I am sorry, but this law suite is old news (2009). Pictage settle that years ago.
The price increase was after that and we were never told it was because Smugmug had to raise funds to fight a law suit. So why bring that now? To justify why we haven't seen any changes we were promised as justification to the price hike?
I honestly do not understand. I left, Pictage, among other things, empty promises while paying a premium price. I hope this is not what is happening here.
I am sorry, but this law suite is old news (2009). Pictage settle that years ago.
The price increase was after that and we were never told it was because Smugmug had to raise funds to fight a law suit. So why bring that now? To justify why we haven't seen any changes we were promised as justification to the price hike?
I honestly do not understand. I left, Pictage, among other things, empty promises while paying a premium price. I hope this is not what is happening here.
I second this.
I used to be a massive SmugMug evangelist. I must have brought at least a dozen people over to SM.
Feels like excuse after excuse. We've been waiting for so long. My calendar just reminded me that I have one month left to cancel my account, the decision will have to happen sooner as I'll want to migrate my photos off of SmugMug. To be hoenst the main reason I've not gone already is broken image links in my blog. I might suffer the minimal SM account just to keep those alive.
I'm personally dismayed at how the site seems skewed to coding hobbyists. I'm a photographer and don't want to mess around with coding nor do I want to pay to outsource this. Have it, that's fine. But don't make the site rely on it for our sites to look cool and customized. In this modern web we should expect dynamic interface design using technology similar to Square Space.
I find it shocking yet another year has gone by with no improvments to the customer (login screen doesn't count).
Please just get SOMETHING out there. Otherwise we simply won't believe you any more and we *will* take our business elsewhere.
Perfect is the Enemy of GOOD (see this excerpt from Wikipedia) Aristotle, Confucius and other classical philosophers propounded the principle of the golden mean which counsels against extremism in general.[2] The Pareto principle or 80–20 rule explains this numerically. For example, it commonly takes 20% of the full time to complete 80% of a task while to complete the last 20% of a task takes 80% of the effort.[3] Achieving absolute perfection may be impossible and so, as increasing effort results in diminishing returns, further activity becomes increasingly inefficient. Watson-Watt, who developed early warning radar in Britain to counter the rapid growth of the Luftwaffe, propounded a "cult of the imperfect", which he stated as "Give them the third best to go on with; the second best comes too late, the best never comes
I'm the same way. I was a huge fan for years, but alas here we are. So yeah, I stayed but downgraded to Portfolio or whatever it is. May even reduce further or cancel altogether still. I'm on the verge of opening an Etsy store for a new project & may never look back depending on how things go.
I'm personally dismayed at how the site seems skewed to coding hobbyists. I'm a photographer and don't want to mess around with coding nor do I want to pay to outsource this. Have it, that's fine. But don't make the site rely on it for our sites to look cool and customized. In this modern web we should expect dynamic interface design using technology similar to Square Space.
You hit the nail on the head! Thank you
James Geiger M. Ed.
"Being a photographer is not about taking a photograph, it is about being curious about life."
~ Jared Platt http://www.jamesgeigerphoto.com
I'm loving Squarespace, use it for my personal site/blog and just launched a new homepage for my photography business. I'm still using SmugMug for the print purchasing and such, and I still really enjoy SmugMug. I am definitely one of those hoping the redesign includes an easier way to make a great looking and responsive site all the way around from galleries to purchasing on mobile etc... I think at this point, it needs to include a blogging platform at least at a basic level, but a full fledged platform would be ideal. A better way of proofing and selecting favorites for prints and such would be useful as well. I'm very hopeful, and like many hoping it comes soon. My needs are minimal compared to most people though. I don't know if this is a sign of hope or not, but I've reached out to a couple customizers to get a quote on changing my site to match the new one I launched and some of them are not currently doing SmugMug customizations until the redesign is launched. Maybe they have an inside scoop, maybe not, but I'm hopeful!
I'm just gonna be shaking in my boots until Tuesday. I really want it to happen, and there are so many good changes I'm hoping and praying will be here. I know we've been impatient. But I'm also really scared of some things going the way I've seen other sites and my phones going, because some of the demos were leading that way too: Teeny tiny fonts, stupid little dots (nstead of numbers, for pages etc.) that make you squint, lots of icons with no explanations, lack of html, etc. And as far as themes or templates, I'm most scared that the thing most important to a lot of people won't happen. (That any themes or templates be interchangeable with any web color we choose to make it).
Beyond that, I'm just worried about the work... I have hundreds of galleries....aaaargh. So I'm also praying they didn't "fix" what wasn't broken. That's one of my biggest pet peeves with re-vamps... this notion that EVERYthing has to go, & then all those babies go out with the bathwater. Try to think positive thoughts... try to think positive thoughts...try to think positive thoughts...
Funny how there are so many of us with sooooo many different needs. I'm personally tired of SM's old look and functionality and hope it's a complete overhaul. They probably won't please everyone (impossible I know) but I'm one of the folks hoping for a much more modern aesthetic & function.
I think my wish list is buried somewhere here, but here is/was the list again...
- modern design & lots of dynamic front end templates/styles
- mobile friendly
- fully integrated blog
- social media friendly (optional)
- more intuitive sales portal (customer facing)
- less reliance on 'galleries' per se and more options to display my work
I think that about sums it up, if I'm 'wowed' I'll ditch my WordPress site I recently built and come back. We'll see soon!
Whatever the changes, I hope they finally fix some of the BUGS that have gone unfixed for TOO long. Example: The settings to prevent someone from hot-linking or embedding your videos DO NOT WORK.
Beyond that, it's amazing how SmugMug has managed to destroy my faith in them. I used to evangelize the company and but its customer service right up there with Apple. I used to tell anyone that asked (and some that didn't ask) that SmugMug was the only place to consider for hosting photos and videos. I don't do that anymore.
BTW, regarding the "new SmugMug" coming next week... Can customers be ASSURED that, whatever the changes, the look & feel, the organization, the gallery settings, AND URLs for our galleries and individual photos WILL NOT CHANGE? I've hot-linked a LOT of my galleries and photos on forums, my blog, etc. If all of those links stop working, that will be a very very bad thing!
I'm just worried about the work... I have hundreds of galleries....aaaargh. So I'm also praying they didn't "fix" what wasn't broken. That's one of my biggest pet peeves with re-vamps... this notion that EVERYthing has to go, & then all those babies go out with the bathwater. Try to think positive thoughts... try to think positive thoughts...try to think positive thoughts...
I think that if they've done it right, they should be able to satisfy both older and newer users. A lot of the hacks (err, "Advanced Customizations") that we're using are things that could be baked into the redesign as layout options. So yeah, people might have to get rid of some of the customizations but hopefully it'll just come down to selecting a replacement template and clicking some checkboxes. Check out this story for further analysis/comments.
I tried making a Zenfolio account one time. It took me 1 hour to set up something that looked 95% like my Smugmug site (which took me several weeks to get working properly).
@The Photo Booth:
I hope the links don't change either. With Smugmug's way of encoding a unique gallery identifier into the URL, I think it's safe to say that the links can be preserved.
My Photo Site: EtchedinPixels.com
To all those still using the Firefox Web Inspector: Check out the one built in to Chrome! It's much more robust.
I tried making a Zenfolio account one time. It took me 1 hour to set up something that looked 95% like my Smugmug site (which took me several weeks to get working properly).
I totally agree that one of the biggest things that I would like to see improved, is for a much better implementation of easier design changes. The templates need to be improved vastly. That's my biggest complaint, is it's just too time consuming to be able to change the look of the site. It took me way too long to get a very simple, clean, minimal design with my site over at mattgeorge.me
My other hope is that the design and menu for buying photos is improved so that it is less confusing and more eye catching. In my opinion, less stuff on the web page improves people clicking on links that are on the page. If there are many links on the web page, and a purchase link is one of many on the page, people are going to be less inclined to buy a picture.
I'll be working when they do the webinar, but will be tuning in later. I hope they record it so that those who are unable to be here at that time, can see it later!
Agreed! It's ridiculous to have Glossy, Lustre, and metallic versions of each size be their own separate entries on the order form!
Why not do it like everyone else does, and have a dropdown that lets you choose the finish. This would reduce the clutter by at least 3x.
There's just so much crazy-making stuff in that order form. I've lost track of how many potential customers I've had who tried to order & failed, and I couldn't even help them. One was my sister, who had done a bunch of cropping & choosing, etc. & the whole thing disapppeared on her. The fact that you can't even SEE any of the products is one of the many "worst parts". And yes, the sizing / finishes, etc... it's the most un-handy, un-intuitive thing & most people probably never even see what they're looking for. However, has anyone actually gotten the idea that the selling area is even getting a re-vamp right now? I mean, that got re-vamped not all that long ago and has a look sort of like the mock-ups we've seen for the new gallery pages already. I simply haven't heard that that part of the site is being worked on right now, but a lot of people sound like they're expecting it.
There's just so much crazy-making stuff in that order form. I've lost track of how many potential customers I've had who tried to order & failed... I mean, that got re-vamped not all that long ago and has a look sort of like the mock-ups we've seen for the new gallery pages already. I simply haven't heard that that part of the site is being worked on right now, but a lot of people sound like they're expecting it.
I'm actually not expecting to hear that they've overhauled the product pages at Tuesday's meeting. After all, they could have fixed this a long time ago without a full site redesign (which is the only reason I can see to justify the big press conference).
However I'm attending in person, and so you can be sure I will hammer them about this during the Q & A !
My Photo Site: EtchedinPixels.com
To all those still using the Firefox Web Inspector: Check out the one built in to Chrome! It's much more robust.
There blog post/news update is out now. List of features and examples. I'm hoping to catch the live stream while at work, but we'll see how well Sprint network is for that. Glad to hear it'll be posted for viewing later on. http://news.smugmug.com/2013/07/30/the-new-smugmug-is-here
I've read that Andy which is why I am asking the question.
And if it's No, then how long before the switch is enforced. If I have to re-do everything then I may as well re-do everything at Zenfolio so it would be good to know.
I have nine years of customization now and have to start from catch all over again.
Absolutely nothing from my customizations was migrated over. :pissed
Comments
The price increase was after that and we were never told it was because Smugmug had to raise funds to fight a law suit. So why bring that now? To justify why we haven't seen any changes we were promised as justification to the price hike?
I honestly do not understand. I left, Pictage, among other things, empty promises while paying a premium price. I hope this is not what is happening here.
I second this.
I used to be a massive SmugMug evangelist. I must have brought at least a dozen people over to SM.
Feels like excuse after excuse. We've been waiting for so long. My calendar just reminded me that I have one month left to cancel my account, the decision will have to happen sooner as I'll want to migrate my photos off of SmugMug. To be hoenst the main reason I've not gone already is broken image links in my blog. I might suffer the minimal SM account just to keep those alive.
I'm personally dismayed at how the site seems skewed to coding hobbyists. I'm a photographer and don't want to mess around with coding nor do I want to pay to outsource this. Have it, that's fine. But don't make the site rely on it for our sites to look cool and customized. In this modern web we should expect dynamic interface design using technology similar to Square Space.
I find it shocking yet another year has gone by with no improvments to the customer (login screen doesn't count).
Please just get SOMETHING out there. Otherwise we simply won't believe you any more and we *will* take our business elsewhere.
Perfect is the Enemy of GOOD (see this excerpt from Wikipedia)
Aristotle, Confucius and other classical philosophers propounded the principle of the golden mean which counsels against extremism in general.[2] The Pareto principle or 80–20 rule explains this numerically. For example, it commonly takes 20% of the full time to complete 80% of a task while to complete the last 20% of a task takes 80% of the effort.[3] Achieving absolute perfection may be impossible and so, as increasing effort results in diminishing returns, further activity becomes increasingly inefficient. Watson-Watt, who developed early warning radar in Britain to counter the rapid growth of the Luftwaffe, propounded a "cult of the imperfect", which he stated as "Give them the third best to go on with; the second best comes too late, the best never comes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_is_the_enemy_of_good
Still hoping to be amazed...
You hit the nail on the head! Thank you
"Being a photographer is not about taking a photograph, it is about being curious about life."
~ Jared Platt
http://www.jamesgeigerphoto.com
www.zblackwood.com
http://www.ustream.tv/smugmug
ERIC SCOTT PHOTOGRAPHY
commercial and architectural imagery
www.ericscottphotography.com
Matt George
I'm just gonna be shaking in my boots until Tuesday. I really want it to happen, and there are so many good changes I'm hoping and praying will be here. I know we've been impatient. But I'm also really scared of some things going the way I've seen other sites and my phones going, because some of the demos were leading that way too: Teeny tiny fonts, stupid little dots (nstead of numbers, for pages etc.) that make you squint, lots of icons with no explanations, lack of html, etc. And as far as themes or templates, I'm most scared that the thing most important to a lot of people won't happen. (That any themes or templates be interchangeable with any web color we choose to make it).
Beyond that, I'm just worried about the work... I have hundreds of galleries....aaaargh. So I'm also praying they didn't "fix" what wasn't broken. That's one of my biggest pet peeves with re-vamps... this notion that EVERYthing has to go, & then all those babies go out with the bathwater. Try to think positive thoughts... try to think positive thoughts...try to think positive thoughts...
DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
I think my wish list is buried somewhere here, but here is/was the list again...
- modern design & lots of dynamic front end templates/styles
- mobile friendly
- fully integrated blog
- social media friendly (optional)
- more intuitive sales portal (customer facing)
- less reliance on 'galleries' per se and more options to display my work
I think that about sums it up, if I'm 'wowed' I'll ditch my WordPress site I recently built and come back. We'll see soon!
Beyond that, it's amazing how SmugMug has managed to destroy my faith in them. I used to evangelize the company and but its customer service right up there with Apple. I used to tell anyone that asked (and some that didn't ask) that SmugMug was the only place to consider for hosting photos and videos. I don't do that anymore.
BTW, regarding the "new SmugMug" coming next week... Can customers be ASSURED that, whatever the changes, the look & feel, the organization, the gallery settings, AND URLs for our galleries and individual photos WILL NOT CHANGE? I've hot-linked a LOT of my galleries and photos on forums, my blog, etc. If all of those links stop working, that will be a very very bad thing!
Mark
I think that if they've done it right, they should be able to satisfy both older and newer users. A lot of the hacks (err, "Advanced Customizations") that we're using are things that could be baked into the redesign as layout options. So yeah, people might have to get rid of some of the customizations but hopefully it'll just come down to selecting a replacement template and clicking some checkboxes. Check out this story for further analysis/comments.
I tried making a Zenfolio account one time. It took me 1 hour to set up something that looked 95% like my Smugmug site (which took me several weeks to get working properly).
@The Photo Booth:
I hope the links don't change either. With Smugmug's way of encoding a unique gallery identifier into the URL, I think it's safe to say that the links can be preserved.
To all those still using the Firefox Web Inspector: Check out the one built in to Chrome! It's much more robust.
I totally agree that one of the biggest things that I would like to see improved, is for a much better implementation of easier design changes. The templates need to be improved vastly. That's my biggest complaint, is it's just too time consuming to be able to change the look of the site. It took me way too long to get a very simple, clean, minimal design with my site over at mattgeorge.me
My other hope is that the design and menu for buying photos is improved so that it is less confusing and more eye catching. In my opinion, less stuff on the web page improves people clicking on links that are on the page. If there are many links on the web page, and a purchase link is one of many on the page, people are going to be less inclined to buy a picture.
Matt George
Agreed! It's ridiculous to have Glossy, Lustre, and metallic versions of each size be their own separate entries on the order form!
Why not do it like everyone else does, and have a dropdown that lets you choose the finish. This would reduce the clutter by at least 3x.
To all those still using the Firefox Web Inspector: Check out the one built in to Chrome! It's much more robust.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/GentzPhotography
There's just so much crazy-making stuff in that order form. I've lost track of how many potential customers I've had who tried to order & failed, and I couldn't even help them. One was my sister, who had done a bunch of cropping & choosing, etc. & the whole thing disapppeared on her. The fact that you can't even SEE any of the products is one of the many "worst parts". And yes, the sizing / finishes, etc... it's the most un-handy, un-intuitive thing & most people probably never even see what they're looking for. However, has anyone actually gotten the idea that the selling area is even getting a re-vamp right now? I mean, that got re-vamped not all that long ago and has a look sort of like the mock-ups we've seen for the new gallery pages already. I simply haven't heard that that part of the site is being worked on right now, but a lot of people sound like they're expecting it.
DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
I'm actually not expecting to hear that they've overhauled the product pages at Tuesday's meeting. After all, they could have fixed this a long time ago without a full site redesign (which is the only reason I can see to justify the big press conference).
However I'm attending in person, and so you can be sure I will hammer them about this during the Q & A !
To all those still using the Firefox Web Inspector: Check out the one built in to Chrome! It's much more robust.
Support Hero
http://news.smugmug.com/2013/07/30/the-new-smugmug-is-here
www.zblackwood.com
Simple Yes or No please.
Thank you
Wow, why would you want to? The new hotness is.... HOT
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/1212681
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
There needs to be a remove cookie toggle if it's stored in a cookie.
My Website index | My Blog
I've read that Andy which is why I am asking the question.
And if it's No, then how long before the switch is enforced. If I have to re-do everything then I may as well re-do everything at Zenfolio so it would be good to know.
Thanks.
Cheers,
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
Absolutely nothing from my customizations was migrated over. :pissed
My Website index | My Blog