Getting my new site into an acceptable state has been a nightmare, but after several weeks of solid work it now looks like this.
My main difficulty has been climbing the steep learning curve to get to a stage where the new site design and management paradigm became intuitive for me so that I could exploit the tools and functions confidently and efficiently. I expected this to be a challenge but not quite as difficult and time consuming as it turned out.
I now find I can navigate, manage and enhance my site without undue confusion or risk of getting unwelcome surprises, and my experience is improving day by day. However this is the result of investing a massive amount of time both to understand and experiment with how things work, and to adapt my content (for example, every gallery title) to display correctly in the new template formats.
We have no choice as to whether we unveil in New SmugMug - it's just a matter of when, and whether this is at our prerogative or SmugMug's. I have more work to do, but I'm pleased most of this is now behind me!
I found that happening to me a LOT - and only today! The green bar kept showing up (normally I don't see it...) and I ended up with Copy of copy of copy of Sierra, plus copy of copy of Sierra, plus copy of Sierra!!!!!
Perhaps something is wonky or has changed in SM? I've been updating my site for 2-3 weeks and have not had this happen before.....
I just went ahead and deleted all the extra copies of "copy of copy of copy of .......Sierra" except my "Copy of Sierra" which I have used as my original. I figured that if I lost the most recent one or two tweaks, I could just re-do them.
Karen, I'm starting to think that SM is making changes (secret, of course) and that's what's causing that. I also deleted tons of 'copies of' but having all deleted except the active version, each time I go to customize it creates yet another copy. And, each time, it changes my logo and has already stolen my breadcrumb 'de-emphasizer'
Yikes, pirates of the SM
Thanks!
Denise - Thanks for an unbiased opinion! I greatly appreciate it. I would also appreciate any and all opinions, good or bad, to those who are willing to give it.
I might like to see that the nav bar be just above the film strip which would bring up your name just a little higher. Also I think the images might look better if they fit more in the filmstrip, so everything essentially needs to move up a bit except the filmstrip. That's just my opinion of course but that's what jumps out at me when I land on your home page.
I did a major change to the captions on my site. I'm much happier with the look now. If only the Title would accept HTML and allow changes to the text style. The end result can be seen in any of my galleries but I especially wanted this for my Nature galleries.
Karen, I'm starting to think that SM is making changes (secret, of course) and that's what's causing that. I also deleted tons of 'copies of' but having all deleted except the active version, each time I go to customize it creates yet another copy. And, each time, it changes my logo and has already stolen my breadcrumb 'de-emphasizer'
Yikes, pirates of the SM
Thanks!
I've also heard cases of this on another forum.....perhaps SM should be more forth coming about what they are doing!
I also have experienced, as have others, of coding working, then mysteriously not working, especially with rounded corners and shadowed borders. Hmmmm...after the site mysteriously reverting to squared off corners, the coding for rounded corners and shadows returns.
I found that happening to me a LOT - and only today! The green bar kept showing up (normally I don't see it...) and I ended up with Copy of copy of copy of Sierra, plus copy of copy of Sierra, plus copy of Sierra!!!!!
Perhaps something is wonky or has changed in SM? I've been updating my site for 2-3 weeks and have not had this happen before.....
I just went ahead and deleted all the extra copies of "copy of copy of copy of .......Sierra" except my "Copy of Sierra" which I have used as my original. I figured that if I lost the most recent one or two tweaks, I could just re-do them.
I only noticed this today but it only seems to happen if you do a preview in customize. If you make a change and then publish there is no copy made. I had to go and manually delete the copy of copy of copy of etc. from the design name. No more problems since I stopped previewing the changes.
I only noticed this today but it only seems to happen if you do a preview in customize. If you make a change and then publish there is no copy made. I had to go and manually delete the copy of copy of copy of etc. from the design name. No more problems since I stopped previewing the changes.
Paul
omg I have been stuck in that "copy of copy of copy" loop all day long and thought it was just me. And every time I try to do more customization it keeps reverting back to the original unchanged version and I have to do EVERYTHING all over again from scratch. Was looking through all of the customization threads trying to figure out what I am doing wrong. Guess I just have to stop previewing the changes, but...I really would like to be able to preview before I unveil my site without loosing everything I've done so far.
My mind may be playing tricks on me, but it appears as through SM has changed the design of the "green bar" in the preview mode.
I swear when I was using the preview mode in the near past, the only thing available on the green bar was "Exit", which took you back to the customize screen.
Now the bar has "Customize", "Publish", and "Exit". If one hits "Exit" as we did in the past, instead of going to the customize screen, it takes you to the "My Designs" screen and without asking, makes a copy of your design.
If you want to exit preview and go back to the customize screen, you now have to hit the "Customize" button. If you want to publish your changes, you now can now hit the "Publish" button.
As I said, if my mind isn't playing tricks on me, these options were not available before and just seemed to appear out of nowhere. I didn't see any announcement from SM that they made this confusing modification, but then we've been hit with a lot of unannounced and confusing changes lately. I'm guessing SM is in a fix now, announce later mode, which is causing a lot confusion and upsetting their customers.
I only noticed this today but it only seems to happen if you do a preview in customize. If you make a change and then publish there is no copy made. I had to go and manually delete the copy of copy of copy of etc. from the design name. No more problems since I stopped previewing the changes.
My first post and my first attempt at smug mug new site
Hello fellow smug muggers. This is my first post. I just built my smug mug site and I would love feedback and constructive criticism. I know the page needs an "about me" section and I will work on that. Have at it and thanks for your time.
Hello fellow smug muggers. This is my first post. I just built my smug mug site and I would love feedback and constructive criticism. I know the page needs an "about me" section and I will work on that. Have at it and thanks for your time.
Homepage: My first thought is that it is very busy. I love the gold fish but if I were to use that as my background then I wouldn't put anything else on the page. The font color you chose for your nav bar doesn't read well against the background. it needs to be lighter in color so that you can see it better.
Galleries: Nav bar goes away and the only way to get back to the homepage is to click your name which some people might not know how to do. You shouldn't have to go back to the homepage either to navigate around your website.
I might like to see that the nav bar be just above the film strip which would bring up your name just a little higher. Also I think the images might look better if they fit more in the filmstrip, so everything essentially needs to move up a bit except the filmstrip. That's just my opinion of course but that's what jumps out at me when I land on your home page.
Thanks Connie! Made those changes, but looks like it will also depend on the monitor a person is viewing it with. Looks fine on a larger monitor, as suggested, but changes a bit on a laptop.... Thanks for the input! It's the fine tuning stuff that really brings it all into focus.
Hello fellow smug muggers. This is my first post. I just built my smug mug site and I would love feedback and constructive criticism. I know the page needs an "about me" section and I will work on that. Have at it and thanks for your time.
Off to a good start as a beginner, but there are some definite issues. As mentioned above me, all your navigation goes away when you are not on the homepage this is very confusing for a visitor. Also, your homepage is too busy with a slideshow, multiple gallery choices, and a navigation header.
I would recommend starting by moving the homepage navigation bar into the side bar, so it shows on all your pages. and then pick either a slide show, or galleries for your homepage, one or the other. PLEASE give us an update as you read these posts so we can see any changes.
My mind may be playing tricks on me, but it appears as through SM has changed the design of the "green bar" in the preview mode.
I swear when I was using the preview mode in the near past, the only thing available on the green bar was "Exit", which took you back to the customize screen.
Now the bar has "Customize", "Publish", and "Exit". If one hits "Exit" as we did in the past, instead of going to the customize screen, it takes you to the "My Designs" screen and without asking, makes a copy of your design.
If you want to exit preview and go back to the customize screen, you now have to hit the "Customize" button. If you want to publish your changes, you now can now hit the "Publish" button.
As I said, if my mind isn't playing tricks on me, these options were not available before and just seemed to appear out of nowhere. I didn't see any announcement from SM that they made this confusing modification, but then we've been hit with a lot of unannounced and confusing changes lately. I'm guessing SM is in a fix now, announce later mode, which is causing a lot confusion and upsetting their customers.
I totally agree! SM has changed a significant aspect of customizing our sites and told us nothing! This confusion caused me to spend a couple of HOURS on something that should have taken me less than 10 minutes to do!!!!! :bash:bash:bash:bash:bash
What the heck is going on with the new SM? I've spent hours upon hours building a new site (not yet launched) now every time I try to go in and customize it I cant because it brings up the default theme again and there is no way to access my customized one. I see others are having this issue as well. I've also posted over on the SM facebook page where they are usually pretty quick at getting back to users.
Looking good, I wish your site navigation carried throughout the site, once I go away from your home page I have to depend on the breadcrumbs to get back. Also, the facebook link is all alone at the bottom of the screen, I thing that should be brought to the top near your header.
What the heck is going on with the new SM? I've spent hours upon hours building a new site (not yet launched) now every time I try to go in and customize it I cant because it brings up the default theme again and there is no way to access my customized one. I see others are having this issue as well. I've also posted over on the SM facebook page where they are usually pretty quick at getting back to users.
been tweaking my site every other day and have never experienced this. Are you sure you are clicking preview-publish or done-publish?
been tweaking my site every other day and have never experienced this. Are you sure you are clicking preview-publish or done-publish?
What if you've made a change, previewed it and don't like it? THAT is the problem!!!!! Maybe you want to continue "tweaking" until you are ready to publish!
What if you've made a change, previewed it and don't like it? THAT is the problem!!!!! Maybe you want to continue "tweaking" until you are ready to publish!
thats a lot of exclamation points, just trying to help.
I assume that is what the customize button is for? That brings you back.
thats a lot of exclamation points, just trying to help.
I assume that is what the customize button is for? That brings you back.
My point is a simple notice to users about the change and describing what the buttons actually do would have been very easy to do and avoided a lot of user frustration.
But WHY change the functionality without giving users a heads up? The exit button used to take you back to the customizer. Initially I thought that selecting "customize" would create another "copy of" file....which I didn't want to do.
What should have been a 10 minute "what if" turned into 2 hours of trying to figure out why I was ending up with numerous "copy of ...." files.
To everyone who has been using this thread for general observations and complaints, please take your conversations to a separate thread.
This thread is intended for folks to share their new SmugMug customized sites and to get feedback on their sites. The posts unrelated to that purpose are obscuring the posts about new sites. Let's give everyone a chance to share their sites and have their sites seen.
Looking good, I wish your site navigation carried throughout the site, once I go away from your home page I have to depend on the breadcrumbs to get back. Also, the facebook link is all alone at the bottom of the screen, I thing that should be brought to the top near your header.
Thanks for the feedback!
-Jack
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
Big step forward, great job. In your "showtime!" slideshow the first image is way to small this is what it looks like on my screen. All the other pictures stretch to full size no problem.
Did my best to replicate my old site. The only issues I have now is that in some categories I could remove the folder layer, and I would like to change the wording of the right click protection to something more friendly! I am sure I will find lots more to tweak. I am one of those who would like the ability to have a slideshow of random photos from my whole inventory of photos, hope they make that happen.
Oh and hats off to the SmugMug Heros who helped me through my many frustrations. The new tools are not entirely intuitive or self evident.
Comments
My main difficulty has been climbing the steep learning curve to get to a stage where the new site design and management paradigm became intuitive for me so that I could exploit the tools and functions confidently and efficiently. I expected this to be a challenge but not quite as difficult and time consuming as it turned out.
I now find I can navigate, manage and enhance my site without undue confusion or risk of getting unwelcome surprises, and my experience is improving day by day. However this is the result of investing a massive amount of time both to understand and experiment with how things work, and to adapt my content (for example, every gallery title) to display correctly in the new template formats.
We have no choice as to whether we unveil in New SmugMug - it's just a matter of when, and whether this is at our prerogative or SmugMug's. I have more work to do, but I'm pleased most of this is now behind me!
Yikes, pirates of the SM
Thanks!
Charles
Brampton, Canada
www.charlesdalyphotography.com
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
I might like to see that the nav bar be just above the film strip which would bring up your name just a little higher. Also I think the images might look better if they fit more in the filmstrip, so everything essentially needs to move up a bit except the filmstrip. That's just my opinion of course but that's what jumps out at me when I land on your home page.
http://paultavares.smugmug.com/Wildlife/Birds/MyBirds
Details of the code are in this thread.
http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=239159
Paul
http://paultavares.smugmug.com/
I've also heard cases of this on another forum.....perhaps SM should be more forth coming about what they are doing!
I also have experienced, as have others, of coding working, then mysteriously not working, especially with rounded corners and shadowed borders. Hmmmm...after the site mysteriously reverting to squared off corners, the coding for rounded corners and shadows returns.
What gives, SM?
www.butlerkid.smugmug.com
I only noticed this today but it only seems to happen if you do a preview in customize. If you make a change and then publish there is no copy made. I had to go and manually delete the copy of copy of copy of etc. from the design name. No more problems since I stopped previewing the changes.
Paul
http://paultavares.smugmug.com/
omg I have been stuck in that "copy of copy of copy" loop all day long and thought it was just me. And every time I try to do more customization it keeps reverting back to the original unchanged version and I have to do EVERYTHING all over again from scratch. Was looking through all of the customization threads trying to figure out what I am doing wrong. Guess I just have to stop previewing the changes, but...I really would like to be able to preview before I unveil my site without loosing everything I've done so far.
My Photos
My Blog
On Google+
On DrivingLine
I swear when I was using the preview mode in the near past, the only thing available on the green bar was "Exit", which took you back to the customize screen.
Now the bar has "Customize", "Publish", and "Exit". If one hits "Exit" as we did in the past, instead of going to the customize screen, it takes you to the "My Designs" screen and without asking, makes a copy of your design.
If you want to exit preview and go back to the customize screen, you now have to hit the "Customize" button. If you want to publish your changes, you now can now hit the "Publish" button.
As I said, if my mind isn't playing tricks on me, these options were not available before and just seemed to appear out of nowhere. I didn't see any announcement from SM that they made this confusing modification, but then we've been hit with a lot of unannounced and confusing changes lately. I'm guessing SM is in a fix now, announce later mode, which is causing a lot confusion and upsetting their customers.
www.sunglophoto.com
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Hello fellow smug muggers. This is my first post. I just built my smug mug site and I would love feedback and constructive criticism. I know the page needs an "about me" section and I will work on that. Have at it and thanks for your time.
GlennDavid
www.glenndcohen.com
Homepage: My first thought is that it is very busy. I love the gold fish but if I were to use that as my background then I wouldn't put anything else on the page. The font color you chose for your nav bar doesn't read well against the background. it needs to be lighter in color so that you can see it better.
Galleries: Nav bar goes away and the only way to get back to the homepage is to click your name which some people might not know how to do. You shouldn't have to go back to the homepage either to navigate around your website.
My Website
Facebook | Twitter | | VSCOgrid | Instagram |
Thanks Connie! Made those changes, but looks like it will also depend on the monitor a person is viewing it with. Looks fine on a larger monitor, as suggested, but changes a bit on a laptop.... Thanks for the input! It's the fine tuning stuff that really brings it all into focus.
Off to a good start as a beginner, but there are some definite issues. As mentioned above me, all your navigation goes away when you are not on the homepage this is very confusing for a visitor. Also, your homepage is too busy with a slideshow, multiple gallery choices, and a navigation header.
I would recommend starting by moving the homepage navigation bar into the side bar, so it shows on all your pages. and then pick either a slide show, or galleries for your homepage, one or the other. PLEASE give us an update as you read these posts so we can see any changes.
Jarboe Doggart Photography - jarboedoggart.com
I totally agree! SM has changed a significant aspect of customizing our sites and told us nothing! This confusion caused me to spend a couple of HOURS on something that should have taken me less than 10 minutes to do!!!!! :bash:bash:bash:bash:bash
www.butlerkid.smugmug.com
http://jmphotocraft.smugmug.com
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
Digi-Scapes | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest
Nikon D800 & D850 | Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 VR II | Nikkor 16-35 f/4 | Nikon TC-20E-III | Nikkor 70-300mm VR | Nikkor 50mm f1.8 | Nikon 24-120mm f/4G ED VR | Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G
Looking good, I wish your site navigation carried throughout the site, once I go away from your home page I have to depend on the breadcrumbs to get back. Also, the facebook link is all alone at the bottom of the screen, I thing that should be brought to the top near your header.
Jarboe Doggart Photography - jarboedoggart.com
been tweaking my site every other day and have never experienced this. Are you sure you are clicking preview-publish or done-publish?
Jarboe Doggart Photography - jarboedoggart.com
What if you've made a change, previewed it and don't like it? THAT is the problem!!!!! Maybe you want to continue "tweaking" until you are ready to publish!
www.butlerkid.smugmug.com
thats a lot of exclamation points, just trying to help.
I assume that is what the customize button is for? That brings you back.
Jarboe Doggart Photography - jarboedoggart.com
My point is a simple notice to users about the change and describing what the buttons actually do would have been very easy to do and avoided a lot of user frustration.
But WHY change the functionality without giving users a heads up? The exit button used to take you back to the customizer. Initially I thought that selecting "customize" would create another "copy of" file....which I didn't want to do.
What should have been a 10 minute "what if" turned into 2 hours of trying to figure out why I was ending up with numerous "copy of ...." files.
www.butlerkid.smugmug.com
This thread is intended for folks to share their new SmugMug customized sites and to get feedback on their sites. The posts unrelated to that purpose are obscuring the posts about new sites. Let's give everyone a chance to share their sites and have their sites seen.
Thanks.
--- Denise
Musings & ramblings at https://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com
Thanks for the feedback!
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
Ditto! I especially like your copyright statement!
My Fine Art Photography
My Infrared Photography
www.CynthiaMerzerPhotography.com
Okay I took the advice and did a refresh. I appreciate the input.
www.glenndcohen.com
much better!
My Website
Facebook | Twitter | | VSCOgrid | Instagram |
Thanks to you!
Big step forward, great job. In your "showtime!" slideshow the first image is way to small this is what it looks like on my screen. All the other pictures stretch to full size no problem.
Jarboe Doggart Photography - jarboedoggart.com
http://www.rakmilphotography.com
Did my best to replicate my old site. The only issues I have now is that in some categories I could remove the folder layer, and I would like to change the wording of the right click protection to something more friendly! I am sure I will find lots more to tweak. I am one of those who would like the ability to have a slideshow of random photos from my whole inventory of photos, hope they make that happen.
Oh and hats off to the SmugMug Heros who helped me through my many frustrations. The new tools are not entirely intuitive or self evident.
Victor
www.rakmilphotography.com