Please Trust Us
winnjewett
Registered Users Posts: 329 Major grins
I beg you to please trust the judgment of your pros. I want to create the following folder structure:
home
.. Event Photography
.. .. Cripple Creek Gravity Downhill Race
.. .. .. Four Wheeled Vehicles
.. .. .. .. {a few galleries}
.. .. .. Three Wheeled Vehicles
.. .. .. .. {a few galleries}
Please give pros the ability to do this. Other than technical reasons, I can think of no good reason why I should not be allowed to do this.
-Winn
home
.. Event Photography
.. .. Cripple Creek Gravity Downhill Race
.. .. .. Four Wheeled Vehicles
.. .. .. .. {a few galleries}
.. .. .. Three Wheeled Vehicles
.. .. .. .. {a few galleries}
Please give pros the ability to do this. Other than technical reasons, I can think of no good reason why I should not be allowed to do this.
-Winn
0
Comments
If you have a free moment, I would like to hear any thoughts you may have about this topic.
Thanks,
Winn
Try figuring out sharegroups, you'd be surprised at what you can figure out...
-Matt-
My SmugMug Portfolio • My Astro-Landscape Photo Blog • Dgrin Weddings Forum
We've visited and revisited this issue every time it comes up and frequently internally at smugmug as well.
The easy answer is that it's technically difficult, but if there were enough incentive, that wouldn't stop us. It hasn't in the past.
The harder answer, but the more important of the two, is that we feel (currently) that there's both not a large need and, in fact, that it would do damage to many users of smugmug - the browsing masses.
People don't understand folders on their PC. That's why Microsoft invented "My Documents". Most people never stray from there, and many don't even bother creating folders.
People hate lots of clicking. They hate getting lost. We hear about both as it is, that the breadcrumbs go too deep already. We happen to think we've struck the right balance of organization flexibility without damaging our #1 goal: Easy.
There's a little information on that in our help section on the subject.
Finally, we have more than one customer with more than 30,000 images online which fits in this heirarchy. If they can do it, anyone can do it, imho.
Feel free to let us know why we should change it, and we'll consider it the next time we're thinking about the subject (we always periodically review our old decisions like this because things change and we need to change with them). But to be honest, I wouldn't expect us to revisit this issue until maybe September at the earliest, if then.
Thanks,
Don
My goal as a photographer who wants to sell prints is to guide my client as easily and effortlessly to the photo she is looking for. I think this is achieved by presenting the user with a small number of choices a few times. I like to think of it as a fork in the road. At each intersection, the user has a simple choice to make. The alternative is a mega rotary/turnabout with 20 different possible roads to take. To me, this seems more confusing than simply adding an additional step.
I guess what it boils down to is that I want my users to easily get into my photographs, and you want my users to easily get out of them. However, I don't feel that these are mutually exclusive. I think that with a little care, the user's experience can be smooth and easy both in reaching the photographs and in leaving them.
Tell me, have you tried allowing pros one additional level of categories? We can gab back and forth till the cows come home, but the only way to truely know if one system is better than the other is to go out and try it.
-Winn
home
.. Event Photography
.. .. 2005 Baja 500
.. .. .. bikes
.. .. .. .. [riders]
.. .. .. buggies
.. .. .. .. [riders]
.. .. .. trucks
.. .. .. .. [riders]
.. .. .. quads
.. .. .. .. [riders]
.. .. [other events]
.. [other types of photography]
I am anticipating that there will be a few hundred riders. I will be part of a pit crew supporting a few adv riders. I will be able to shoot the start, middle and finish of the race. I hope to take about 10 shots per rider, putting the total number of pics to a few thousand.
I would love suggestions on how I can organize these shots better.
Thanks,
Winn
2004 Season
..Game #1
...Pregame
...Halftime
...Misc
..Game #2
...Pregame
...Halftime
...Misc
....and so forth for the rest of the season
2005 Season
..Game #1
...Pregame
...Halftime
...Misc
..Game #2
...Pregame
...Halftime
...Misc
....and so forth for the rest of the season
Before I start uploading all the photos I am trying to figure out what the best way to organize them. I may just do it by date instead of them being tiered. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.
Thanks,
Chris
No, we haven't, but we don't have to. We get complaints that 3 levels is too deep already.
We get more of those complaints than we get requests for 4 or more levels.
"allowing pros one additional level" is a very expensive, time-consuming engineering effort. It's not something I can whip together and try out.
Again, we'll keep evaluating it and thinking about it, just like everything at smugmug, but for the near future, it's going to remain at 3.
Having said that, now's still the time to give us food for thought the next time we give it a thorough evaluation. I appreciate what you've given us, and would like to hear more from other users.
Don
Sounds like our current system works fine for this. Or am I missing something?
Don
-winn
I currently have uses for all levels. I realize I can keep the home level clean by limiting the number of Categories, but that's just that... limiting -- Why do I want to do that?? I'm going to use Laurie's site as an example (sorry -- don't mean to single you out
Here is one for example: She currently has (not real gallary name)
home->personal_photography->vacation->family_cruise.
This gallary has almost 300 (nice) pictures in it, from 7 days of shooting. From here, I would like to have another level, so that I can separate them. Say this was a cruise to Hawaii. You could easily separate them into their own events, island visits, volcano shots, special occasions, etc. I would not care to be on a dialup connection and have to wade through all those thumbnails just to find a specific picture taken on an obscure island other than the main attractions.
That's a good idea... I saw Andy make use of one and am really considering it, via a link in the bio or something.
gawd... I cannot STAND sharegroups for more than 1 gallary at a time. I've voiced this before due to viewer complaints of getting lost, but I guess I'm the only one having problems? It all revolves around the navigation once inside.
Example: I have a sharegroup of 3 gallaries. Works great once you're inside. Click on gallary 1, look at pictures, nice... until you have to get out! Instinctively, the user will want to click on the nav-tree. This will take them to the original gallary, NOT the sharegroup.
It does include a small line indicating that the viewer was previously in a share group, but it does not get the attention of the viewer. Their attention is on all the other gallaries that are being shown below.
The only solution that I've been able to use is to hit the back button all the way until you get to the initial starting point (the original share group). This just doesn't make sense to me. It's just not intuitive enough for my viewers.
The first thing I am trying to do is have a category called
Marching Band...under that have sub-categories.....2004 Season, 2005 Season etc....I tried to outline it below. I am having trouble adding Day 1 under Band Camp under 2004 Season under Marching Band.
Hopefully this isn't too confusing. If I am missing something please let me know.
Thanks,
Chris
.2004 Season with subcategories under this....
..Band Camp...with subcategories under that...
...Day 1
...Day 2
...Day 3
..Game #1
...Pregame
...Halftime
...Misc
..Game #2
...Pregame
...Halftime
...Misc
....and so forth for the rest of the season
.2005 Season
..Band Camp...with subcategories under that...
...Day 1
...Day 2
...Day 3
..Game #1
...Pregame
...Halftime
...Misc
..Game #2
...Pregame
...Halftime
...Misc
....and so forth for the rest of the season
Hmm, sounds like we're not doing a good job describing how sharegroups work these days.
The sharegroup merely *unlocks* the galleries, they're then viewable in the normal way by Category/SubCategory/etc. The sharegroup link merely exposes them so the normal browsing, with normal breadcrumbs, can occur.
Sharegroups is a security feature, *not* a navigation feature.
Don
Hey Don, Speaking of sharegroups, is there a way, or can you maybe add a way, to kill the cookie that says that you've been to that sharegroup?? My line of thinking is that I have some stuff I'd like to put up but want the viewers to be able to "log out" and not have the stuff still visible on their browser if someone else goes to it.
Is that possible??
I now *see* the light
Reading the help page again.. you must be referring to this? Can we compromise with making the link back to the recently visited sharegroup more prominant? If the viewers using the sharegroup would notice the link when they go out of the group, I could care less if the breadcrumbs are visible.
I dug around in your galleries tring to find examples of Journal galleries used as index pages. No luck. Please, could you point us at one?
root
.Racing
..Hooters Pro Cup at PSS, April 16, 2005
...6 galleries
..BSRRS at BMP April 8 - 10, 2005
...22 galleries
..WKA at CMP March 19 and 20, 2005
...16 galleries
Now, first because a catagory can be cleanly linked and or handed out in print I can direct people to http://pics.jamesjweg.com/Racing that is not hard for someone to type in etc. Maybe I have my head in the sand but I don't see handing out a URL such as this http://pics.jamesjweg.com/Racing/68424 as a good thing, people don't like to type in numbers, they don't remember then and they don't make sense to them. *IF* that could be http://pics.jamesjweg.com/Racing/WKA I think they would be much more apt to find the photo's they are looking for. From that point I would prefer to split by sanctioning body as in:
root
.Racing
..Hooters Pro Cup
...PSS, April 16, 2005
....6 galleries
..BSRRS
...BMP April 8 - 10, 2005
....22 galleries
..WKA
...CMP March 19 and 20, 2005
....16 galleries
This type of layout would be easier for me, which is a key point, adding another gallery is really not a "need" it is something that we want to make life a little easier. With the type of layout I would like to have as shown above then adding in more races under an existing sanction would be cleaner, a Karter then does not have to sort past event level subcatagories from other sanctions to get where he wants to go. As I see it right now, my only other option in to put each sanction in as a catagory, something which I may well do. That would cluter my root page even more than it now is, but it might make browseing to a race cleaner for the user.
So for me the bottom line is that while I want another layer of catagories (linkable by name not number) it is not something which would cause me to close my account or pitch a screaming yelling tantrum. I feel that problems with people finding that photo's they are looking for on my site has cost many sales and I can back that up by pointing out that I have sold more than 10 times the number of photo's to people who e-mailed me frustrated about trying to find them and I providied the photo's outside of SM and got the sale, than those who have bought through SM. However, that said I think that the problems people have had finding thier photo's on my site is more my fault for the way I have setup SM than it is due to SM problems such as limited to 2 levels.
James.
http://www.jamesjweg.com
I have used the journal thing for galleries, I think it is attractive, to a point.
I would be interested in all the other ways of using it. It probably would be most practical in some of the things Andy has thought up.
But what caught my attention is the mention of the customer getting "lost", and not getting back to the original place, when he...........something.
That caught my attention, because I have trouble getting back.......and some of that has been fixed. But there is one area, at least, that if I go there, I have to click on My Photos in order to get back, that puts me at all my photos, which appear to be unlimited in numbers and galleries, I have to find the gallery where I started and click back on it.
I will probably be in a hurry the next time it happens, so I can't tell someone each time............ and I do know how to navigate, so I just do it the long way.
If someone notices ways we cannot get back to the original group, please fix it, if it is possible..............or at least put it on a list, and so will I try to.
I am now making up a list of terms I don't know.
ginger
My problem is "getting to things" on a need to know basis.
Instead, perhaps you could offer an University course for full credit, plus lab credit...........
that is a joke, having been up all night, I just got up.
ginger
(am going to leave you all alone now, I see a potential for trouble)
If I ask a stupid question, and I did once, please do not flame me, just tell me where I could find the answer.)
I don't care to type ANY URL that looks past the main .com address. I prefer them as links in emails or a text string that I can copy & paste. This is especially necessary for Sharegroups that have that nice text string on the end of the URL.
If you don't know this yet, might I suggest Tinyurl (www.tinyurl.com)? Free website that creates a shortened link that won't break in emails. Example, your Kart link:
http://pics.jamesjweg.com/Racing/68424
now equals:
http://tinyurl.com/bklws
They're handy for those obscenely long links.
home
.. Event Photography
.. .. 2005 Baja 500
.. .. .. bikes
.. .. .. .. [riders]
.. .. .. buggies
.. .. .. .. [riders]
.. .. .. trucks
.. .. .. .. [riders]
.. .. .. quads
.. .. .. .. [riders]
.. .. [other events]
.. [other types of photography]
I am anticipating that there will be a few hundred riders. I will be part of a pit crew supporting a few adv riders. I will be able to shoot the start, middle and finish of the race. I hope to take about 10 shots per rider, putting the total number of pics to a few thousand.
I would love suggestions on how I can organize these shots better.
Thanks,
Winn