Simple Questions -But Heck if I can Figure them out

dewey134

I have spent most of my time creating galleries and now need to start doing stuff with them. (2) questions I think I should be able to do, but cannot figure out how to do.

1. I want to send out "gallery X" to co-workers but only want them to see that gallery, not all my galleries.

2. What if I do not want a certain gallery visible. I understand I can password protect (with the lock thingee) but I only want the person who's gallery it is (their pixs are that gallery) to see it.

Are these doable and if so you could you semi walk me thru the process.

My current practice is to send the link of a gallery to all my friends, co-workers etc and they can see all of my galleries.

I am not hip to the smugmug language, so pls keep it simple.

jfriend

If you want someone to only see a single gallery and not the rest of your galleries, then make it Hide Owner. This will give it a generic "www.smugmug.com" URL (which is not connected to your site) and will include no links to the rest of your site.

If you don't want a gallery visible in your site, then set it to unlisted. This will take it out of the public display. You can still send a link to anyone you want and they will be able to view it by the link, but it will not be listed on your homepage (like an unlisted phone number).

dewey134

Thank You for the quick response.

When I hide owner, is it only for the gallery I applied it to and forever until I uncheck hide owner.

Is it recommended that I hide owner on all of my galleries or is there a single feature that I can do that with.

What is the difference of "hide owner" vs password protecting a gallery.

Thanks. I'm getting closer to my goal, and big Thanks

jfriend

dewey134 wrote:

Thank You for the quick response.

When I hide owner, is it only for the gallery I applied it to and forever until I uncheck hide owner.

Is it recommended that I hide owner on all of my galleries or is there a single feature that I can do that with.

What is the difference of "hide owner" vs password protecting a gallery.

Thanks. I'm getting closer to my goal, and big Thanks

You can use Smugmug's multi-gallery settings UI to change any setting on multiple galleries if you like. I'd be very careful if I were you about doing Hide Owner on all your galleries. You get NO customization on any gallery that has Hide Owner - you only get the standard Smugmug look.

Password protecting requires a password before entry. Hide Owner does not. Hide Owner just hides who to owner of the gallery is (so they can't find the rest of your site). Password protecting does not hide the rest of your site. They are two completely different things. Password protection is a form of security and access control. Hide Owner is a form of anonymity.

dewey134

Hummm, ok gotta take a step back. Not sure how I should handle this. Your suggestions pls.

I take candid shots for a work function and want all my work peers to view the photoshoot, but not be able to see all my other personal galleries. Do I just "hide owner" on that one.
In the end that is how I share most of my galleries different groups of people viewing different galleries- friends, family, co workers and beginning to have some models.

jfriend

dewey134 wrote:

Hummm, ok gotta take a step back. Not sure how I should handle this. Your suggestions pls.

I take candid shots for a work function and want all my work peers to view the photoshoot, but not be able to see all my other personal galleries. Do I just "hide owner" on that one.
In the end that is how I share most of my galleries different groups of people viewing different galleries- friends, family, co workers and beginning to have some models.

Just do a hide owner on any gallery that you want to share, but don't want those you share with to see your family galleries. No need to do hide owner on your family galleries.

dewey134

Got it. Really appreciate you taking the time to educate me.

marmie

I'm currently trying to figure out the same thing.

The first thing I did was set my site up as a SmugIsland so it wouldn't be searchable. That is personal preference.

The second thing I did was make all my galleries unlisted so they don't show up on my main page (except for a couple of general photography galleries that I don't mind everyone seeing).

Then I set up sharegroups for specific galleries (Tools/Go to Control Panel/Customize tab/Sharegroups (search sharegroups in SmugMug help)). For example, you could set up a sharegroup for work and put all your work galleries in it. Then you share the link for that group with work and they can see all your work related galleries with one link (vs. a link for each gallery). If your personal galleries are unlisted, they wouldn't be able to see them on your main page.

The problem I'm having with this setup is that now I have to make another sharegroup for all my personal stuff and my friends/family will have to bookmark or somehow remember this link to find my galleries.

That's the solution I've figured out so far. I'd appreciate other suggestions if a more experienced user has found one. I'm thinking the hide owner suggestion is a possibility, but that has other limitations that I don't think will work for me.

jfriend

marmie wrote:

I'm currently trying to figure out the same thing.

The first thing I did was set my site up as a SmugIsland so it wouldn't be searchable. That is personal preference.

The second thing I did was make all my galleries unlisted so they don't show up on my main page (except for a couple of general photography galleries that I don't mind everyone seeing).

Then I set up sharegroups for specific galleries (Tools/Go to Control Panel/Customize tab/Sharegroups (search sharegroups in SmugMug help)). For example, you could set up a sharegroup for work and put all your work galleries in it. Then you share the link for that group with work and they can see all your work related galleries with one link (vs. a link for each gallery). If your personal galleries are unlisted, they wouldn't be able to see them on your main page.

The problem I'm having with this setup is that now I have to make another sharegroup for all my personal stuff and my friends/family will have to bookmark or somehow remember this link to find my galleries.

That's the solution I've figured out so far. I'd appreciate other suggestions if a more experienced user has found one. I'm thinking the hide owner suggestion is a possibility, but that has other limitations that I don't think will work for me.

Read this thread and understand it. If the things you share with folks other than family are Hide Owner, then they won't know about your regular site and you can leave your regular site listed so your family can use it like a normal photo site.

marmie

jfriend wrote:

Read this thread and understand it. If the things you share with folks other than family are Hide Owner, then they won't know about your regular site and you can leave your regular site listed so your family can use it like a normal photo site.

I hope I'm reading your tone wrong. It seemed a little harsh given that was my first post ever on this site. Apologies for misunderstanding the subject, but I'm working through this myself. Thanks for your input.

The problem I see with Hide Owner is that I have several different groups of people that I need to share different galleries with. I don't want anyone doing URL surgery to get to my main page from a specific gallery link. Yet I want them to be able to see many linked galleries (similar subjects) without having to provide a link for each gallery. The only way I can find to do this is to use Sharegroups. Per your suggestion, could I use "hide owner" on all those galleries, then make them a sharegroup, and share the sharegroup link? Would "hide owner" still work in that situation?

jfriend

marmie wrote:

I hope I'm reading your tone wrong. It seemed a little harsh given that was my first post ever on this site. Apologies for misunderstanding the subject, but I'm working through this myself. Thanks for your input.

The problem I see with Hide Owner is that I have several different groups of people that I need to share different galleries with. I don't want anyone doing URL surgery to get to my main page from a specific gallery link. Yet I want them to be able to see many linked galleries (similar subjects) without having to provide a link for each gallery. The only way I can find to do this is to use Sharegroups. Per your suggestion, could I use "hide owner" on all those galleries, then make them a sharegroup, and share the sharegroup link? Would "hide owner" still work in that situation?

Sorry about the tone. It wasn't meant that way. I was just trying to make sure you absorbed what had already been written because it sounded very relevant to your situation.

If you want to block all possible URL manipulation to see other galleries or even the existence of other galleries, then there are only two choices:

1) Have NO public galleries at all. Make everything unlisted. When doing this, URL manipulation will be able to see the category and site name, but one will never be able to see any other galleries because nothing is public. If you ever want to distribute a link to more than one gallery, then you will have to make a sharegroup and distribute the link to that.

2) Make all galleries that you wish to prevent URL manipulation on be Hide Owner. This will remove your Smugmug domain from the gallery (thus killing all possible URL manipulation because all URLS will be http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/xxxxxx_yyyy) and will also stop showing any sort of breadcrumb navigation to categories or the homepage. As in option 1), if you ever want to distribute a link to more than one gallery, then you will have to make a sharegroup and distribute the link to that. Hide Owner galleries can be part of a sharegroup. They will not show a breadcrumb link back to the sharegroup though when the gallery is viewed.

And, of course, Hide Owner galleries will not show your customization (other than a selected theme) because to do so could and usually does reveal your site.

marmie

Thank you. That is what I thought. I hadn't even remembered about the breadcrumbs at the top of the screen -- another reason to do it that way (sharegroups). I just wasn't sure if a sharegroups link could handle multiple "hide owner" galleries. I hadn't tried it yet.

Thanks again.

(edited for stupid typo)