Is there some other company that offers more customization/personalization of its hosted photo galleries than smugmug does? Not that we'd want you to plug a competitor's site, but I'm just curious.
--Darryl
Some would say PBase offers cool style sheets to its users so they can easily pick a look for a gallery. Also, Photosite offers backgrounds and borders, etc.
As far as pro sites, I'm not aware of any but we get tons and tons of requests for more customization from pros. One thing is when you place your own banner to replace ours, you blow our shopping cart icon away. Some pros want that back, so we're just adding that and some basic ability should be available in a few days.
Re: the Mac users. I really honestly believe that you're better served focusing on the Windows upload issues. In the 4 weeks I've been using Smugmug w/ the Mac Uploader it's been very solid. I don't see the point of wasting any more time (or resources, as the case may be) at the moment. (Yes, I know all of you guys are Mac users too, but seriously... 5% market share.)
I have to respond to this... My wife and I are Mac users, and although we can handle using Caption Buddy and a one-way import, I would still like to see improvements to the Mac uploader. Given that Mac users are more like 20%+ here I think it's worthwhile (and relatively non-intrusive to other SmugMug priorities if a contractor is used as has previously been discussed) to continue improving the Mac uploader.
At the least, I would like to see the Mac uploader updated to import iPhoto captions. Having to run Caption Buddy to modify the original images is an extra step the people should not have to do.
An additional improvement I'd like to see would be the previously mentioned one-way sync. By one-way sync, I take that to mean that if I import an Album from iPhoto, and then later make a few changes to the album in iPhoto (add a few photos, change a few captions, and maybe delete a few photos or edit a couple of images by cropping, etc.) then the uploader should be smart enough to "mirror" that album into SmugMug so that the SmugMug gallery matches the updated iPhoto album but without wasting time uploading images that have not changed.
Another thing I just thought of but haven't seen discussed as an improvement to the uploader (and it might hold for any uploader, not just Mac) would be a high-quality resize option built-in to the uploader. That is, I should be able to point the uploader at my 4 megapixel album in iPhoto but request that it resize the images to (for example) 800x600 before uploading. This would further simplify (and speed up) the uploading process for those with hi-res cameras but who do not wish to upload the originals. Just a thought.
We just signed up for SmugMug and are looking forward to starting to upload our photos... I'm sure we'll come up with more requests as we continue to explore the system (probably around the password and public/private issue since we want a mix of public and private galleries).
[Now that I've used the iPhoto uploader once, I have another thought with respect to gallery naming:] The uploader should be able to create a new gallery with either the iPhoto album name or a user-specified one, rather than making me create the gallery in SmugMug first. In addition, when I create a gallery on the web site, it should assume I want to create it in the current category and subcategory (where I was when I clicked the "Create New GallerY' button) rather than making me select both of those from the popups.
Here's another quick one: We created a passworded gallery, where we would like to include a URL to our "home page" which has additional (html) content. There's no "private" place to put this URL (or other comments). Currently we put it into the gallery description, but then it appears in our gallery listing available to even those who have not entered the password that otherwise protects the gallery contents. I guess I'm asking for another gallery description field which is NOT displayed except from inside the (password-protected) gallery. [By the way, I do like the fact that a URL in this field is properly handled and converted to a clickable URL!]
Sorry for the lengthy posting but as you said - that's what you get from passionate users. :-)
Thanks!
"Password protected" gallery image
I can understand the showing of the "Password protected" gallery image when a guest has not yet entered the gallery password and is looking at a category. However, once the password has been entered (thus allowing access to the gallery), shouldn't this image give way to each gallery's (random or pre-specified) "featured image"?
If not, then why bother showing the image at all? It just takes up real estate (over and over again in a subcategory screen with several galleries). In fact, I'd like to see an option to leave it out and just list the Gallery info.
Also, category listings show how many galleries and images are in each sub-category. However, sub-category listings only show the name of each gallery and last mod date - not how many images the gallery contains. Could you add that? I think it would be useful in general, but it would also make it a lot easier to figure out which (recently created) galleries are still empty (and in need of uploading) and which ones have been populated. [It would also be great to see the number of images in the uploader's gallery picker.]
For those of us creating lots of galleries with the same password (e.g. private photos for friends and relatives only) it would be VERY nice to be able to assign a single password for an entire category or subcategory. Instead, we must REMEMBER to assign it to each new gallery we create which is a bit of a pain.
It would be great if we could enter text (including URLs) on the category and subcategory pages.
Is there a way to request a new categoy? I couldn't find anything pertaining to homes or home remodeling. I can probably get by with Landscapes and Architecture for now, though I'm not sure that's what those categories were intended for.
Bugs/requests already covered in that thread:
- Mac Uploader is not drag-and-droppable (darryl)
- Preference to have Uploader start in iPhoto or Files mode (DavidTO)
- Reset/clear files to upload w/o quitting (patch29)
- Show list of files to be uploaded (patch29)
- Creation and customization of a gallery from the uploader (patch29)
- Auto-creation of galleries if selecting an iPhoto album that *doesn't* match an exisitng Smugmug gallery (darryl)
- Or at least allow manual creation of gallery -- "New" option in target gallery drop-down menu and a dialog to get the name. (darryl) [Baldy says it's already on the list]
- Refresh button to get new latest gallery list (lynnesite)
Oh yeah, Baldy mentioned at the top of this thread that sync (at least 1-way) is already on the list for the next version of the Mac Uploader.
Hey Baldy, maybe if you could create a "SmugMug Features/Bug Requests" forum for us complainers, er "passionate users", that'd work. :-}
I'd happily volunteer to start organizing previous features/bugs requests in such a forum. Oh wait, can threads be moved between forums?
I have to respond to this... My wife and I are Mac users, and although we can handle using Caption Buddy and a one-way import, I would still like to see improvements to the Mac uploader. Given that Mac users are more like 20%+ here I think it's worthwhile (and relatively non-intrusive to other SmugMug priorities if a contractor is used as has previously been discussed) to continue improving the Mac uploader.
At the least, I would like to see the Mac uploader updated to import iPhoto captions. Having to run Caption Buddy to modify the original images is an extra step the people should not have to do.
20%+ are Mac users, but I'll bet you not many of the pros are using iPhoto. It's sooooo freaking slow (yeah yeah, I can't afford a G5 :-) -- I can't imagine somebody who does photography for a living putting up with it. If they're using a Mac, I bet they're using iView Media Pro or Cumulus or something more robust to manage all of their photos, including captioning.
(In fact, I just discovered last night that the venerable GraphicConverter has a IPTC editing function, and it's obvious he's spent some time making it very easy to quickly go through a big folder of images tagging them with keywords, captions, etc.)
Still, iPhoto caption import would be nice. I wonder whether they'd still be inaccessible on download though. (Right now Smugmug doesn't do anything like insert the caption into the IPTC fields, which is probably a whole 'nother can of worms -- messing with file headers.)
Smugmug Printing Toggle
Hi guys, I have a suggestion for Smugmug. There is a gallery customization to remove the ability to order prints, which I set for a few galleries. It's a handy feature. However I was surprised that I couldn't order prints when I was logged in. I really didn't intend to keep myself from ordering prints, just other folks. I would suggest allowing the owner to do anything he wants to his own photos, and have the restrictions only apply to the outside world.
Thanks for the great sites you guys are providing us!
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BaldyRegistered Users, Super ModeratorsPosts: 2,853moderator
Ok ok -- lots of Mac users. :-}
But of course I recognize though that a robust and powerful ordering (and price/customer management) system is a huge need for the Pros, so it's completely understandable that you're making that priority #1.
Here! Here!
CRM! :-)
CRM! :-)
CRM! :-)
Now if I could get SmugMug to output to Oracle Small Business/NetSuite.com .... WOOF! :puke1
I dunno, I am digging it right now, though. I finally added my own header and footer and it is looking MUCH MUCH smoother if are a pro user. The order button needs to be on top! :-) Additionally, I would like a bigger spotlight put on the mugs and gift items! Like a "place this photo on this mug for only $$!!
All in all, it is great. Just some kind of output as a pro user so I can dump all of my SM customer info into my database to create accounts, folllow up with incentaives, thank you letters, and dump all my financial info into a database or spreadsheet for oracle, an accountant, or just my own records! Just my unsolicted two cents.
ALSO! Linkable images to external websites... Click on this image to go to this site... That way we could drop linkable graphics within our galleries!
One thing I DO hear a lot of lately is how intuitive and easy to use it is! ANd FAST! My clients and the folks who hit my site say they can;t believe how faST IT IS. By allowing cobranding, I am fairly CERTAIN 90% of my clients think the technology is mine! SmugMug is #1 hands down...
I am installing it on some client's as a value added bonus to their websites... I can now allow my client's to easily upload their own photos to their website... pretty cool.
One last thing. When you get a check cut for yoru commissions, the "profit to date" does not reset. Maybe a littel more reporting functionality here. For example, a report like:
Comission History:
3/23/2004 Commission: $23,087.07 Paid 3/28/2004 Click here for all sales in this period.
5/03/2004 Commission: $18,932.62 Paid 5/05/2004 Click here for all sales in this period.
7/24/2004 Commission: $27,492.22 Paid 5/05/2004 Click here for all sales in this period.
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BaldyRegistered Users, Super ModeratorsPosts: 2,853moderator
edited July 20, 2004
Great suggestions.
I have to say... There are a lot of photo sharing sites and styles. Some make you install a Windows app, some are peer-to-peer, some hope to be social networks. C|Net buys Webshots. Google buys Picasa.
When we speak to these companies, they're full of anxiety about what to do, and understandably so.
That's why it's so nice to hear a clear and compelling case for what you want and why. There's never much question about what we need to do because it's spelled out so clearly here, and in help emails.
Speaking of things we need to do, here's what the cropping tool looks like that we're testing. If you're familiar with the bulk move tool, you'll see some of the controls and code were filched from it. Unlike the bulk move tool, however, which doesn't work with the mouse for drag and drop, the cropping tool does work with the mouse.
We left the controls for keyboards there anyway for shortcuts.
This cropping tool will be available to all consumers who buy prints at the time they buy them. It will alert them to any cropping probs they have and automatically bring up the crop marks for whatever item they've selected, including gifts, which have all kinds of strange ratios.
I wonder if adding text on footers will ever be something folks want? Like collegiate fraternity and sorority photos.
I feel like I have tried almost all of the competitor's sites, and by odd luck I hit SmugMug almost last. I can say without a doubt, our company is not going anywhere soon.
If the app didn't change one bit from now on, it would still be way ahead of anybody else I have used... at least for my purposes.
I've been screwing around with photos a lot more lately, and I think it would be great if you had a photo tool called "replace".
What I've been doing is slamming photos up on smugmug quickly after an event so that folks can check them out. But then there are always some that I want to photoshop to make better. It would be nice if I could 'shop one, and then go and easily replace the one that's already online. You know, keep the filename so links still work, and keep the comments too, just update the photo with the new version.
What do you think?
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BaldyRegistered Users, Super ModeratorsPosts: 2,853moderator
I've been screwing around with photos a lot more lately, and I think it would be great if you had a photo tool called "replace".
What I've been doing is slamming photos up on smugmug quickly after an event so that folks can check them out. But then there are always some that I want to photoshop to make better. It would be nice if I could 'shop one, and then go and easily replace the one that's already online. You know, keep the filename so links still work, and keep the comments too, just update the photo with the new version.
What do you think?
I have to admit I've wanted that feature sometimes too. I don't know how hard it would be to do for the engineers but I'll check when I get a chance to talk about possible new features.
Organize categories by Position?
On a user's homepage, is there a setting (or, can one be made -- feature request !) to "Organize categories by Postion," much like how you can "Organize galleries by Postion" already? I ask because I have a ton of galleries, and when I add a couple new galleries it mixes up my current category sort order, which I really want to keep static. The only way I can fix this right now is by going in and reorganizing my galleries until the Categories get sorted correctly again. It's a hassle to sort through all the galleries to do this, when all I really need to do is be able to sort my 11 top-level Categories directly so i can control the order in which they appear on http://dreamprogram.smugmug.com
For a professional account, I'd like to be able to remove the "Enhanced" option when people are purchasing pictures. I have the shots all tweaked and ready to go, but I have discovered that some people are turning on "Enhanced" anyway and they're not very thrilled with the results.
Linking galleries?
It would also be nice if there was an option to link galleries in a specified order. For example, I took a 2 week trip, and have a gallery for each day under a subcategory. There should be a way for a viewer to move from day to day as they browse, without having to click back up to the subcategory, then find the next day/gallery. Some kind of "Next Gallery" and "Previous Gallery" links at the bottom or top of each gallery page?
Arranging sharegroups
The new bulk moving feature for arranging pics within the album is wonderful. I wonder what it would take to apply the same interface to arranging albums in sharegroups. I have a "superuser" sharegroup that allows one to view every protected album in my collection. Which, (un)fortunately, translates into *a lot* of albums.
Right now the following happens when I need to add an album:
- album uploaded
- Cool! I can now show it off
- add album to the sharegroup
- Er... The album landed on the very bottom, its closest neighbor being the album of 20+ year old black and white photos
- No problem! I'll just move them around a little. See, there are those handy "up", "down" and "delete" buttons under every album.
- Scroll all the way to the bottom to the new album
- "Up"
- Page reloading. Hum-hum-hum la-la-la
- Scroll all the way to the bottom
- Page reloading. Hum-hum-hum la-la-la
- "Up"
- Scroll *almost* all the way to the bottom
- ... [repeat as needed]
Sorry for the longish introduction. Here is the actual logic:
The sharegroup album list is similar to two other pages:
- the list of photographs within an album
- the list of all available galleries
Therefore, it would make sense to either use the existing picture-rearranging-tool for changing the sharegroup album order, or have options to sort by time in reverse (newest albums on top, not on the bottom).
Arggh... And I thought I didn't like to talk...
Thanks!
Good Idea!
I like it! It should not be too tought to implement a feature like that. My problem is that it relies on javascript, and I hate to force a page that uses javascript on users - so it would be in addition to the existing tool (much like the new new bulk move tool).
I will run it by the others here and maybe we can get it out after the shopping cart.
I like it! It should not be too tought to implement a feature like that. My problem is that it relies on javascript, and I hate to force a page that uses javascript on users - so it would be in addition to the existing tool (much like the new new bulk move tool).
I will run it by the others here and maybe we can get it out after the shopping cart.
JT
Not to be a crybaby or anything, but I mentioned this problem two months ago in this forum. I don't think I sent a note to support about it though. My bad.
Nevermind about a fancy JavaScript re-orderer. It'd be nice, but it's unnecessary.
The problem is that album sorting in ShareGroups does not work the same way it works in Public Albums.
1) "Auto-sort by: Most Recent" is missing.
2) No ability to reorder albums by changing their number.
No, it's not as slick as a JavaScript rearranger, but it would still be faster than the current system that hellata described.
(In Public Albums, you can click on "Organize galleries by Position", and with just a few keystrokes, assign any album to position number 1, moving it to the top.)
Reference Images & Log Comments
Hi all. I've been a Smugmug user for about a year now and I absolutely love it. I finally signed up for this forum today and realize I have some catching up to do, but I have a few suggestions that may or may not have already been mentioned.
I would love to be able to upload an image once and reference the same image in several albums. Let's say I have a sunset image on a lake from my last vacation. I would like to be able to upload the image to my "vacation" album and then reference that same image to my "water" album, and my "sunsets" albums. I think something like this could be especially useful to the power/pro users. Maybe they have a customer that likes water prints but the customer wouldn't look in the sunset album to find one. I think you understand what I'm getting at.
I think the comment suggestion has already been brought up but I would love to be able to track my comments somehow. Right now I find myself saving all of the emails that are sent when I receive a comment. Couldn't something simple be made right on the site that could insert the latest comment into a table or something, creating a long list of commented on images/galleries? Maybe to simplify it a bit the links could be categorized by gallery.
My last suggestion - How about "pending referrals?" Someone signs up with your coupon and they appear as "pending" on your list of referrals....?
I guess that's it for now. I frequently think of things but I never write them down.
I would just like to say that Smugmug is the greatest and you guys are doing a fantastic job. I love all of the new features you've added. It keeps on getting better and better! Thanks for all of the hard work you do and for making our experience a great one.
A few small features that would be nice
A check all button when doing bulk delete (uncheck all too I guess). Saves having to delete the entire gallery and recreate it. I'm NOT going to check 200 checkboxes.
Ability to select a default gallery style but let the user change it if they want to, if this is how it is supposed to work now I'm confused because it doesn't seem to.
Ability to duplicate (clone) a gallery. Saves having to create a new gallery and make all the same changes again. Just make a copy of an existing gallery - with new name and no pictures.
Both would make my workflow easier.
I upload bulk to a temp gallery then bulk move into separate galleries. Easier than starting different bulk uploads (often would have to do in the middle of the night).
One more suggestion from me, sorry if it's a repeat.
Can you make a "tree" view of the gallery structure? Trying to remember which gallery a subgallery of a subgallery is under can be a pain, especially when I'm at my Dad's (dial-up hell).
Some time back, another user asked about a feature that I hoped would come to exist. I have not heard any more about it so I thought I would bring it up again.
It would be nice to have some gallery pricing options that would allow users to set up several pricing structures and then when the customise a gallery they could just choose the pricing set they want to use.
This would allow you to set (for example):
1) a price for family photos to share prints with family (cost for most of us )
2) a price for portrait work
3) a price for commisioned work
4) a price for art prints
Then when you create a gallery (or update it) you could just choose your own preset pricing option 1, 2, 3 or 4 instead of going through the entire list of prices every time.
I know I dont put the same prices on every gallery. I would use this option.
Some time back, another user asked about a feature that I hoped would come to exist. I have not heard any more about it so I thought I would bring it up again.
It would be nice to have some gallery pricing options that would allow users to set up several pricing structures and then when the customise a gallery they could just choose the pricing set they want to use.
This would allow you to set (for example):
1) a price for family photos to share prints with family (cost for most of us )
2) a price for portrait work
3) a price for commisioned work
4) a price for art prints
Then when you create a gallery (or update it) you could just choose your own preset pricing option 1, 2, 3 or 4 instead of going through the entire list of prices every time.
I know I dont put the same prices on every gallery. I would use this option.
Some time back, another user asked about a feature that I hoped would come to exist. I have not heard any more about it so I thought I would bring it up again.
It would be nice to have some gallery pricing options that would allow users to set up several pricing structures and then when the customise a gallery they could just choose the pricing set they want to use.
This would allow you to set (for example):
1) a price for family photos to share prints with family (cost for most of us )
2) a price for portrait work
3) a price for commisioned work
4) a price for art prints
Then when you create a gallery (or update it) you could just choose your own preset pricing option 1, 2, 3 or 4 instead of going through the entire list of prices every time.
I know I dont put the same prices on every gallery. I would use this option.
I only have a basic account but that's a really great idea, GReaper. It also reminded me of something else I had thought about.
I would love to be able to set up defaults for a gallery so that every time I create a new gallery the settings are the way I want them. I would only need to change the settings for special circumstances.
Edit:
I was wondering, too, why it says image "1 of 9" or something when you're on a page other than 1 in your gallery. Shouldn't it keep track of the total images in the gallery and list it as "1 of 53" or something? Everytime you go to another page in the same gallery you're back to "1 of whatever" image instead of the total images in the gallery.
Some time back, another user asked about a feature that I hoped would come to exist. I have not heard any more about it so I thought I would bring it up again.
It would be nice to have some gallery pricing options that would allow users to set up several pricing structures and then when the customise a gallery they could just choose the pricing set they want to use.I know I dont put the same prices on every gallery. I would use this option.
Yes oh yes oh yes oh yes. The answer to my prayers (after the cropping, which is fantastic BTW). I'd order a lot more prints for my portfolio--as it is, I have to copy or upload to a new gallery and mod the pricing. Or if there could be a button in a new gallery to "zero" out the pricing back to default-smugmug...
And a way to have the filename and a copyright statement on the back of every print, my life would be complete. Right now there's no way for a purchaser to know what image number (filename) he ordered, for reorder purposes?
Yes oh yes oh yes oh yes. The answer to my prayers (after the cropping, which is fantastic BTW). I'd order a lot more prints for my portfolio--as it is, I have to copy or upload to a new gallery and mod the pricing. Or if there could be a button in a new gallery to "zero" out the pricing back to default-smugmug...
If you want to make prints for yourself without giving yourself a profit, then what you are wanting has been asked for before as, "How about fixing it so that prints are at cost if we're signed in as the site owner?" That way you don't have to make copies or change prices when you print and then put them back again real fast before clients buy anything.
If you want to set pricing differently per category, that's been asked for before as, "How about giving us a way to have a set of pricing defaults that we can quickly apply, or at least pricing at the category level?"
Both great ideas that I hope to see implemented soon!
And a way to have the filename and a copyright statement on the back of every print, my life would be complete. Right now there's no way for a purchaser to know what image number (filename) he ordered, for reorder purposes?
I sort of asked for this a couple of weeks ago in this thread: Company Label. While I'd really like to print a logo on the back (even a black & white one), I'd still be pleased as punch to even be able to specify text that will print on the back of every print.
I don't have time for a detailed review, but I just finished trying to process an order using the new features and I am somewhat discouraged. The process seems to have too many choices for the average user and is very confusing IMHO. I don't think it passes the "grandma" test. Also I kept getting sent back to the credit card info screen without any error message that I could find. Another complaint: In order to use the bulk feature and then delete individual photos it seems that you have to go through a screen refresh for each pic that you decide to delete from your cart. How about check boxes for each print with one button refresh at the end? More later when I get the time.
I don't have time for a detailed review, but I just finished trying to process an order using the new features and I am somewhat discouraged. The process seems to have too many choices for the average user and is very confusing IMHO. I don't think it passes the "grandma" test. Also I kept getting sent back to the credit card info screen without any error message that I could find. Another complaint: In order to use the bulk feature and then delete individual photos it seems that you have to go through a screen refresh for each pic that you decide to delete from your cart. How about check boxes for each print with one button refresh at the end? More later when I get the time.
.... kept getting sent back to the credit card screen, endless loop. i was trying to use a new credit card, not the one on file with smugmug on my account.
also, i just did a print run of around 300 4x6s. it was very very time consuming, i had to keep waiting for all the thumbs to load etc. is there a way to speed that up?
I don't have time for a detailed review, but I just finished trying to process an order using the new features and I am somewhat discouraged. The process seems to have too many choices for the average user and is very confusing IMHO. I don't think it passes the "grandma" test. Also I kept getting sent back to the credit card info screen without any error message that I could find. Another complaint: In order to use the bulk feature and then delete individual photos it seems that you have to go through a screen refresh for each pic that you decide to delete from your cart. How about check boxes for each print with one button refresh at the end? More later when I get the time.
Thanks for letting us know about this. We'd love to hear more when you get a chance.
The bug that sends people back to the credit info screen is nasty and has proven tough to track down. We placed more debug code in the cart last night to trap it and hope we can nail it soon. We think it affects very few customers but the fact that it got you and Andy is disturbing.
On the too-many-options for grandma front, you're probably referring to two areas: cropping and color choices. Now that we've been online with the new cart, I can say with some confidence that the two are different.
Cropping was the #1 problem with lots of returns and anguish over missing body parts. We know from speaking to various labs that it's the killer problem in the age of digital prints. The good news is in the last 50,000 prints we've processed since the new cart was shipped, I'm not aware of a cropping complaint. It completely solved that problem and we're not getting customer support emails on how to do it.
Color is the #2 problem because digital cameras frequently make caucasian skin to red or too blue (shade). The color options have cut the color problems down but not eliminated them and they have added complexity to the process and hurt the speed for large orders (like Andy's) by generating more thumbnails. This is an area we could put more effort into.
It'd be interesting to hear your perspective on what can be done about color. Currently Ofoto just autocorrects everything without a choice for true color, and they've tried a few different algorithms. You can imagine how accurate auto color is on a mass scale — think of Photoshop autocolor.
Costco and Shutterfly allow you to turn autocolor off but it isn't easy to do.
One possibility is to have true color on by default and a link that said "color corrrection options." Then Andy's order would have processed faster (orders with >250 prints are less than 1 of 500 we receive and almost always from pros who don't want color corrrection). Fewer choices would mean less confusion.
Of course, the incidence of too cold or too warm bad print orders will rise.
Comments
As far as pro sites, I'm not aware of any but we get tons and tons of requests for more customization from pros. One thing is when you place your own banner to replace ours, you blow our shopping cart icon away. Some pros want that back, so we're just adding that and some basic ability should be available in a few days.
I have to respond to this... My wife and I are Mac users, and although we can handle using Caption Buddy and a one-way import, I would still like to see improvements to the Mac uploader. Given that Mac users are more like 20%+ here I think it's worthwhile (and relatively non-intrusive to other SmugMug priorities if a contractor is used as has previously been discussed) to continue improving the Mac uploader.
At the least, I would like to see the Mac uploader updated to import iPhoto captions. Having to run Caption Buddy to modify the original images is an extra step the people should not have to do.
An additional improvement I'd like to see would be the previously mentioned one-way sync. By one-way sync, I take that to mean that if I import an Album from iPhoto, and then later make a few changes to the album in iPhoto (add a few photos, change a few captions, and maybe delete a few photos or edit a couple of images by cropping, etc.) then the uploader should be smart enough to "mirror" that album into SmugMug so that the SmugMug gallery matches the updated iPhoto album but without wasting time uploading images that have not changed.
Another thing I just thought of but haven't seen discussed as an improvement to the uploader (and it might hold for any uploader, not just Mac) would be a high-quality resize option built-in to the uploader. That is, I should be able to point the uploader at my 4 megapixel album in iPhoto but request that it resize the images to (for example) 800x600 before uploading. This would further simplify (and speed up) the uploading process for those with hi-res cameras but who do not wish to upload the originals. Just a thought.
We just signed up for SmugMug and are looking forward to starting to upload our photos... I'm sure we'll come up with more requests as we continue to explore the system (probably around the password and public/private issue since we want a mix of public and private galleries).
[Now that I've used the iPhoto uploader once, I have another thought with respect to gallery naming:] The uploader should be able to create a new gallery with either the iPhoto album name or a user-specified one, rather than making me create the gallery in SmugMug first. In addition, when I create a gallery on the web site, it should assume I want to create it in the current category and subcategory (where I was when I clicked the "Create New GallerY' button) rather than making me select both of those from the popups.
Here's another quick one: We created a passworded gallery, where we would like to include a URL to our "home page" which has additional (html) content. There's no "private" place to put this URL (or other comments). Currently we put it into the gallery description, but then it appears in our gallery listing available to even those who have not entered the password that otherwise protects the gallery contents. I guess I'm asking for another gallery description field which is NOT displayed except from inside the (password-protected) gallery. [By the way, I do like the fact that a URL in this field is properly handled and converted to a clickable URL!]
Sorry for the lengthy posting but as you said - that's what you get from passionate users. :-)
Thanks!
I can understand the showing of the "Password protected" gallery image when a guest has not yet entered the gallery password and is looking at a category. However, once the password has been entered (thus allowing access to the gallery), shouldn't this image give way to each gallery's (random or pre-specified) "featured image"?
If not, then why bother showing the image at all? It just takes up real estate (over and over again in a subcategory screen with several galleries). In fact, I'd like to see an option to leave it out and just list the Gallery info.
Also, category listings show how many galleries and images are in each sub-category. However, sub-category listings only show the name of each gallery and last mod date - not how many images the gallery contains. Could you add that? I think it would be useful in general, but it would also make it a lot easier to figure out which (recently created) galleries are still empty (and in need of uploading) and which ones have been populated. [It would also be great to see the number of images in the uploader's gallery picker.]
For those of us creating lots of galleries with the same password (e.g. private photos for friends and relatives only) it would be VERY nice to be able to assign a single password for an entire category or subcategory. Instead, we must REMEMBER to assign it to each new gallery we create which is a bit of a pain.
It would be great if we could enter text (including URLs) on the category and subcategory pages.
Is there a way to request a new categoy? I couldn't find anything pertaining to homes or home remodeling. I can probably get by with Landscapes and Architecture for now, though I'm not sure that's what those categories were intended for.
Thanks in advance,
--Steve
For instance -- Steve's post should have been added to this existing thread on the Mac Uploader and how it could be improved:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=14276#post14276
Bugs/requests already covered in that thread:
- Mac Uploader is not drag-and-droppable (darryl)
- Preference to have Uploader start in iPhoto or Files mode (DavidTO)
- Reset/clear files to upload w/o quitting (patch29)
- Show list of files to be uploaded (patch29)
- Creation and customization of a gallery from the uploader (patch29)
- Auto-creation of galleries if selecting an iPhoto album that *doesn't* match an exisitng Smugmug gallery (darryl)
- Or at least allow manual creation of gallery -- "New" option in target gallery drop-down menu and a dialog to get the name. (darryl) [Baldy says it's already on the list]
- Refresh button to get new latest gallery list (lynnesite)
Oh yeah, Baldy mentioned at the top of this thread that sync (at least 1-way) is already on the list for the next version of the Mac Uploader.
Hey Baldy, maybe if you could create a "SmugMug Features/Bug Requests" forum for us complainers, er "passionate users", that'd work. :-}
I'd happily volunteer to start organizing previous features/bugs requests in such a forum. Oh wait, can threads be moved between forums?
20%+ are Mac users, but I'll bet you not many of the pros are using iPhoto. It's sooooo freaking slow (yeah yeah, I can't afford a G5 :-) -- I can't imagine somebody who does photography for a living putting up with it. If they're using a Mac, I bet they're using iView Media Pro or Cumulus or something more robust to manage all of their photos, including captioning.
(In fact, I just discovered last night that the venerable GraphicConverter has a IPTC editing function, and it's obvious he's spent some time making it very easy to quickly go through a big folder of images tagging them with keywords, captions, etc.)
Still, iPhoto caption import would be nice. I wonder whether they'd still be inaccessible on download though. (Right now Smugmug doesn't do anything like insert the caption into the IPTC fields, which is probably a whole 'nother can of worms -- messing with file headers.)
Interestingly, Smugmug has thought about IPTC headers, because their search function can dig through them.
Hi guys, I have a suggestion for Smugmug. There is a gallery customization to remove the ability to order prints, which I set for a few galleries. It's a handy feature. However I was surprised that I couldn't order prints when I was logged in. I really didn't intend to keep myself from ordering prints, just other folks. I would suggest allowing the owner to do anything he wants to his own photos, and have the restrictions only apply to the outside world.
Thanks for the great sites you guys are providing us!
How 'bout adding the ability to have PDF files on a smugmug site???
They might be handy for price lists, contact info sheets, tutorials etc...
CRM! :-)
CRM! :-)
CRM! :-)
Now if I could get SmugMug to output to Oracle Small Business/NetSuite.com .... WOOF! :puke1
I dunno, I am digging it right now, though. I finally added my own header and footer and it is looking MUCH MUCH smoother if are a pro user. The order button needs to be on top! :-) Additionally, I would like a bigger spotlight put on the mugs and gift items! Like a "place this photo on this mug for only $$!!
All in all, it is great. Just some kind of output as a pro user so I can dump all of my SM customer info into my database to create accounts, folllow up with incentaives, thank you letters, and dump all my financial info into a database or spreadsheet for oracle, an accountant, or just my own records! Just my unsolicted two cents.
ALSO! Linkable images to external websites... Click on this image to go to this site... That way we could drop linkable graphics within our galleries!
One thing I DO hear a lot of lately is how intuitive and easy to use it is! ANd FAST! My clients and the folks who hit my site say they can;t believe how faST IT IS. By allowing cobranding, I am fairly CERTAIN 90% of my clients think the technology is mine! SmugMug is #1 hands down...
I am installing it on some client's as a value added bonus to their websites... I can now allow my client's to easily upload their own photos to their website... pretty cool.
One last thing. When you get a check cut for yoru commissions, the "profit to date" does not reset. Maybe a littel more reporting functionality here. For example, a report like:
Comission History:
3/23/2004 Commission: $23,087.07 Paid 3/28/2004 Click here for all sales in this period.
5/03/2004 Commission: $18,932.62 Paid 5/05/2004 Click here for all sales in this period.
7/24/2004 Commission: $27,492.22 Paid 5/05/2004 Click here for all sales in this period.
I have to say... There are a lot of photo sharing sites and styles. Some make you install a Windows app, some are peer-to-peer, some hope to be social networks. C|Net buys Webshots. Google buys Picasa.
When we speak to these companies, they're full of anxiety about what to do, and understandably so.
That's why it's so nice to hear a clear and compelling case for what you want and why. There's never much question about what we need to do because it's spelled out so clearly here, and in help emails.
Speaking of things we need to do, here's what the cropping tool looks like that we're testing. If you're familiar with the bulk move tool, you'll see some of the controls and code were filched from it. Unlike the bulk move tool, however, which doesn't work with the mouse for drag and drop, the cropping tool does work with the mouse.
We left the controls for keyboards there anyway for shortcuts.
This cropping tool will be available to all consumers who buy prints at the time they buy them. It will alert them to any cropping probs they have and automatically bring up the crop marks for whatever item they've selected, including gifts, which have all kinds of strange ratios.
I wonder if adding text on footers will ever be something folks want? Like collegiate fraternity and sorority photos.
I feel like I have tried almost all of the competitor's sites, and by odd luck I hit SmugMug almost last. I can say without a doubt, our company is not going anywhere soon.
If the app didn't change one bit from now on, it would still be way ahead of anybody else I have used... at least for my purposes.
Y'all keep it up.
my two cents.
What I've been doing is slamming photos up on smugmug quickly after an event so that folks can check them out. But then there are always some that I want to photoshop to make better. It would be nice if I could 'shop one, and then go and easily replace the one that's already online. You know, keep the filename so links still work, and keep the comments too, just update the photo with the new version.
What do you think?
Thanks for the suggestion!
On a user's homepage, is there a setting (or, can one be made -- feature request
Steve Crooks
Steve.Crooks.net
It would also be nice if there was an option to link galleries in a specified order. For example, I took a 2 week trip, and have a gallery for each day under a subcategory. There should be a way for a viewer to move from day to day as they browse, without having to click back up to the subcategory, then find the next day/gallery. Some kind of "Next Gallery" and "Previous Gallery" links at the bottom or top of each gallery page?
The new bulk moving feature for arranging pics within the album is wonderful. I wonder what it would take to apply the same interface to arranging albums in sharegroups. I have a "superuser" sharegroup that allows one to view every protected album in my collection. Which, (un)fortunately, translates into *a lot* of albums.
Right now the following happens when I need to add an album:
- album uploaded
- Cool! I can now show it off
- add album to the sharegroup
- Er... The album landed on the very bottom, its closest neighbor being the album of 20+ year old black and white photos
- No problem! I'll just move them around a little. See, there are those handy "up", "down" and "delete" buttons under every album.
- Scroll all the way to the bottom to the new album
- "Up"
- Page reloading. Hum-hum-hum la-la-la
- Scroll all the way to the bottom
- Page reloading. Hum-hum-hum la-la-la
- "Up"
- Scroll *almost* all the way to the bottom
- ... [repeat as needed]
Sorry for the longish introduction. Here is the actual logic:
The sharegroup album list is similar to two other pages:
- the list of photographs within an album
- the list of all available galleries
Therefore, it would make sense to either use the existing picture-rearranging-tool for changing the sharegroup album order, or have options to sort by time in reverse (newest albums on top, not on the bottom).
Arggh... And I thought I didn't like to talk...
Thanks!
I like it! It should not be too tought to implement a feature like that. My problem is that it relies on javascript, and I hate to force a page that uses javascript on users - so it would be in addition to the existing tool (much like the new new bulk move tool).
I will run it by the others here and maybe we can get it out after the shopping cart.
JT
Not to be a crybaby or anything, but I mentioned this problem two months ago in this forum. I don't think I sent a note to support about it though. My bad.
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=1730
Nevermind about a fancy JavaScript re-orderer. It'd be nice, but it's unnecessary.
The problem is that album sorting in ShareGroups does not work the same way it works in Public Albums.
1) "Auto-sort by: Most Recent" is missing.
2) No ability to reorder albums by changing their number.
No, it's not as slick as a JavaScript rearranger, but it would still be faster than the current system that hellata described.
(In Public Albums, you can click on "Organize galleries by Position", and with just a few keystrokes, assign any album to position number 1, moving it to the top.)
--Darryl
Hi all. I've been a Smugmug user for about a year now and I absolutely love it. I finally signed up for this forum today and realize I have some catching up to do, but I have a few suggestions that may or may not have already been mentioned.
I would love to be able to upload an image once and reference the same image in several albums. Let's say I have a sunset image on a lake from my last vacation. I would like to be able to upload the image to my "vacation" album and then reference that same image to my "water" album, and my "sunsets" albums. I think something like this could be especially useful to the power/pro users. Maybe they have a customer that likes water prints but the customer wouldn't look in the sunset album to find one. I think you understand what I'm getting at.
I think the comment suggestion has already been brought up but I would love to be able to track my comments somehow. Right now I find myself saving all of the emails that are sent when I receive a comment. Couldn't something simple be made right on the site that could insert the latest comment into a table or something, creating a long list of commented on images/galleries? Maybe to simplify it a bit the links could be categorized by gallery.
My last suggestion - How about "pending referrals?" Someone signs up with your coupon and they appear as "pending" on your list of referrals....?
I guess that's it for now. I frequently think of things but I never write them down.
I would just like to say that Smugmug is the greatest and you guys are doing a fantastic job. I love all of the new features you've added. It keeps on getting better and better! Thanks for all of the hard work you do and for making our experience a great one.
Jen
A check all button when doing bulk delete (uncheck all too I guess). Saves having to delete the entire gallery and recreate it. I'm NOT going to check 200 checkboxes.
Ability to select a default gallery style but let the user change it if they want to, if this is how it is supposed to work now I'm confused because it doesn't seem to.
Ability to duplicate (clone) a gallery. Saves having to create a new gallery and make all the same changes again. Just make a copy of an existing gallery - with new name and no pictures.
Both would make my workflow easier.
I upload bulk to a temp gallery then bulk move into separate galleries. Easier than starting different bulk uploads (often would have to do in the middle of the night).
Thanks for the great site!
-Chris
Can you make a "tree" view of the gallery structure? Trying to remember which gallery a subgallery of a subgallery is under can be a pain, especially when I'm at my Dad's (dial-up hell).
Thanks!
It would be nice to have some gallery pricing options that would allow users to set up several pricing structures and then when the customise a gallery they could just choose the pricing set they want to use.
This would allow you to set (for example):
1) a price for family photos to share prints with family (cost for most of us
2) a price for portrait work
3) a price for commisioned work
4) a price for art prints
Then when you create a gallery (or update it) you could just choose your own preset pricing option 1, 2, 3 or 4 instead of going through the entire list of prices every time.
I know I dont put the same prices on every gallery. I would use this option.
TML Photography
tmlphoto.com
I only have a basic account but that's a really great idea, GReaper. It also reminded me of something else I had thought about.
I would love to be able to set up defaults for a gallery so that every time I create a new gallery the settings are the way I want them. I would only need to change the settings for special circumstances.
Edit:
I was wondering, too, why it says image "1 of 9" or something when you're on a page other than 1 in your gallery. Shouldn't it keep track of the total images in the gallery and list it as "1 of 53" or something? Everytime you go to another page in the same gallery you're back to "1 of whatever" image instead of the total images in the gallery.
Jen
Yes oh yes oh yes oh yes. The answer to my prayers (after the cropping, which is fantastic BTW). I'd order a lot more prints for my portfolio--as it is, I have to copy or upload to a new gallery and mod the pricing. Or if there could be a button in a new gallery to "zero" out the pricing back to default-smugmug...
And a way to have the filename and a copyright statement on the back of every print, my life would be complete. Right now there's no way for a purchaser to know what image number (filename) he ordered, for reorder purposes?
Lynne
Galleries here Upcoming Ranch/Horse Workshop
If you want to set pricing differently per category, that's been asked for before as, "How about giving us a way to have a set of pricing defaults that we can quickly apply, or at least pricing at the category level?"
Both great ideas that I hope to see implemented soon!
I sort of asked for this a couple of weeks ago in this thread: Company Label. While I'd really like to print a logo on the back (even a black & white one), I'd still be pleased as punch to even be able to specify text that will print on the back of every print.
Steve Crooks
Steve.Crooks.net
TML Photography
tmlphoto.com
.... kept getting sent back to the credit card screen, endless loop. i was trying to use a new credit card, not the one on file with smugmug on my account.
also, i just did a print run of around 300 4x6s. it was very very time consuming, i had to keep waiting for all the thumbs to load etc. is there a way to speed that up?
a
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
The bug that sends people back to the credit info screen is nasty and has proven tough to track down. We placed more debug code in the cart last night to trap it and hope we can nail it soon. We think it affects very few customers but the fact that it got you and Andy is disturbing.
On the too-many-options for grandma front, you're probably referring to two areas: cropping and color choices. Now that we've been online with the new cart, I can say with some confidence that the two are different.
Cropping was the #1 problem with lots of returns and anguish over missing body parts. We know from speaking to various labs that it's the killer problem in the age of digital prints. The good news is in the last 50,000 prints we've processed since the new cart was shipped, I'm not aware of a cropping complaint. It completely solved that problem and we're not getting customer support emails on how to do it.
Color is the #2 problem because digital cameras frequently make caucasian skin to red or too blue (shade). The color options have cut the color problems down but not eliminated them and they have added complexity to the process and hurt the speed for large orders (like Andy's) by generating more thumbnails. This is an area we could put more effort into.
It'd be interesting to hear your perspective on what can be done about color. Currently Ofoto just autocorrects everything without a choice for true color, and they've tried a few different algorithms. You can imagine how accurate auto color is on a mass scale — think of Photoshop autocolor.
Costco and Shutterfly allow you to turn autocolor off but it isn't easy to do.
One possibility is to have true color on by default and a link that said "color corrrection options." Then Andy's order would have processed faster (orders with >250 prints are less than 1 of 500 we receive and almost always from pros who don't want color corrrection). Fewer choices would mean less confusion.
Of course, the incidence of too cold or too warm bad print orders will rise.