Just wondering if an easy drop down menu was ever going to be a part of the Easy Customization or if anyone has thought of it?
I cannot figure out the CSS code on this. It's making my head hurt. I'm just not wired this way...I wish I were.
After much internal debate I've dumped Pictage and renewed my pro subscription with SM (i.e. SmugMug - which I'll now start actually using in earnest). I like that they're trying to improve things, and this new feature is a great example of that. Their help desk is generally quite good, although I've had some *severe* disappointments with them as well. But that's a different subject.
Even with this new tool, if you want to customize SM in any meaningful way you have to either learn CSS or hire someone who already knows it. I don't know about most of you, but my goal for SM usage is to sell photos online, not to improve my CSS skills. Do you want to be a photographer or a web developer?
As for me... :photo
I've got a second hosted site where I've installed my own instance of WordPress and I use that as my CMS system and main web presence, and just link back to SM for gallery sales only. MUCH EASIER than trying to make SM my main site!! Also allows me to switch links from from Pictage to SmugMug to whoever else with minimal site disruption. My look & feel customizing is done through a very easy to use 3rd party GUI CSS generation tool named Artisteer. Artisteer can export CSS for plain old HTML sites as well as create complete templates for WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla CMS systems. Having managed both Joomla & WordPress, WP wins hands down for ease of use and has all needed features for a photographers site. I'll try copying some Artisteer CSS for plain HTML into SM someday, but right now I'm too busy doing photography.
Andy - one thing I'd really like to see is PACKAGES. There's not a good way to provide package ordering for weddings or other events. SM really only allows me to provide online ordering for one-off images so I only really use it for that and online proofs. I still send all my package stuff off to other color labs. I want to specify that the customer can order X number of 4x6s, Y number of 5x7s and Z number of 8x10s. When they make their selection, bill it to me and ship it to them, since I've already collected the funds. Will that ever be something SM works on? I'd like to hear if & how other event photographers accomplish package orders within SM.
Another thing that would be great is if we had a sandbox for development, so that we could publish a site such as http://userid.smugmug.com/sandbox and be able to play with new settings before committing it to our production environment. I know you do that internally in your own development environment. Think of what a nightmare you would have if you had to develop in production! That's what we're stuck with. The tiny preview window is at least acknowledgement of the need but is not an adequate dev/test environment.
All this said, nothing I've ever produced is perfect either, especially right out of the starting gate. I'm happy SM is doing what it can to improve services and features. Keep up the good work.
After much internal debate I've dumped Pictage and renewed my pro subscription with SM (i.e. SmugMug - which I'll now start actually using in earnest). I like that they're trying to improve things, and this new feature is a great example of that. Their help desk is generally quite good, although I've had some *severe* disappointments with them as well. But that's a different subject.
Even with this new tool, if you want to customize SM in any meaningful way you have to either learn CSS or hire someone who already knows it. I don't know about most of you, but my goal for SM usage is to sell photos online, not to improve my CSS skills. Do you want to be a photographer or a web developer?
As for me... :photo
I've got a second hosted site where I've installed my own instance of WordPress and I use that as my CMS system and main web presence, and just link back to SM for gallery sales only. MUCH EASIER than trying to make SM my main site!! Also allows me to switch links from from Pictage to SmugMug to whoever else with minimal site disruption. My look & feel customizing is done through a very easy to use 3rd party GUI CSS generation tool named Artisteer. Artisteer can export CSS for plain old HTML sites as well as create complete templates for WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla CMS systems. Having managed both Joomla & WordPress, WP wins hands down for ease of use and has all needed features for a photographers site. I'll try copying some Artisteer CSS for plain HTML into SM someday, but right now I'm too busy doing photography.
Andy - one thing I'd really like to see is PACKAGES. There's not a good way to provide package ordering for weddings or other events. SM really only allows me to provide online ordering for one-off images so I only really use it for that and online proofs. I still send all my package stuff off to other color labs. I want to specify that the customer can order X number of 4x6s, Y number of 5x7s and Z number of 8x10s. When they make their selection, bill it to me and ship it to them, since I've already collected the funds. Will that ever be something SM works on? I'd like to hear if & how other event photographers accomplish package orders within SM.
Another thing that would be great is if we had a sandbox for development, so that we could publish a site such as http://userid.smugmug.com/sandbox and be able to play with new settings before committing it to our production environment. I know you do that internally in your own development environment. Think of what a nightmare you would have if you had to develop in production! That's what we're stuck with. The tiny preview window is at least acknowledgement of the need but is not an adequate dev/test environment.
All this said, nothing I've ever produced is perfect either, especially right out of the starting gate. I'm happy SM is doing what it can to improve services and features. Keep up the good work.
Kevyn, welcome back.
1) can you email me, attn: Andy, at our help desk, with the details of the disappointments? I want ot personally investigate. I may already have been involved, but your dgrin nick doesn't give me a clue, sorry!
i just made a banner and navbar using the easy customizer. any way to extract the code for it?
i checked the advance options but did not see any code. i want to paste the code to my blog as well, to have the banner and navbar match.
Using WebDev. Firefox add-on, we can see everything that is inserted by EZC
but doesn't show on your advanced site-wide customization. Here's the
whole thing.
Dropdown Nav Bar - should I redesign with EZ customizer?
I have never been entirely happy with my nav bar, because in Internet Explorer, the drop down menus don't work.
Should I try to redesign the thing using the easy customizer + some custom CSS code (assuming I copy the CSS from the EZ created nav bar using web dev) or see if someone can help me with the nav bar issue I have now, and not tamper with the easy customizer?
I am scared of messing up my existing website. I'd appreciate your recommendations!
I have never been entirely happy with my nav bar, because in Internet Explorer, the drop down menus don't work.
Should I try to redesign the thing using the easy customizer + some custom CSS code (assuming I copy the CSS from the EZ created nav bar using web dev) or see if someone can help me with the nav bar issue I have now, and not tamper with the easy customizer?
I am scared of messing up my existing website. I'd appreciate your recommendations!
Change the two places in your header nav html like this. (adds in the gte)
<!--[if IE 7]> to this <!--[if gte IE 7]>
See if your drops work in IE better. They work now in IE6 but the width needs to be fixed so it doesn't wrap to two lines.
Header with a background?
I have a working header for my site, however I thought it time to simplify and remove all the custom javascript that is driving it. I was hoping to use Easy Customizer which I can for most parts, however I can not work out how to set a background colour just for the header. Easy done for the whole site but I want a background colour or image just for the header.
What does this have to do with iPhones? Mebellot, we have 10 Sorcerers on this team. The one that made Easy Customizer has nothing to do with iPhone stuff.
Is it possible to customize the iPhone interface yet? I don't expect it would be customizer in Easy Customizer, but some customization would be very helpful (and would make the iPhone site useful)
I realize the Easy Customizer guy isn't the iPhone guy-- but maybe you could forward this *to* the iPhone guy or put him in touch with me?
That would be almost as awesome as Easy Customizer is in the first place.
Very nice post with a ton of informative information. I really appreciate the fact that you approach these topics from a stand point of knowledge and information
instead of the typical “I think” mentality that you see so much on the internet these days.
EZC Navigation Bar Builder & External Links
A question/suggestion about the EZC nav-bar builder... Is it only intended for internal SM links? It's very helpful that I can set up a link to an external site. But practically, I can't because the link doesn't open the target in a new window. Opening an external site in the same window as my SM site would be mighty confusing navigation for visitors. Is there a workaround for this (other than customizing the entire header manually)? Here's an idea... If there was an EZC convention to enter relative URLs (e.g., "/galleries") to link to a SmugMug page, then the form of absolute URLs (http://xxxx.com) to link an external site could maybe be used to trigger a TARGET=_blank attribute for the generated A tag.
There's some changes afoot, yes. What'd you have in mind?
You stumped me... Well... more of it, I guess! Have a look at what Zenfolio's done. I know they don't have any HTML or CSS editing, but their easy customizer implementation is sweet.
I have the same question
I had the same question as Big Red up above. I assume that since there was no response, that you can't open a link from the EZC navbar in another tab. since I set up my contact form through wufoo, you get directed away from my site, and it is a little bit of work to get back.
I'm late to the party, but I went to the Easy Customizer, it came up, and nothing happens when I hit any of the selection choices. I'm using Fire Fox and noticed in the lower left hand corner it was trying to run a javascript. I checked my options and Java was on, went to the upload page and the uploader worked.
There was a hidden line break in the gallery named "Zoo" that was causing this issue. Not sure how it got there, but it has been removed and the EZC tool should work for you now!
Thanks for your patience!
-Brian
I have this same exact problem. What can I do to fix it?
Was this option removed?
Hi Andy - I just signed up for SMPro and noticed that I do not have the "no smug mug footer" option in my easy customizer. I only have the ability to choose between a mini and full smugmug footer. Was the option for No footer removed?
Hi Andy - I just signed up for SMPro and noticed that I do not have the "no smug mug footer" option in my easy customizer. I only have the ability to choose between a mini and full smugmug footer. Was the option for No footer removed?
You stumped me... Well... more of it, I guess! Have a look at what Zenfolio's done. I know they don't have any HTML or CSS editing, but their easy customizer implementation is sweet.
Malte
So is there any major development of Easy Customizer? All the recent love for Certified Customizers has me worried that this feature will be left to languish.
So when I make changes in the EZC and publish - any changes I make revert back to the origional settings. I cant make the simplest change and have it publish. I tried the start over button also, no luck! I contacted SM and they suggested clearing the cache in Firefox - no change. The issue exists on my laptop and desktop. Any ideas?
So when I make changes in the EZC and publish - any changes I make revert back to the origional settings. I cant make the simplest change and have it publish. I tried the start over button also, no luck! I contacted SM and they suggested clearing the cache in Firefox - no change. The issue exists on my laptop and desktop. Any ideas?
Mike
Hi, please write our Support Heroes we'll help you personally from the help desk thanks!
I did do that Andy and they told me they could not help and I needed to come here?? I did resubmit my issue we will see what happens.
Thanks Mike
I am using Firefox for a browser and never had an issue - I hopped over and used IE and it works great there. So any ideas what could be up with my Firefox.
In IE I do the udate and it wants password verification and then it accepts the changes. In FF it askes for the password I enter and it flashes the updates and then reverts to the old setup and then back to the password page. I cleared the cache thinking that could be the issue - no luck.
I am using Firefox for a browser and never had an issue - I hopped over and used IE and it works great there. So any ideas what could be up with my Firefox.
In IE I do the udate and it wants password verification and then it accepts the changes. In FF it askes for the password I enter and it flashes the updates and then reverts to the old setup and then back to the password page. I cleared the cache thinking that could be the issue - no luck.
My wild guess would be that you have some sort of cookie issue in FF. Either something is blocking cookies or the cookie permissions are not set the way Smugmug needs them or you aren't getting properly logged in with a custom domain. You can check out the help here: http://www.smugmug.com/help/cookies.
Comments
After much internal debate I've dumped Pictage and renewed my pro subscription with SM (i.e. SmugMug - which I'll now start actually using in earnest). I like that they're trying to improve things, and this new feature is a great example of that. Their help desk is generally quite good, although I've had some *severe* disappointments with them as well. But that's a different subject.
Even with this new tool, if you want to customize SM in any meaningful way you have to either learn CSS or hire someone who already knows it. I don't know about most of you, but my goal for SM usage is to sell photos online, not to improve my CSS skills. Do you want to be a photographer or a web developer?
As for me... :photo
I've got a second hosted site where I've installed my own instance of WordPress and I use that as my CMS system and main web presence, and just link back to SM for gallery sales only. MUCH EASIER than trying to make SM my main site!! Also allows me to switch links from from Pictage to SmugMug to whoever else with minimal site disruption. My look & feel customizing is done through a very easy to use 3rd party GUI CSS generation tool named Artisteer. Artisteer can export CSS for plain old HTML sites as well as create complete templates for WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla CMS systems. Having managed both Joomla & WordPress, WP wins hands down for ease of use and has all needed features for a photographers site. I'll try copying some Artisteer CSS for plain HTML into SM someday, but right now I'm too busy doing photography.
Andy - one thing I'd really like to see is PACKAGES. There's not a good way to provide package ordering for weddings or other events. SM really only allows me to provide online ordering for one-off images so I only really use it for that and online proofs. I still send all my package stuff off to other color labs. I want to specify that the customer can order X number of 4x6s, Y number of 5x7s and Z number of 8x10s. When they make their selection, bill it to me and ship it to them, since I've already collected the funds. Will that ever be something SM works on? I'd like to hear if & how other event photographers accomplish package orders within SM.
Another thing that would be great is if we had a sandbox for development, so that we could publish a site such as http://userid.smugmug.com/sandbox and be able to play with new settings before committing it to our production environment. I know you do that internally in your own development environment. Think of what a nightmare you would have if you had to develop in production! That's what we're stuck with. The tiny preview window is at least acknowledgement of the need but is not an adequate dev/test environment.
All this said, nothing I've ever produced is perfect either, especially right out of the starting gate. I'm happy SM is doing what it can to improve services and features. Keep up the good work.
1) can you email me, attn: Andy, at our help desk, with the details of the disappointments? I want ot personally investigate. I may already have been involved, but your dgrin nick doesn't give me a clue, sorry!
2) packages are in development, thanks!
3) your feature request is great - thanks. We've a new spot for them, too: http://smugmug.uservoice.com
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
i checked the advance options but did not see any code. i want to paste the code to my blog as well, to have the banner and navbar match.
but doesn't show on your advanced site-wide customization. Here's the
whole thing.
HEADER CSS
/** START: EZC CSS **/ body { color: #ffffff; font-family: Trebuchet MS !important; } #customLogo { background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://chrisfotos.smugmug.com/photos/635395081_A7iih-O.jpg); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: top left; } #customLogo, #customLogo a, #customLogo a:active, #customLogo a:hover, #customLogo a:visited { text-align: left !important; font-family: arial !important; font-size: 14px !important; color: #ffffff !important; text-decoration: none !important; } #customHeaderContainer { padding-top: 10px; margin: 0 auto; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; overflow: hidden !important; width: 750px; } a img.imgBorder, .imgBorder { border-color: #323232 !important; background-color: transparent !important; padding: 0px !important; border-style: solid !important; border-width: 1px !important; } a:hover img.imgBorder, img.imgBorderOn { border-color: #FFDF00 !important; background-color: transparent !important; padding: 0px !important; border-style: solid !important; border-width: 1px !important; } .nav, .nav .title, a.nav, a.nav:visited, a.nav:active, a.nav:hover, .pageNav, a.down, a.down:active, a.down:hover, a.down:visited, .nav a.down { color: #ffffff !important; font-family: Trebuchet MS !important; } .title, #userName.title, #userName .title, #userHome.title { font-family: Trebuchet MS !important; color: #FFDF00 !important; } .boxBottom a, .boxBottom a:hover, .boxBottom a:visited, .boxBottom a:active, #albumDescription a, #albumDescription a:hover, #albumDescription a:visited, #albumDescription a:active, #displayPhoto a, #displayPhoto a:hover, #displayPhoto a:visited, #displayPhoto a:active {color: #A1A5A9; font-family: Trebuchet MS !important; } .description { color: #ffffff !important;font-family: Trebuchet MS !important; } .foreground { color: #ffffff; font-family: Trebuchet MS !important; } .updated { color: #ffffff !important; font-family: Trebuchet MS !important; } .boxTop { border-bottom-color: #323232 !important; } .tempClass #bioBox .boxTop { border-bottom-color: #323232 !important; border-bottom-size: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid;} .boxBottom, #photos { background-color: #161616 !important; background-image: none !important; } .top_border, #photos, .boxBottom { border-top-color: #323232 !important; } .boxTop, #albumDescription { border-bottom-color: #323232 !important; } .bottom_border { border-bottom: none !important; } #photos, .boxBottom { border-left: none !important; border-right: none !important; border-bottom: none !important; } #albumDescription { border-top: none !important; } .alert, a.alert { color: #ffffff; font-family: Trebuchet MS !important; } #customNavContainer { text-align: center; } #customNav { font-family: sans-serif !important; font-size: 12px; color: #626262 !important; list-style-type: none; padding: 0; margin: 0; } #customNav li{ display: inline; } #customNav li a, #customNav li a:active, #customNav li a:visited, #customNav li a:link { font-family: sans-serif !important; font-size: 12px; color: #626262 !important; text-decoration: none !important; } #customNav li a:hover { font-family: sans-serif !important; font-size: 12px; color: #FFDF00 !important; text-decoration: none !important; } #userName, #userHome { display: none; } .loginLink { display: none; } .cartlink_footer { display: none; } .helplink_footer { display: none; } /** END: EZC CSS **/My Website index | My Blog
I have never been entirely happy with my nav bar, because in Internet Explorer, the drop down menus don't work.
Should I try to redesign the thing using the easy customizer + some custom CSS code (assuming I copy the CSS from the EZ created nav bar using web dev) or see if someone can help me with the nav bar issue I have now, and not tamper with the easy customizer?
I am scared of messing up my existing website. I'd appreciate your recommendations!
<!--[if IE 7]> to this <!--[if gte IE 7]>
See if your drops work in IE better. They work now in IE6 but the width needs to be fixed so it doesn't wrap to two lines.
You are also missing some rules and width parameters in other rules, see this page.
http://allen-steve.smugmug.com/gallery/2078255
My Website index | My Blog
Oh brilliant I will give that a go - thank you so much!
I have a working header for my site, however I thought it time to simplify and remove all the custom javascript that is driving it. I was hoping to use Easy Customizer which I can for most parts, however I can not work out how to set a background colour just for the header. Easy done for the whole site but I want a background colour or image just for the header.
Any ideas?
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/craigridleyoutdoorphotography
Want to save $5 on a smugmug account? Use this coupon code: WzG2eZLQPGrqI
Is it possible to customize the iPhone interface yet? I don't expect it would be customizer in Easy Customizer, but some customization would be very helpful (and would make the iPhone site useful)
I realize the Easy Customizer guy isn't the iPhone guy-- but maybe you could forward this *to* the iPhone guy or put him in touch with me?
That would be almost as awesome as Easy Customizer is in the first place.
instead of the typical “I think” mentality that you see so much on the internet these days.
A question/suggestion about the EZC nav-bar builder... Is it only intended for internal SM links? It's very helpful that I can set up a link to an external site. But practically, I can't because the link doesn't open the target in a new window. Opening an external site in the same window as my SM site would be mighty confusing navigation for visitors. Is there a workaround for this (other than customizing the entire header manually)? Here's an idea... If there was an EZC convention to enter relative URLs (e.g., "/galleries") to link to a SmugMug page, then the form of absolute URLs (http://xxxx.com) to link an external site could maybe be used to trigger a TARGET=_blank attribute for the generated A tag.
Malte
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
You stumped me...
Malte
I had the same question as Big Red up above. I assume that since there was no response, that you can't open a link from the EZC navbar in another tab. since I set up my contact form through wufoo, you get directed away from my site, and it is a little bit of work to get back.
I have this same exact problem. What can I do to fix it?
Thanks!
Hi Andy - I just signed up for SMPro and noticed that I do not have the "no smug mug footer" option in my easy customizer. I only have the ability to choose between a mini and full smugmug footer. Was the option for No footer removed?
Yes, it was removed a while back.
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
So is there any major development of Easy Customizer? All the recent love for Certified Customizers has me worried that this feature will be left to languish.
Malte
No, we're not gonna let that happen.
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
I'll rephrase...
Do you guys have ambitions to compete with the likes of Zenfolio in this space? Or do you consider HTML + EZC equal to their no-coding editor?
Malte
We intend to make EZC much more awesome, and add a bunch of new things that you and others will drool over
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
Now that's more like it!
Malte
Mike
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
I did do that Andy and they told me they could not help and I needed to come here?? I did resubmit my issue we will see what happens.
Thanks Mike
I am using Firefox for a browser and never had an issue - I hopped over and used IE and it works great there. So any ideas what could be up with my Firefox.
In IE I do the udate and it wants password verification and then it accepts the changes. In FF it askes for the password I enter and it flashes the updates and then reverts to the old setup and then back to the password page. I cleared the cache thinking that could be the issue - no luck.
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