Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily saying that their new design is good or bad, just highlighting where their obvious inspiration is coming from. iOS devices are frequently praised for being intuitive to use without needing prior instruction. But an iPhone is not a webpage, so it's hard to say how well that sort of thing will translate, which I think it why they're showing us this work-in-progress. Now's their chance to see how well (or not well) some of those ideas adapt to a photo gallery website and make adjustments as needed.
I think this is more of a trendy as 'oh this cool' navigation for the iOS crowd. But that is more likely highly concentrated in the graphic designer, artist geek than the standard user looking to view and/or potentially buy some photos. For them it = obnoxious and unintuitive plain and simple. Again folks dots on a page aren't real issue here at all - Design flexibility is! Though it is easy to get side tracked or bamboozled into nifty little things we may like/dislike. One size does not and should not have to fit all. That is the kind of fundamental change which will work for everyone - iOS and Windows geek included.
The new design shows the date modified which is useless. It needs to show the date taken.
Agreed, the date taken has much more statistical significant than date modified. I want to know when the shot was taken, not when I got around to post processing it or resizing it. That info is next to meaningless for me.
While making a comment, if you select the STARS first, the message box disappears. Even though the message says add a comment to rate, I am sure some will click stars first as I just did.
My settings are to approve (so that we can use comments as a way to have clients select photos for their albums and other items that require us to use photos), but it currently auto approves at this time
New design and existing matching blogs?
I have put off creating a blog due to time constraints, but this summer was beginning to really consider creating one, via Blogger, that would match my customized SM site. I know Denise Goldberg's blog, for example, matches her SM site seamlessly and that she uses Blogger.
Once the new design is mandated, what will happen with the blogs that currently match customized SM sites? Will they have to be redone from scratch if someone still wants a matching customized look? If so, that will involve twice the time and headache of redoing a customized SM site. For lots of us, I dare say, it is a headache dealing with CSS and html, etc. So perhaps I should put it off longer?
Susan actually just jogged my memory on this one, would there be any chance of having two or three stock themes per major blog engine. The idea being that SmugMug would have themes it released that will make the blog look like a specific them in the SmugMug galleries. Not every theme, but a few (most importantly the ones I like & use), so that if one applies the theme to the blog it would match.
Susan actually just jogged my memory on this one, would there be any chance of having two or three stock themes per major blog engine. The idea being that SmugMug would have themes it released that will make the blog look like a specific them in the SmugMug galleries. Not every theme, but a few (most importantly the ones I like & use), so that if one applies the theme to the blog it would match.
I love this idea. One of the reasons I have halted all development at a place I'm not really happy with, it's all going to change. Having matching blog themes would give everyone an excellent head start. Wordpress here, BTW.
I have put off creating a blog due to time constraints, but this summer was beginning to really consider creating one, via Blogger, that would match my customized SM site. I know Denise Goldberg's blog, for example, matches her SM site seamlessly and that she uses Blogger.
Once the new design is mandated, what will happen with the blogs that currently match customized SM sites? Will they have to be redone from scratch if someone still wants a matching customized look? If so, that will involve twice the time and headache of redoing a customized SM site. For lots of us, I dare say, it is a headache dealing with CSS and html, etc. So perhaps I should put it off longer?
Susan -
The changes that have been shown here are changes in the presentation of galleries. It's my understanding that if we have customized our smug sites that there will be conversion work to be done, but I believe that is referring to customizations within the galleries. Matching your blog to your smug site is a matter of matching the banner, navbar, and background. The banner and navbar are your creations (unless you're using the easy customizer). The background will depend on whether you are using a smug theme and whether that theme changes. There also has been no timeframe announced for the release of the new gallery formats, so if you decide to wait it will be for an undefined amount of time.
If it were me I would go ahead with the blog customizations. That gives you a matching site now, and perhaps a matching site later with no changes needed. If changes are needed, I believe they will be simple changes. For example, I changed the look of both my smug site and my blog a couple of months ago. It didn't take long to do - I'd say much less than an hour to change both sites once I decided on the pieces I wanted to change.
Susan -
The changes that have been shown here are changes in the presentation of galleries. It's my understanding that if we have customized our smug sites that there will be conversion work to be done, but I believe that is referring to customizations within the galleries. Matching your blog to your smug site is a matter of matching the banner, navbar, and background. The banner and navbar are your creations (unless you're using the easy customizer). The background will depend on whether you are using a smug theme and whether that theme changes. There also has been no timeframe announced for the release of the new gallery formats, so if you decide to wait it will be for an undefined amount of time.
If it were me I would go ahead with the blog customizations. That gives you a matching site now, and perhaps a matching site later with no changes needed. If changes are needed, I believe they will be simple changes. For example, I changed the look of both my smug site and my blog a couple of months ago. It didn't take long to do - I'd say much less than an hour to change both sites once I decided on the pieces I wanted to change.
--- Denise
Denise, does smugmug offer (or will offer) a html5 blogging capability or is it custom to integrate in? If custom, can you point me to the thread here so i can learn?
Denise, does smugmug offer (or will offer) a html5 blogging capability or is it custom to integrate in? If custom, can you point me to the thread here so i can learn?
Todd -
I don't work for smug so I don't know what the plans are.
I customized a blog in blogger to match my smug site, as documented in the thread HOW TO match your blog to your smug site (blogger-specific). Don't let the length of the thread scare you away - the information you need is either in the first post of the thread or it is linked to at the end of the first post. If you run into questions or problems, post your question in that thread.
Follow the links in my signature below to see my matching smug site and blog.
Todd -
I don't work for smug so I don't know what the plans are.
I customized a blog in blogger to match my smug site, as documented in the thread HOW TO match your blog to your smug site (blogger-specific). Don't let the length of the thread scare you away - the information you need is either in the first post of the thread or it is linked to at the end of the first post. If you run into questions or problems, post your question in that thread.
Follow the links in my signature below to see my matching smug site and blog.
Susan -
The changes that have been shown here are changes in the presentation of galleries. It's my understanding that if we have customized our smug sites that there will be conversion work to be done, but I believe that is referring to customizations within the galleries. Matching your blog to your smug site is a matter of matching the banner, navbar, and background. The banner and navbar are your creations (unless you're using the easy customizer). The background will depend on whether you are using a smug theme and whether that theme changes. There also has been no timeframe announced for the release of the new gallery formats, so if you decide to wait it will be for an undefined amount of time.
If it were me I would go ahead with the blog customizations. That gives you a matching site now, and perhaps a matching site later with no changes needed. If changes are needed, I believe they will be simple changes. For example, I changed the look of both my smug site and my blog a couple of months ago. It didn't take long to do - I'd say much less than an hour to change both sites once I decided on the pieces I wanted to change.
--- Denise
Thank you, Denise! I'll look into Blogger asap. And I hope the SM powers-that-be will wait until after the holidays to make any changes.
Can't leave goodies preview mode
I clicked unjoin, so I can see and edit the site in the right way, but the gallery pages seem stuck in goodie mode. I cleared cookies.... Thanks.
I just have some suggestions and hope these will help someway
Stretching Browser
As a photographer, I love to keep the display size larger than the current (old) in galerry view. I and my visitors feel uncomfortable when they resize the browser and the main changing is the reorganizing the view of the thumbnails. Although I know not only the thumbnails rows&columns change but actually it changes more than the display size of viewing photo. Personally, I prefer 3 colums of thumbnails with a large display photo. If there is a strectching, the display size of a photo should be considered in a higher priority.
One Option to Set The Minimum or Default Photo Display Size
I went through all the option for owners to customize/optimize their galleries' viewing, and there is no option like I said. Personally, I really prefer to have a default size for displaying in gallery viewing mode. With that option, The visitors don't have to click on the photo and then click to choose the large size. Save visitors' number of clicks. Also, with an option to set minimum display size, in case the browser is being stretched, if the browser is resized to be larger, the photo becomes larger obviously; but if the browser is resized smaller, the minimum option will prevent resizing the photo to small size and keep the photo at the minimum Medium or Large size (depends on the settings). Small size worths nothing to me. Again, we should reconsider the number of columns and rows for thumbnails in this case.
Vote/Share/Like Should be Put Neatly (Just Icons may be perfect) under Photo View
I think the new gallery view is beautiful as well! I'm excited about using it...and excited to see what other themes become available. (A really good blog-style, please!!)
Two questions/comments at the moment (and forgive me if they've already been raised--this is a long discussion!):
1. Does the new beta style reflect any changes to the slideshow? I think it probably does not. I have always hated, hated, hated the way the pause button appears over the photo if I just accidentally touch my mouse....could the new slideshow reflect the elegance of the beta gallery view? I'd like navigation that easy to use, but a bit less "in-your-face".... (If this has nothing to do with the current beta testing, then feel free to ignore the comment!)
2. Will the facebook like icon be default? I really dislike that...it stands out more than anything and is a bit crass for those of us who are not seeking to build a customer base through extensive social networking. Maybe it could be an option? (Maybe that construct would also allow SM to add the possibility of more social networking options in the future? Facebook won't always be the only big dog on the block.)
I'd like to second two of the comments on this discussion thread that I did notice:
1. Please do not force us to use only facebook or smugmug authentication.
2. I love the idea of using the word "order" rather than "buy"...much more gracious.
2. Will the facebook like icon be default? I really dislike that...it stands out more than anything and is a bit crass for those of us who are not seeking to build a customer base through extensive social networking. Maybe it could be an option?
It's already an option. It's in the gallery settings. Select the change all galleries option so it hides the button for all galleries.
2. I love the idea of using the word "order" rather than "buy"...much more gracious.
Yes! Maybe "gracious" was the word I was looking for when I mentioned this earlier in the thread. I would REALLY like to have an option to display "Order" instead of "Buy".
Both words clearly indicate that you can order/buy products, but they convey a very different tone.
I wish the new design would look something like this. It's all done with current customization except I removed the << and >> with photoshop. You can change the "< prev" and "next >" with nicer arrows but do keep arrows, the "1 of xx" as well as the page picker for thumbs. Maybe change "keyword" for an icon and change the order of buttons above the main image. I chose a small resolution for this exemple and there's room for extra buttons like "info" and "download" (what's wrong with the mouse-over bubble?).
Also keep the "x of xxx" and the exif option in the lightbox. I also agree that removing "date taken" doesn't make sense.
One thing that bugs me to no end is that we're forced into nicenames and can't use "domain.com/photos/XXXXXXX" as well as /gallery/XXXXXXX", even though these links still works under smugmug.com/photos and smugmug.com/gallery. I've explained many times why nicenames aren't always the better option but SM isn't listening.
"Stolen" thumbnails The < and > navigation on the first and last image in the thumbnail area steals 2 thumbnails on every page so in a 4x4 layout only 14 unique thumbnails are displayed. Very serious design error.
Navigation confusion
Depending on how many thumbnail pages there are, the navigation method and design changes from small almost unusable dots to a page number navigation. Very confusing and must be changed.
The < and > navigation on the first and last image in the thumbnail area steals 2 thumbnails on every page so in a 4x4 layout only 14 unique thumbnails are displayed. Very serious design error.
I thought so too, until I worked with the new design a bit and noticed there is thumb under the arrow which, if selected, takes you straight to that image!
On this basis, the thumb has not been lost so I'm not so sure this is a 'serious design error'.
Comments
My Smugmug Gallery
Agreed, the date taken has much more statistical significant than date modified. I want to know when the shot was taken, not when I got around to post processing it or resizing it. That info is next to meaningless for me.
My Smugmug Gallery
My settings are to approve (so that we can use comments as a way to have clients select photos for their albums and other items that require us to use photos), but it currently auto approves at this time
MD Website
MD Store Site
Mark + Lindsay Facebook
I love animoto
I have put off creating a blog due to time constraints, but this summer was beginning to really consider creating one, via Blogger, that would match my customized SM site. I know Denise Goldberg's blog, for example, matches her SM site seamlessly and that she uses Blogger.
Once the new design is mandated, what will happen with the blogs that currently match customized SM sites? Will they have to be redone from scratch if someone still wants a matching customized look? If so, that will involve twice the time and headache of redoing a customized SM site. For lots of us, I dare say, it is a headache dealing with CSS and html, etc. So perhaps I should put it off longer?
Thanks for any advice/opinion.
Up Close With Mother Nature: The Photography of Susan Wiedmann
Pictures | Website | Blog | Twitter | Contact
I love this idea. One of the reasons I have halted all development at a place I'm not really happy with, it's all going to change. Having matching blog themes would give everyone an excellent head start. Wordpress here, BTW.
The changes that have been shown here are changes in the presentation of galleries. It's my understanding that if we have customized our smug sites that there will be conversion work to be done, but I believe that is referring to customizations within the galleries. Matching your blog to your smug site is a matter of matching the banner, navbar, and background. The banner and navbar are your creations (unless you're using the easy customizer). The background will depend on whether you are using a smug theme and whether that theme changes. There also has been no timeframe announced for the release of the new gallery formats, so if you decide to wait it will be for an undefined amount of time.
If it were me I would go ahead with the blog customizations. That gives you a matching site now, and perhaps a matching site later with no changes needed. If changes are needed, I believe they will be simple changes. For example, I changed the look of both my smug site and my blog a couple of months ago. It didn't take long to do - I'd say much less than an hour to change both sites once I decided on the pieces I wanted to change.
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
Denise, does smugmug offer (or will offer) a html5 blogging capability or is it custom to integrate in? If custom, can you point me to the thread here so i can learn?
Best
~Todd
I don't work for smug so I don't know what the plans are.
I customized a blog in blogger to match my smug site, as documented in the thread HOW TO match your blog to your smug site (blogger-specific). Don't let the length of the thread scare you away - the information you need is either in the first post of the thread or it is linked to at the end of the first post. If you run into questions or problems, post your question in that thread.
Follow the links in my signature below to see my matching smug site and blog.
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
Thanks Denise.
borealphoto.smugmug.com
Thank you, Denise! I'll look into Blogger asap. And I hope the SM powers-that-be will wait until after the holidays to make any changes.
Up Close With Mother Nature: The Photography of Susan Wiedmann
I clicked unjoin, so I can see and edit the site in the right way, but the gallery pages seem stuck in goodie mode. I cleared cookies.... Thanks.
Be sure you've done unjoin on your custom domain and on nickname.smugmug.com thanks.
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
Thank you - forgot there were two sites to un-do.
Tina
www.tinamanley.com
More modern design, cleaner, easier navigation, a lot of improvements while just a beta release.
Congratulations, Serge.
Hi,
The new gallery view is beautiful.
I just have some suggestions and hope these will help someway
Stretching Browser
As a photographer, I love to keep the display size larger than the current (old) in galerry view. I and my visitors feel uncomfortable when they resize the browser and the main changing is the reorganizing the view of the thumbnails. Although I know not only the thumbnails rows&columns change but actually it changes more than the display size of viewing photo. Personally, I prefer 3 colums of thumbnails with a large display photo. If there is a strectching, the display size of a photo should be considered in a higher priority.
One Option to Set The Minimum or Default Photo Display Size
I went through all the option for owners to customize/optimize their galleries' viewing, and there is no option like I said. Personally, I really prefer to have a default size for displaying in gallery viewing mode. With that option, The visitors don't have to click on the photo and then click to choose the large size. Save visitors' number of clicks. Also, with an option to set minimum display size, in case the browser is being stretched, if the browser is resized to be larger, the photo becomes larger obviously; but if the browser is resized smaller, the minimum option will prevent resizing the photo to small size and keep the photo at the minimum Medium or Large size (depends on the settings). Small size worths nothing to me. Again, we should reconsider the number of columns and rows for thumbnails in this case.
Vote/Share/Like Should be Put Neatly (Just Icons may be perfect) under Photo View
Thank you.
Please restore the navigation to above thumbnails and photo or make it to an option on the gallery.
Two questions/comments at the moment (and forgive me if they've already been raised--this is a long discussion!):
1. Does the new beta style reflect any changes to the slideshow? I think it probably does not. I have always hated, hated, hated the way the pause button appears over the photo if I just accidentally touch my mouse....could the new slideshow reflect the elegance of the beta gallery view? I'd like navigation that easy to use, but a bit less "in-your-face".... (If this has nothing to do with the current beta testing, then feel free to ignore the comment!)
2. Will the facebook like icon be default? I really dislike that...it stands out more than anything and is a bit crass for those of us who are not seeking to build a customer base through extensive social networking. Maybe it could be an option? (Maybe that construct would also allow SM to add the possibility of more social networking options in the future? Facebook won't always be the only big dog on the block.)
I'd like to second two of the comments on this discussion thread that I did notice:
1. Please do not force us to use only facebook or smugmug authentication.
2. I love the idea of using the word "order" rather than "buy"...much more gracious.
stueveshots.smugmug.com
It's already an option. It's in the gallery settings. Select the change all galleries option so it hides the button for all galleries.
stueveshots.smugmug.com
Yes! Maybe "gracious" was the word I was looking for when I mentioned this earlier in the thread. I would REALLY like to have an option to display "Order" instead of "Buy".
Both words clearly indicate that you can order/buy products, but they convey a very different tone.
Hi. How do I navigate to next image? Can't find any arrows or hint's under the image.
Also keep the "x of xxx" and the exif option in the lightbox. I also agree that removing "date taken" doesn't make sense.
One thing that bugs me to no end is that we're forced into nicenames and can't use "domain.com/photos/XXXXXXX" as well as /gallery/XXXXXXX", even though these links still works under smugmug.com/photos and smugmug.com/gallery. I've explained many times why nicenames aren't always the better option but SM isn't listening.
borealphoto.smugmug.com
The < and > navigation on the first and last image in the thumbnail area steals 2 thumbnails on every page so in a 4x4 layout only 14 unique thumbnails are displayed. Very serious design error.
Depending on how many thumbnail pages there are, the navigation method and design changes from small almost unusable dots to a page number navigation. Very confusing and must be changed.
On this basis, the thumb has not been lost so I'm not so sure this is a 'serious design error'.