It's probably in this thread a few times already...digital downloads, maybe with a few different resolution choices would be nice. Maybe even with a primitive payment system like paypal/check/cod/2coms. Thanks for listening.
-don
Two weeks ago, I posted to this thread talking about support for smugmug. In that post, I stated how absolutely incredible the support is; when you get it.
The problem I have found is that some posts slip through the cracks. When this happens, It gives the impression that smugmug does not care about certain customers, which I know is most definitely not true.
I know that all of you are working as hard as humanly possible to maintain and grow smugmug, but I think that a little time spend developing a structured support system would go a long way. In the end, you would have happier, more informed customers.
The user forum is a great medium for peer to peer interactions, but when used as the primary support mechanism, things start to fall apart.
I second that vote for the ability to sell digital image directly
I'd also like to see the ability to "sell" digital images via download, not just prints.
On a recent ski trip, there was a photographic company taking pics on the slopes. The pics were then available for viewing later that afternoon at the lodge. You could order either prints or just buy the digital image to make your own prints. Since I never have any pics of myself skiing (since I do all the picture taking in our family). I was thinking about buying an 8x10 or 11x14 so it would be big enough to scan with good resolution, but then I realized they sell the JPEG image directly. So, I bought the JPEG for one of the pics of myself (for $40). I realized that is a great offering that smugmug should have. A lot of people will pay significant bucks for a digital image they like because it gives them the freedom to do many things with it (print their own, use it in a collage, post on their web-site, send it in email, etc...). For those with pro accounts, this could even further differentiate the smugmug offering from other sites.
It's probably in this thread a few times already...digital downloads, maybe with a few different resolution choices would be nice. Maybe even with a primitive payment system like paypal/check/cod/2coms. Thanks for listening.
-don
Feature Request: preset crops for different print sizes
When ordering prints from smugmug, the most complicated part of the whole process is getting the crop right for prints that don't match the print size exactly. For someone like my mom, this can be quite confusing. I'd like to pre-configure this for my print buyers.
My feature request is to let the owner of the gallery, preset the cropping for the sizes that don't match the aspect ratio of the photo. This would allow the customer to just order the print and know that they were going to get the best possible result without having to fuss with cropping (they customer wouldn't even have to see the crop dialogs). In the pro package, you should probably also let the owner of the gallery disable certain sizes that don't crop to a good result. I know that not that many people will go to the trouble of setting the crops for the different sizes, but for those that do (probably most those with pro accounts), it dramatically enhances the buying experience, increase the quality of prints by always getting the best crop and is a nice feature that I don't think any other similar services have. BTW, if you do this, it would be great to get a preview screen for each phot with all the sizes laid out, displaying the default centered crop so you could just make a few tweaks and hit Next to get to the next photo in the gallery. For sizes with the same aspect ratio, they obviously only have to be shown once (4x6, 8x12 or 5x7, 10x14).
feature request is to let the owner of the gallery, preset the cropping for the sizes that don't match the aspect ratio of the photo....
--John
I think this is a great idea. Some people here are even setting up different galleries for each crop size in order to ensure their photos are cropped/printed properly. I don't know how much coding this would take, but I think it would offer a wonderful level of control. I'd upgrade my account from standard to Power/Pro for this feature alone. Many of my galleries are family photos and my family orders lots of 4x6 prints and they tire of having to crop them. The fact that they have to crop them is a huge deterrent from ordering! My Mom recently gave up half-way through an order because she only has a modem-connection and the cropping took too long with all of the image loading after each crop. I'd be willing to spend the time to pre-crop as well in order to make the process more trouble-free for those that order my pictures. I'd also love knowing they won't screw up my photo with a poor crop.
I would also like some sort of pre-cropping feature. This would be useful to me in some instances for sure. It would also eliminate some dumb stuff by customers.
I am also for being able to disable that color adjusting jazz on pro accounts. That color adjustment thingie will make more trouble than it is worth for me and my customers. I don't want them adjusting a perfectly correct photo. Nor should you...
Yes, we should be able to eliminate the color adjustment too
I'd second the request for being able to control whether the color adjustment things are offered in addition to the cropping - that's a good addition to the original feature request. If I'm offering prints for sale with a Pro account, I'm definitely going to configure it so that customers don't have to see of know anything about color adjustments.
--John
I am also for being able to disable that color adjusting jazz on pro accounts. That color adjustment thingie will make more trouble than it is worth for me and my customers. I don't want them adjusting a perfectly correct photo. Nor should you...
I'd second the request for being able to control whether the color adjustment things are offered in addition to the cropping - that's a good addition to the original feature request. If I'm offering prints for sale with a Pro account, I'm definitely going to configure it so that customers don't have to see of know anything about color adjustments.
--John
Smugmug issues that are important to me...
I have a couple of issues I would like to be looked at by customer support at SMUGMUG.
1. I like my Categories in the main page to be sorted by Title. When I add a new one, I always have to go into the sort section, sort it how I like, save changes... otherwise I would get it sorted by Position, which I believe is the default by Smugmug. I would like to maintain my sorting preference, in both... Categories in the main page, as well as the galeries inside a category (in my case, I like the Title to be the sorting preference).
2. When I'm in my main page, I don't see a log out button, so I have to go to Control Panel and then log out. Isn't Log Out an important button that every page should have?
3. I would like to have a "Save with original filename" button for each picture. The original name is stored as a caption of some sort, since I see it show up on every picture, but Smugmug uses a different number scheme which is a unique # internally in their DB to identify each picture (which I understand). But that # means little to me or to any of my folks that see my pic. I would like to have that option available (to "Save with original filename").
4. I notice that the gallery options have been recently changed (new features added when you create a new one). However, I can't massively change all my galleries to a certain scheme unless I click on each one. I would like a section that would allow me to change all my galleries to a certain template, which could or not include a password change if I so chose.
5. When I'm inside some galeries (maybe depending on the Viewer Style chosen, I'm not sure), I don't have a way to go back to neither the list of pics (case of all thumbs and traditional) if I want to go back to the list of pics, I have to do: BACK BACK BACK until I get back to the list. Instead, an additional arrow should be there... ^ | (back to list) | <
PIC
>
6. I have also noticed that I don't have a link to my main site from every page type (sometimes when inside pictures or list of pictures). I should have a link to the main site from every place (it would make it so much easier than to have to type it all in the browser every time I want to go back to it).
assign subcategory to new category I was happy to see the recent ability for standard users to define custom categories and was ready to rearrange my site - but - do you think I should hold off a bit longer hoping for an easier way to essentially move subcategories from old cat to new one? Or am I missing something - I would currently have to create new subcategory for the new category then customize each gallery individually to change the association? It would be nice to have an option to rename an existing "standard" category to a new custom category, and have all subcategories and galleries associated with that category be automatically reassigned. Second best would be just to have option to re-associate subcategory with new main category and have all "contained" galleries properly reassigned.
(I was even hoping star*explorer might do that easily but not yet as far as I can tell <;*)
Related suggestion: would be nice to have option at category level whereby subcategories and galleries apprear and can be sorted the same - instead of the way I see it now where all subcategories appear first, then galleries not within a subcategory. For example, say I have a category "trips", that I want to order by date of trip, but some trips are several days long covering several locations so I'd like to create subcategory for that, whereas others are half-day excursions for which a simple gallery will do. But i'd like to order the trips reverse-chonologically (maybe by starting gallery or subcategory title with a yymmdd-date-number) without distinguishing simple from complex trips. It would also be nice to show at the category level the "number of photo's" for the galleries as is currently done for the subcategories, and, at the same time, be able to have a comment at the subcategory level, like the one at the gallery level. In short, I guess, I'd like to blurr the distiction between subcategory and gallery.
Multi-Level Passwords?
I've searched around and I haven't found anything, so if this has already been discussed, my apologies.
Is there any way to implement some sort of status level to passwords?
My gallaries are growing and I have multiple passwords set in several of them. I tend to use a 'default' (say password 'a') password for general gallaries that I share with family, and some specific passwords (password 'b') for when I share them with friends or specific audiences. The problem arises when 'higher' level viewers (i.e. family) tries to view these gallaries protected by password 'b'. They have to keep tabs on what password belongs to what. I find this inconvenient for them. The password hint is nice, but it still requires remembering multiple passwords.
I then started wondering if we could assign something reminiscent from CIA movies like a security level. The breakdown would be something like this:
Level 5 would be the 'highest' level, equivalent to Admin status.
Level 4 would be the highest 'viewer' level, allowing viewing of all passworded gallaries, without admin privilige. May include private gallaries?
Level 3 would be restricted from Level 4 access or higher.
Level 2 - restricted from L3 and up.
Level 1 - etc.
Ideally, there should be a pulldown menu adjacent (#'s 1-4) to the password line to indicate the level. Or, there should be a option in the control panel where the admin can list each password and assign a level. If it is not specified, there may be a 'default' security level assigned.
Hopefully this could be made possible because it would make things brilliantly simple for controlling who sees what with one password per audience member.
I also like the pre-crop feature idea. I have customers that get very confused by the whole cropping thing.
The next thing that my customers get confused about is the different lists used to find print sizes. Specialty prints is a catagory that they don't understand and don't even seem to look in. I have had many people complain that they can't get wallets because I don't offer them (when I do, of course). I know that you split the sizes to make shorter lists for prints, but I think that one list in numerical order would be better.
The next thing that my customers get confused about is the different lists used to find print sizes. Specialty prints is a catagory that they don't understand and don't even seem to look in. I have had many people complain that they can't get wallets because I don't offer them (when I do, of course). I know that you split the sizes to make shorter lists for prints, but I think that one list in numerical order would be better.
I like the new cart format...MUCH easier now!
Thanks!
Hi Laurie,
Your site looks great!
I agree the new cart is much easier.
IMHO one list could be to long. If they could be grouped by size it might be easier. Yes I am repeating myself here:D.
Small - up to 5X7
Medium - up to 11X14
Large - up to 30x40
What sized to include in each group doesn't matter, atleast the customer would know what group to look in for the print size they want.
IMHO one list could be to long. If they could be grouped by size it might be easier. Yes I am repeating myself here:D.
Small - up to 5X7
Medium - up to 11X14
Large - up to 30x40
What sized to include in each group doesn't matter, atleast the customer would know what group to look in for the print size they want.
Ok...I guess I'm up to 6 cents on this subject
Mitch
Hey, thanks! I've worked hard to on it. I'd like to do more, but I'm very limited by my knowledge...still learning!
I like your idea even better. Just changing the groupings by size would be easily understood by everyone. For me to list all the sizes wouldn't be that long because I limit what I offer, but after rethinking it...for most it would be too long. Yes, yes. Your idea is MUCH better!
Small - up to 5X7
Medium - up to 11X14
Large - up to 30x40
What sized to include in each group doesn't matter, atleast the customer would know what group to look in for the print size they want.
That's a nice idea, Mitch. And usually the best ideas are the simplest and most obvious.
One misgiving I have is the issue that we've been struggling with: how can you direct the customer to prints that don't cause too much (or any) cropping?
The small list would look like this:
Wallets
3.5x5
4x5
4x5.3
4x6
4x8
5x5
5x6.7
5x7
And there's the finishes for each one.
I suppose you could think about indicating which ones would involve cropping by sensing the ratio of the image or something. (?)
That's a nice idea, Mitch. And usually the best ideas are the simplest and most obvious.
One misgiving I have is the issue that we've been struggling with: how can you direct the customer to prints that don't cause too much (or any) cropping?
The small list would look like this:
Wallets
3.5x5
4x5
4x5.3
4x6
4x8
5x5
5x6.7
5x7
And there's the finishes for each one.
I suppose you could think about indicating which ones would involve cropping by sensing the ratio of the image or something. (?)
I don't understand the concerns you have over cropping. Even if someone does not already know about ratios and how they affect the print, is is plainly obvious when you look at the photo. It SHOWS you what will happen. NO EXPLANATION IS NEEDED.
This ties into the very long thread on "prints for a small camera". That entire drop-down menu seems unnessary to me. Just put the different sizes in order, divide them up as needed to have room (small, med, large), and allow the customer to see what happens when they choose a particular size.
If the photo is cropped, there could be a disclaimer which calls attention to the crop.
And why couldn't there be a third menu for finish?
I don't understand the concerns you have over cropping. Even if someone does not already know about ratios and how they affect the print, is is plainly obvious when you look at the photo. It SHOWS you what will happen. NO EXPLANATION IS NEEDED.
I thought about this today as I was replacing 5 8x10s.
I had a customer choose the no crop option because cropping seemed self-evidently bad to him; you lose something and he didn't want to lose anything. The warning dialog box popped up associated with no-crop explaining that there would be two white borders. And we displayed two big white borders.
I think it was just too hard for him to grasp that his photo doesn't fit the paper without either losing something or getting white borders. It didn't happen all these years when he dropped off film, why now? And he simply can't fathom why anyone would want a print with two white borders.
Cropping is tough for a non-photographer to grasp.
Cropping is tough for a non-photographer to grasp.
Sad but true for even some photographers:cry
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BaldyRegistered Users, Super ModeratorsPosts: 2,853moderator
edited April 22, 2005
They are trained by Blockbuster: This movie has been modified to fit your screen. No white borders. Nothing missing. Just hit play. That's what some of them want when they order 8x10s.
The ones who get cropping love the adjust crop button.
That's a nice idea, Mitch. And usually the best ideas are the simplest and most obvious.
One misgiving I have is the issue that we've been struggling with: how can you direct the customer to prints that don't cause too much (or any) cropping?
I don't think this is always the goal. If someone wants to frame their print, purchasing a 4x5 would be a poor choice. I don't think that a 4x5.3 would work either. So, one category could be picture frame sizes. This would include 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, 11x14, etc....
I thought about this today as I was replacing 5 8x10s.
I had a customer choose the no crop option because cropping seemed self-evidently bad to him; you lose something and he didn't want to lose anything. The warning dialog box popped up associated with no-crop explaining that there would be two white borders. And we displayed two big white borders.
I think it was just too hard for him to grasp that his photo doesn't fit the paper without either losing something or getting white borders. It didn't happen all these years when he dropped off film, why now? And he simply can't fathom why anyone would want a print with two white borders.
Cropping is tough for a non-photographer to grasp.
Many people don't understand cropping at all. "Why isn't a 5x7 the same as an 8x10?" The ratios mean nothing and it's nearly impossible for some people to grasp. (this is rocket science, afterall!) Earlier someone mentioned having a "Pre Crop" assignment so the customer can only view the print as it will be. That would at least eliminate the pro's customer crop issues. Now to deal with everyone else...
Suggestion:
1) Separate print sizes from paper type
2) replace the product dropdown with a two-option radio field (prints, gifts)
3) put all prints together into one dropdown with a price range
4) organize by type
Here's an example (I only put the prices in for the first few)
Picture Frame Sizes
4 x 6 ($0.29 - $0.39)
5 x 7 ($0.99 - $1.25)
8 x 10 ($2.99 - $3.49)
11 x 14 (5.49 - 6.25)
16 x 20
20 x 30
Digital Camera Sizes
4 x 5.3
5 x 6.7
8 x 9.7
9 x 12
18 x 24
30 x 40
Square Prints
5 x 5
8 x 8
10 x 10
20 x 20
Specialty Prints
3.5 X 5
4 x 5
4 x 8
8.5 x 11
8 x 12
4 Wallets
10 X 15
12 X 18
16 x 24
20 x 24
24 x 36
Suggestion:
1) Separate print sizes from paper type
2) replace the product dropdown with a two-option radio field (prints, gifts)
3) put all prints together into one dropdown with a price range
4) organize by type
Here's an example (I only put the prices in for the first few)
Picture Frame Sizes
4 x 6 ($0.29 - $0.39)
5 x 7 ($0.99 - $1.25)
8 x 10 ($2.99 - $3.49)
11 x 14 (5.49 - 6.25)
16 x 20
20 x 30
Digital Camera Sizes
4 x 5.3
5 x 6.7
8 x 9.7
9 x 12
18 x 24
30 x 40
Square Prints
5 x 5
8 x 8
10 x 10
20 x 20
Specialty Prints
3.5 X 5
4 x 5
4 x 8
8.5 x 11
8 x 12
4 Wallets
10 X 15
12 X 18
16 x 24
20 x 24
24 x 36
I don't like the "Specialty Print" listing. That is where my customers are having problems now. To them a 3.5x5 or wallet is a standard size. Having to look under something called "specialty" scares them because it sounds like it would cost more. That's why I get calls asking why those sizes aren't available online...even though they are.
I don't like the "Specialty Print" listing. That is where my customers are having problems now. To them a 3.5x5 or wallet is a standard size. Having to look under something called "specialty" scares them because it sounds like it would cost more. That's why I get calls asking why those sizes aren't available online...even though they are.
ok, but what do you think of the changes in general. Do you feel that your customers will have an easier time finding the print size they are looking for if all print sizes are in one dropdown?
Feature request: sort categories, not just galleries
Sorry to butt into the print debate here, just wanted to drop this feature request while I'm thinking about it.
I really like sorting my galleries into categories, but I find it odd that I can't sort these categories on my front page. I'd love to even be able to just have them in alphabetical order, but they are controlled by the order of the galleries within them. With hundreds of galleries, its hard to sort them like i used to, to put the categories in the order I wanted (yes, I used to actually do this, I'm crazy).
Sorry to butt into the print debate here, just wanted to drop this feature request while I'm thinking about it.
I really like sorting my galleries into categories, but I find it odd that I can't sort these categories on my front page. I'd love to even be able to just have them in alphabetical order, but they are controlled by the order of the galleries within them. With hundreds of galleries, its hard to sort them like i used to, to put the categories in the order I wanted (yes, I used to actually do this, I'm crazy).
ok, but what do you think of the changes in general. Do you feel that your customers will have an easier time finding the print size they are looking for if all print sizes are in one dropdown?
-winn
Yes, that was my first request. I limit my customer's choices to wallet, 3.5x5, 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, 11x14, 16x20 and 20x24. For me the list is very short and one list would be great. Mitch suggested to break them up by general size (small, medium and large) which may be better for those that don't limit the choices and for the non pro accounts that can't limit the choices.
Either of these options would be much better I think. Few of my customers are really that comfortable with the computer and they seem to get confused easily. (Do I just attract them??) Anyway, the KISS method is always the best way to go I think.
My vote is still putting the prints sizes in groups of small, medium, and large. Maybe xlarge. Someone wants a wallet to say a 4X6 look in the medium group. Don't worry about Digital, Specialty, or Standard, because I do not beleive that they help the person ordering prints. Now square is another matter most peopel know what square is. Just like we all know what small is, my small may be bigger that your idea of small but the concept is the same.
Another idea.
Wallets - 4X6 5X6.7 to 8X10 and so on.
Keep it as simple as possible.
As far a ratio and cropping. That will be a problem for some till the day they die. The only way that I can see around it is to only offer print in the ratio that file was uploaded in. Which I do not beleive is a good idea. These are the prints sizes that fit the file you are trying to print. I guess there could be an advanced button for those who know what they were doing.
Mitch
PS Laurie I took so long to write this that you got 2 post in ahead of me
For pros limiting size is a very good idea. For SM to do it may not be.
Comments
-don
The problem I have found is that some posts slip through the cracks. When this happens, It gives the impression that smugmug does not care about certain customers, which I know is most definitely not true.
I know that all of you are working as hard as humanly possible to maintain and grow smugmug, but I think that a little time spend developing a structured support system would go a long way. In the end, you would have happier, more informed customers.
The user forum is a great medium for peer to peer interactions, but when used as the primary support mechanism, things start to fall apart.
-Winn
I'd also like to see the ability to "sell" digital images via download, not just prints.
On a recent ski trip, there was a photographic company taking pics on the slopes. The pics were then available for viewing later that afternoon at the lodge. You could order either prints or just buy the digital image to make your own prints. Since I never have any pics of myself skiing (since I do all the picture taking in our family). I was thinking about buying an 8x10 or 11x14 so it would be big enough to scan with good resolution, but then I realized they sell the JPEG image directly. So, I bought the JPEG for one of the pics of myself (for $40). I realized that is a great offering that smugmug should have. A lot of people will pay significant bucks for a digital image they like because it gives them the freedom to do many things with it (print their own, use it in a collage, post on their web-site, send it in email, etc...). For those with pro accounts, this could even further differentiate the smugmug offering from other sites.
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When ordering prints from smugmug, the most complicated part of the whole process is getting the crop right for prints that don't match the print size exactly. For someone like my mom, this can be quite confusing. I'd like to pre-configure this for my print buyers.
My feature request is to let the owner of the gallery, preset the cropping for the sizes that don't match the aspect ratio of the photo. This would allow the customer to just order the print and know that they were going to get the best possible result without having to fuss with cropping (they customer wouldn't even have to see the crop dialogs). In the pro package, you should probably also let the owner of the gallery disable certain sizes that don't crop to a good result. I know that not that many people will go to the trouble of setting the crops for the different sizes, but for those that do (probably most those with pro accounts), it dramatically enhances the buying experience, increase the quality of prints by always getting the best crop and is a nice feature that I don't think any other similar services have. BTW, if you do this, it would be great to get a preview screen for each phot with all the sizes laid out, displaying the default centered crop so you could just make a few tweaks and hit Next to get to the next photo in the gallery. For sizes with the same aspect ratio, they obviously only have to be shown once (4x6, 8x12 or 5x7, 10x14).
Thanks for listening.
--John
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I think this is a great idea. Some people here are even setting up different galleries for each crop size in order to ensure their photos are cropped/printed properly. I don't know how much coding this would take, but I think it would offer a wonderful level of control. I'd upgrade my account from standard to Power/Pro for this feature alone. Many of my galleries are family photos and my family orders lots of 4x6 prints and they tire of having to crop them. The fact that they have to crop them is a huge deterrent from ordering! My Mom recently gave up half-way through an order because she only has a modem-connection and the cropping took too long with all of the image loading after each crop. I'd be willing to spend the time to pre-crop as well in order to make the process more trouble-free for those that order my pictures. I'd also love knowing they won't screw up my photo with a poor crop.
I am also for being able to disable that color adjusting jazz on pro accounts. That color adjustment thingie will make more trouble than it is worth for me and my customers. I don't want them adjusting a perfectly correct photo. Nor should you...
Good suggestion.
-don
I'd second the request for being able to control whether the color adjustment things are offered in addition to the cropping - that's a good addition to the original feature request. If I'm offering prints for sale with a Pro account, I'm definitely going to configure it so that customers don't have to see of know anything about color adjustments.
--John
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My 2 cents worth... I agree!
I have a couple of issues I would like to be looked at by customer support at SMUGMUG.
1. I like my Categories in the main page to be sorted by Title. When I add a new one, I always have to go into the sort section, sort it how I like, save changes... otherwise I would get it sorted by Position, which I believe is the default by Smugmug. I would like to maintain my sorting preference, in both... Categories in the main page, as well as the galeries inside a category (in my case, I like the Title to be the sorting preference).
2. When I'm in my main page, I don't see a log out button, so I have to go to Control Panel and then log out. Isn't Log Out an important button that every page should have?
3. I would like to have a "Save with original filename" button for each picture. The original name is stored as a caption of some sort, since I see it show up on every picture, but Smugmug uses a different number scheme which is a unique # internally in their DB to identify each picture (which I understand). But that # means little to me or to any of my folks that see my pic. I would like to have that option available (to "Save with original filename").
4. I notice that the gallery options have been recently changed (new features added when you create a new one). However, I can't massively change all my galleries to a certain scheme unless I click on each one. I would like a section that would allow me to change all my galleries to a certain template, which could or not include a password change if I so chose.
5. When I'm inside some galeries (maybe depending on the Viewer Style chosen, I'm not sure), I don't have a way to go back to neither the list of pics (case of all thumbs and traditional) if I want to go back to the list of pics, I have to do: BACK BACK BACK until I get back to the list. Instead, an additional arrow should be there...
^
| (back to list)
|
<
PIC
>
6. I have also noticed that I don't have a link to my main site from every page type (sometimes when inside pictures or list of pictures). I should have a link to the main site from every place (it would make it so much easier than to have to type it all in the browser every time I want to go back to it).
Please respond, SMUGMUG team.
Thanks, Javier (http://javierdiaz.smugmug.com)
PS: I'm relatively new and I love SMUGMUG
I was happy to see the recent ability for standard users to define custom categories and was ready to rearrange my site - but - do you think I should hold off a bit longer hoping for an easier way to essentially move subcategories from old cat to new one? Or am I missing something - I would currently have to create new subcategory for the new category then customize each gallery individually to change the association? It would be nice to have an option to rename an existing "standard" category to a new custom category, and have all subcategories and galleries associated with that category be automatically reassigned. Second best would be just to have option to re-associate subcategory with new main category and have all "contained" galleries properly reassigned.
(I was even hoping star*explorer might do that easily but not yet as far as I can tell <;*)
Related suggestion: would be nice to have option at category level whereby subcategories and galleries apprear and can be sorted the same - instead of the way I see it now where all subcategories appear first, then galleries not within a subcategory. For example, say I have a category "trips", that I want to order by date of trip, but some trips are several days long covering several locations so I'd like to create subcategory for that, whereas others are half-day excursions for which a simple gallery will do. But i'd like to order the trips reverse-chonologically (maybe by starting gallery or subcategory title with a yymmdd-date-number) without distinguishing simple from complex trips. It would also be nice to show at the category level the "number of photo's" for the galleries as is currently done for the subcategories, and, at the same time, be able to have a comment at the subcategory level, like the one at the gallery level. In short, I guess, I'd like to blurr the distiction between subcategory and gallery.
Thanks
gary
I've searched around and I haven't found anything, so if this has already been discussed, my apologies.
Is there any way to implement some sort of status level to passwords?
My gallaries are growing and I have multiple passwords set in several of them. I tend to use a 'default' (say password 'a') password for general gallaries that I share with family, and some specific passwords (password 'b') for when I share them with friends or specific audiences. The problem arises when 'higher' level viewers (i.e. family) tries to view these gallaries protected by password 'b'. They have to keep tabs on what password belongs to what. I find this inconvenient for them. The password hint is nice, but it still requires remembering multiple passwords.
I then started wondering if we could assign something reminiscent from CIA movies like a security level. The breakdown would be something like this:
Level 5 would be the 'highest' level, equivalent to Admin status.
Level 4 would be the highest 'viewer' level, allowing viewing of all passworded gallaries, without admin privilige. May include private gallaries?
Level 3 would be restricted from Level 4 access or higher.
Level 2 - restricted from L3 and up.
Level 1 - etc.
Ideally, there should be a pulldown menu adjacent (#'s 1-4) to the password line to indicate the level. Or, there should be a option in the control panel where the admin can list each password and assign a level. If it is not specified, there may be a 'default' security level assigned.
Hopefully this could be made possible because it would make things brilliantly simple for controlling who sees what with one password per audience member.
Thanks for listening!
Photographer and Mom of Four!
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http://tinafolsomphotography.com
The next thing that my customers get confused about is the different lists used to find print sizes. Specialty prints is a catagory that they don't understand and don't even seem to look in. I have had many people complain that they can't get wallets because I don't offer them (when I do, of course). I know that you split the sizes to make shorter lists for prints, but I think that one list in numerical order would be better.
I like the new cart format...MUCH easier now!
Thanks!
www.PhotoByLaurie.com
Your site looks great!
I agree the new cart is much easier.
IMHO one list could be to long. If they could be grouped by size it might be easier. Yes I am repeating myself here:D.
Small - up to 5X7
Medium - up to 11X14
Large - up to 30x40
What sized to include in each group doesn't matter, atleast the customer would know what group to look in for the print size they want.
Ok...I guess I'm up to 6 cents on this subject
Mitch
I like your idea even better. Just changing the groupings by size would be easily understood by everyone. For me to list all the sizes wouldn't be that long because I limit what I offer, but after rethinking it...for most it would be too long. Yes, yes. Your idea is MUCH better!
Can it be done SmugMug guys???
www.PhotoByLaurie.com
One misgiving I have is the issue that we've been struggling with: how can you direct the customer to prints that don't cause too much (or any) cropping?
The small list would look like this:
Wallets
3.5x5
4x5
4x5.3
4x6
4x8
5x5
5x6.7
5x7
And there's the finishes for each one.
I suppose you could think about indicating which ones would involve cropping by sensing the ratio of the image or something. (?)
I don't understand the concerns you have over cropping. Even if someone does not already know about ratios and how they affect the print, is is plainly obvious when you look at the photo. It SHOWS you what will happen. NO EXPLANATION IS NEEDED.
This ties into the very long thread on "prints for a small camera". That entire drop-down menu seems unnessary to me. Just put the different sizes in order, divide them up as needed to have room (small, med, large), and allow the customer to see what happens when they choose a particular size.
If the photo is cropped, there could be a disclaimer which calls attention to the crop.
And why couldn't there be a third menu for finish?
I had a customer choose the no crop option because cropping seemed self-evidently bad to him; you lose something and he didn't want to lose anything. The warning dialog box popped up associated with no-crop explaining that there would be two white borders. And we displayed two big white borders.
I think it was just too hard for him to grasp that his photo doesn't fit the paper without either losing something or getting white borders. It didn't happen all these years when he dropped off film, why now? And he simply can't fathom why anyone would want a print with two white borders.
Cropping is tough for a non-photographer to grasp.
The ones who get cropping love the adjust crop button.
-winn
www.PhotoByLaurie.com
1) Separate print sizes from paper type
2) replace the product dropdown with a two-option radio field (prints, gifts)
3) put all prints together into one dropdown with a price range
4) organize by type
Here's an example (I only put the prices in for the first few)
Picture Frame Sizes
4 x 6 ($0.29 - $0.39)
5 x 7 ($0.99 - $1.25)
8 x 10 ($2.99 - $3.49)
11 x 14 (5.49 - 6.25)
16 x 20
20 x 30
Digital Camera Sizes
4 x 5.3
5 x 6.7
8 x 9.7
9 x 12
18 x 24
30 x 40
Square Prints
5 x 5
8 x 8
10 x 10
20 x 20
Specialty Prints
3.5 X 5
4 x 5
4 x 8
8.5 x 11
8 x 12
4 Wallets
10 X 15
12 X 18
16 x 24
20 x 24
24 x 36
www.PhotoByLaurie.com
-winn
Sorry to butt into the print debate here, just wanted to drop this feature request while I'm thinking about it.
I really like sorting my galleries into categories, but I find it odd that I can't sort these categories on my front page. I'd love to even be able to just have them in alphabetical order, but they are controlled by the order of the galleries within them. With hundreds of galleries, its hard to sort them like i used to, to put the categories in the order I wanted (yes, I used to actually do this, I'm crazy).
So would it be possible to do this?
moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]
I think that's a good idea too. I'd like that!
www.PhotoByLaurie.com
Either of these options would be much better I think. Few of my customers are really that comfortable with the computer and they seem to get confused easily. (Do I just attract them??) Anyway, the KISS method is always the best way to go I think.
www.PhotoByLaurie.com
Another idea.
Wallets - 4X6 5X6.7 to 8X10 and so on.
Keep it as simple as possible.
As far a ratio and cropping. That will be a problem for some till the day they die. The only way that I can see around it is to only offer print in the ratio that file was uploaded in. Which I do not beleive is a good idea. These are the prints sizes that fit the file you are trying to print. I guess there could be an advanced button for those who know what they were doing.
Mitch
PS Laurie I took so long to write this that you got 2 post in ahead of me
For pros limiting size is a very good idea. For SM to do it may not be.