousands of dgrin threads.

    The referenced TwiP podcast with Baldy is informative, and I hope you watch it. I am working on writing up something as well.

    Michael

    Really? It's hard to figure out what dgrinners want from Smugmug? Your leader below seems quite clear on what the people want. Crystal clear. He's heard it time and time again. One might think that crystal clarity would have enabled a plan to be written, even a timeline.

    I did watch the podcast, but saw nothing on future plans.
    onethumb wrote: »
    I just want to explicitly reply that this isn't true. These changes (and the related ones you're not seeing yet because this is a VERY EARLY preview) are easily the most requested, nay, most DEMANDED, features SmugMug has ever worked on.

    We hear it every day on the Help Desk. We hear it every day in person. We hear it every time we do user testing. We hear it at every trade show.

    The message is crystal clear, which is why we're devoting so many resources to this project. Stay tuned... There's a lot more coming that should make it even clearer just how many major customer requests will be solved with this update.
  • mbonocorembonocore Registered Users Posts: 2,299 Major grins
    edited January 9, 2013
    Kevin,

    I was simply responding to your comment about me asking people to vote on features on the feedback.smugmug.com.

    We use feedback from ALL channels to base our future design and feature set. However, we would like to have all feature request channeled through feedback.smugmug.com. That way, a request won't get lost in the forum or email. Also, when a feature gets "votes", it gives us a better idea on the % of customers that would like this.

    But, we are working hard on providing you with the future of SmugMug. I want to reemphasize that just because you haven't heard about specific features or requests from us, that does not mean that they are not being addressed behind the scenes.

    Thanks Kevin.

    Michael
  • etchedinpixelsetchedinpixels Registered Users Posts: 25 Big grins
    edited January 9, 2013
    mbonocore wrote: »
    Derek,

    Thank you kindly for your input. My primary role with SmugMug is to help keep you and all of our valued customers informed and to help keep the communication channels open and busy. I understand your frustrations with the lack of formal updates, and again, my primary goal is to increase the communication and interaction with our customers.

    I look forward to working closely with you in 2013.
    Michael

    Wow, how incredibly vague.

    As one of your first orders of business, I suggest you talk to your bosses and ask for either
    a) leeway to discuss the timeline, since it seems that you're probably being prevented from doing so
    b) tell them to publish and official response. This is really hurting your company reputation. Can't the management see that? Or are they just too embarrassed at this point?

    Honesty goes a long way. At least you can hope to retain your reputation.
    My Photo Site: EtchedinPixels.com
    To all those still using the Firefox Web Inspector: Check out the one built in to Chrome! It's much more robust.
  • mbonocorembonocore Registered Users Posts: 2,299 Major grins
    edited January 9, 2013
    I am working on trying to get you more information. Have you watched the TWiP interview linked above? Baldy does give some great information about what goes on when developing new features, and the cause for some delays. I know this is not what you are looking for, but I do think it should help understand a little more about what goes on Behind The Scenes.

    Michael
  • mbonocorembonocore Registered Users Posts: 2,299 Major grins
    edited January 9, 2013
    Wow, how incredibly vague.

    As one of your first orders of business, I suggest you talk to your bosses and ask for either
    a) leeway to discuss the timeline, since it seems that you're probably being prevented from doing so
    b) tell them to publish and official response. This is really hurting your company reputation. Can't the management see that? Or are they just too embarrassed at this point?

    Honesty goes a long way. At least you can hope to retain your reputation.

    BTW, Love your photography :)
  • TBTTBT Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
    edited January 11, 2013
    mbonocore wrote: »
    I am working on trying to get you more information. Have you watched the TWiP interview linked above? Baldy does give some great information about what goes on when developing new features, and the cause for some delays. I know this is not what you are looking for, but I do think it should help understand a little more about what goes on Behind The Scenes.

    Michael

    Gosh, the original podcast is an hour and the smugmug part of it over 30 minutes

    Since you won't sumarize I will (I've FF through most of the interview so may have missed some other stuff)

    (At around 18 minutes)
    Smugmug development is slower than it could be because....

    1. Resources on lawsuits. They spend as much on lawsuits as they do on development.
    2. Due to fear of 1. they are not implementing some requested features due to patents.
    (it would be nice to know what those are)

    What's new for 2013
    (At around 27 minutes)
    Focus on Mobile and website look and feel/customization

    There's also some talk of smugmug getting acquired. The reponse is they always have offers and have always rebuffed them but given how run down/haggard baldy looks when discussing the patent trolls you get the sense that they are one good lawsuit away from having to sell out. If it's the same for the other services that could explain why zen just sold out......
  • etchedinpixelsetchedinpixels Registered Users Posts: 25 Big grins
    edited January 11, 2013
    TBT wrote: »
    Since you won't sumarize I will (I've FF through most of the interview so may have missed some other stuff)

    Thanks for the summary, TBT. I'm pretty new around here. Could you summarize what the lawsuit/patent troll issue is? What are they being sued over?

    I was thinking that implementation was slow because they feared what established (I'll call them 'legacy') users would throw a fit if anything were changed and broke their customizations. Is there more to it than that?

    *EDIT*: I just can't see how any of the HTML could be patented. Sure, there's other software involved in the website, but surely that can be purchased.
    My Photo Site: EtchedinPixels.com
    To all those still using the Firefox Web Inspector: Check out the one built in to Chrome! It's much more robust.
  • mbonocorembonocore Registered Users Posts: 2,299 Major grins
    edited January 11, 2013
    While I can't go into details about specific patents in question, it's safe to say they do have an effect on development. By no means are any of these a "show stopper", but, unfortunately, they do force us to adjust the way we build future features and designs. This can cause delays in the development. With that said, we are continuing to work full force on delivering both front end and back end changes that will make SmugMug an even better product for our customers now and in the months and years to come.

    Michael


    Michael Bonocore
    www.mb-photography-sf.com
    www.facebook.com/mbonocore
    plus.mb-photography-sf.com
  • mbradymbrady Registered Users Posts: 321 Major grins
    edited January 11, 2013
    Thanks for the summary, TBT. I'm pretty new around here. Could you summarize what the lawsuit/patent troll issue is? What are they being sued over?

    I was thinking that implementation was slow because they feared what established (I'll call them 'legacy') users would throw a fit if anything were changed and broke their customizations. Is there more to it than that?

    *EDIT*: I just can't see how any of the HTML could be patented. Sure, there's other software involved in the website, but surely that can be purchased.


    I remember an instance from several years ago. Smugmug had made some changes to the uploader so that it would show a thumbnail of the photo being uploaded next to the progress bar. Shortly after that change, the uploader was tweaked and the thumbnails were removed. There's probably still some very old posts here about that, but it turns out it was due to a threatened patent lawsuit against Smugmug. Apparently someone has a patent on showing a thumbnail when uploading a file (probably more complicated than that). Just one of many example of how software patents interfere with the development process and the software industry as a whole.
  • JamesGPhotoJamesGPhoto Registered Users Posts: 150 Major grins
    edited January 11, 2013
    So, I'm curious, (not trying to be mean), but does this mean we may never get an update because of all the patent wars??
    James Geiger M. Ed.
    "Being a photographer is not about taking a photograph, it is about being curious about life."
    ~ Jared Platt
    http://www.jamesgeigerphoto.com
  • mbonocorembonocore Registered Users Posts: 2,299 Major grins
    edited January 11, 2013
    So, I'm curious, (not trying to be mean), but does this mean we may never get an update because of all the patent wars??

    Not at all. As I said in my post, by no means is any of this a "showstopper". This kind of stuff is happening all over the industry. It just takes a while to adjust to the ever changing landscape based on the patent process.

    Michael
  • TBTTBT Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
    edited January 13, 2013
    Thanks for the summary, TBT. I'm pretty new around here. Could you summarize what the lawsuit/patent troll issue is? What are they being sued over?

    I was thinking that implementation was slow because they feared what established (I'll call them 'legacy') users would throw a fit if anything were changed and broke their customizations. Is there more to it than that?

    *EDIT*: I just can't see how any of the HTML could be patented. Sure, there's other software involved in the website, but surely that can be purchased.

    Sure, some specific examples were given in the interview. This is from memory and I watched it a few days ago so I may be a bit off:

    If you post a thumbnail, then click on that to get a larger image. That's patented.

    If you are a pro photographer and give a customer a username/password to buy from your gallery. That's patented.

    In the interview he made it seem like a lot bigger issue than the rep here. For example, he lives in fear of getting fedex envelopes because opening any one could cost millions of dollars etc. When I was a smug member in the past, whenever I saw them online, the staff exuded enthusiasm, confidence, vigor, but watch that interview and yikes.
  • mbonocorembonocore Registered Users Posts: 2,299 Major grins
    edited January 13, 2013
    TBT wrote: »
    Sure, some specific examples were given in the interview. This is from memory and I watched it a few days ago so I may be a bit off:

    If you post a thumbnail, then click on that to get a larger image. That's patented.

    If you are a pro photographer and give a customer a username/password to buy from your gallery. That's patented.

    In the interview he made it seem like a lot bigger issue than the rep here. For example, he lives in fear of getting fedex envelopes because opening any one could cost millions of dollars etc. When I was a smug member in the past, whenever I saw them online, the staff exuded enthusiasm, confidence, vigor, but watch that interview and yikes.

    TBT,

    Any Patent issue is a big issue. But I want to emphasize that none of these are "showstoppers" as James asked above.

    Michael
  • seanhoytphotoseanhoytphoto Registered Users Posts: 31 Big grins
    edited January 14, 2013
    out of control
    mbonocore wrote: »
    TBT,

    Any Patent issue is a big issue. But I want to emphasize that none of these are "showstoppers" as James asked above.

    Michael

    Patents like the ones SmugMug have to deal with are becoming a joke. We, as a nation, need to do something about this. It's hurting progress, clearly. It's just like our ability to sue everything under the sun. Out. of. control. Perhaps us end users can petition to make some sort of change.
    \\\ Sean Hoyt \\\
    /// www.affinityseattle.com /// <-yes, you want to check that out.
  • MalteMalte Registered Users Posts: 1,181 Major grins
    edited January 14, 2013
    It doesn't really explain anything. Other photo sharing companies must be dealing with exactly the same issues yet they get the features out.

    Malte
  • etchedinpixelsetchedinpixels Registered Users Posts: 25 Big grins
    edited January 14, 2013
    Yep, and I have trouble believing that Smugmug is really so impoverished that they can't afford the legal protection that other companies must have to defend from such frivolous patents.
    My Photo Site: EtchedinPixels.com
    To all those still using the Firefox Web Inspector: Check out the one built in to Chrome! It's much more robust.
  • TBTTBT Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
    edited January 14, 2013
    Malte wrote: »
    It doesn't really explain anything. Other photo sharing companies must be dealing with exactly the same issues yet they get the features out.

    Malte

    Phanfare: Sold out to carbonite.com
    Zenfolio: Sold out to art.com
    thislife.com: Sold out to shutterfly.com

    What other independant photo sharing companies are there besides SmugMug?
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