Suggestion: Original File Names

flyingpylon

One feature I'd like to see added to Smugmug is the ability to reference images externally using their original file names.

For example, I might have an image that I've already resized to 600px or so, and I just want to upload it and then display it on a web page somewhere without having to look up the Smugmug-assigned image ID. I'd like to be able to specify nickname.smugmug.com/file/filename.jpg or something similar (or you could store the original file name in a database field, leave off the .jpg extension in the external reference, and do a lookup to deliver the file). Obviously this would only work with original images, since derivatives could not have the same name (or they could, but they'd have to be stored in a different folder).

A related feature request would be to allow users to specify whether they wanted derivatives (small, medium, large) created when they uploaded the files. In my example above, I'd just want a thumbnail and the original, but wouldn't need the others. Perhaps this would also help Smugmug reduce processing time and storage required (slightly, but every little bit helps).

Any thoughts?

DavidTO

flyingpylon wrote:

One feature I'd like to see added to Smugmug is the ability to reference images externally using their original file names.

For example, I might have an image that I've already resized to 600px or so, and I just want to upload it and then display it on a web page somewhere without having to look up the Smugmug-assigned image ID. I'd like to be able to specify nickname.smugmug.com/file/filename.jpg or something similar (or you could store the original file name in a database field, leave off the .jpg extension in the external reference, and do a lookup to deliver the file). Obviously this would only work with original images, since derivatives could not have the same name (or they could, but they'd have to be stored in a different folder).

A related feature request would be to allow users to specify whether they wanted derivatives (small, medium, large) created when they uploaded the files. In my example above, I'd just want a thumbnail and the original, but wouldn't need the others. Perhaps this would also help Smugmug reduce processing time and storage required (slightly, but every little bit helps).

Any thoughts?

Question: What would happen with your idea of I had multiple files with the same name?

flyingpylon

That's a good point. All of my images are assigned unique names, so that doesn't happen to me. But I realize some users wouldn't know to do that. Of course those same users probably wouldn't need this feature, so it could be an advanced feature for pros or power users.

One thought would be to require unique names at least within galleries. If two images are uploaded with the same names, an error could be generated asking the user what they wanted to do.

DavidTO

flyingpylon wrote:

That's a good point. All of my images are assigned unique names, so that doesn't happen to me. But I realize some users wouldn't know to do that. Of course those same users probably wouldn't need this feature, so it could be an advanced feature for pros or power users.

One thought would be to require unique names at least within galleries. If two images are uploaded with the same names, an error could be generated asking the user what they wanted to do.

Not gonna happen, too confusing for the end user. A better solution would be that if there were multiple files with the same name, filename.username.smugmug.com would return all of them, like a find.