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Custom Url hassle when making new galleries.
guy
Registered Users Posts: 191 Major grins
When creating a new gallery the custom url field is not one of the options that is available. The system will just make one as best it can from the title you enter - Not very custom!
If you actually want a custom url for the gallery you have to first save the gallery then go to gallery settings & change the url! Wouldn't it make more sense to have the custom url field show up at the same time as the description, privacy & title fields at the time of actually making the new gallery? ie like it did in legacy SM.
If you actually want a custom url for the gallery you have to first save the gallery then go to gallery settings & change the url! Wouldn't it make more sense to have the custom url field show up at the same time as the description, privacy & title fields at the time of actually making the new gallery? ie like it did in legacy SM.
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DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
Hi, Guy.
The Custom URL field should be showing in the Create Gallery overlay on the "Basic" tab along with the Title and Description fields like so:
As you type in the Title field, the Custom URL will be filled in as well, but you should be able to change it prior to creating the gallery if you so desire.
Is that field not appearing for you? Or am I misunderstanding what you're seeing (or not seeing as the case may be)?
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Thanks for your reply after taking a second look I have found the reason for my problem. It seems that if I go to "Organize" & then choose "create new gallery" it does indeed bring up a box like the one you show above.
However what I was going is clicking the upload button on the SM bar then choosing "upload to new gallery". This is how I did it in legacy. The trouble is when I do it that way I only get this much simpler version of the make new gallery box with no such options. So now I know how to work around the problem but why would one option to make a gallery be different from another option?
Thanks.
It's actually way easier. You should try it before commenting.....
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Evidently not . You must have missed Guy's post right before this. I almost always create galleries exactly like he's doing , or wants to do (while uploading), but in New Smug, those 2 methods for some reason don't match up. You should try reading more of the thread before commenting.
DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
:nah
It's way easier. You are logged in, looking at any page on your site... you hover your mouse over "Create" and then "Gallery" and then you get this overlay, it's dead-simple easy and much quicker than in old SmugMug. Try it
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But what you're not understanding is that this other way (Guy's & mine) of creating galleries, which I imagine more people actually used than the one you're showing, doesn't allow you (in New Smug) to fill as much of the info as you should be able to. As you & Chris showed, this info CAN be filled in in the 2nd method, which you're showing.
It's just a simple bug where two tools (2 ways of accomplishing the same task) aren't matching, and they should match, since this is what users will expect, just like Guy did. SmugMug could probably have had this fixed in the time it took me to re-explain it. And it's not even a big huge deal, just another minor irritation in the long list. If it just gets quickly added to the bug list instead of getting a bunch of argument, or more need for explanation, we could avoid a long wait and useless re-hashing. A simple link to Guy's latest post with the screenshot should make this clear to any of the bug-fixers. And yes the more of these things I see tidied up, the more I'll want to try it!
Currently a big problem for me is that whole bunch of badges I've made will go dead if I try to switch, and I haven't even begun to figure out what to do about all of them.
DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
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Guy, thanks for pointing out the Upload > To New Gallery overlay.
I believe the difference in options between the two creation flows stems from the different user patterns. Using Upload > To New Gallery is more intended for folks who don't necessarily need or want to completely configure the gallery and just need to get to uploading their photos right away. While the Organize > Create > New Gallery is more aimed at folks who want to be able to completely configure every option available before they start uploading.
Hope that helps clarify the difference
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Chris thanks for the followup.
I do think that the "upload to new gallery" option should work the same way as the "create new gallery" option in Organize works. Or the "upload to new gallery" from the SM bar should be renamed to some thing like "Quick Upload" so that people will know there is a difference in options available.
WinsomeWorks: I believe your badges will continue to work if you switch to the new SM (mine still do) Unless something changes though I would expect them all to break when they turn off legacy SM.
And how would I have possibly guessed that your response would be exactly precisely that? Because that's the face of the old SmugMug, when at times true listening was not taking place. It's not what I expect of the "New SmugMug". We all know that there are various definitions of bugs and one is when things don't work the way the user expects. We could spend all day arguing about that definition and if there was another spot to place "lost functionalities" or " things that take more time now" I'm sure many of us would be glad to place things in a thread like that. But currently our only other option is "Feature Requests", which this certainly is not.
The steps you have both shown to make a new gallery in the New Smug (by that one method) do not look any easier or really any different from that same method in Legacy, & I think we all know that. But it's like many have said in other threads .. do the SmugMug heroes and gurus actually use all of these tools? Threads like this are the reasons they ask!!!!
When I'm uploading tens of galleries at a time to my SmugVault especially, this method that Guy outlines is invaluable in shortening my workflow. If you don't use it then you wouldn't know, but it sure is obvious to those of us to do, and for the thousandth time, why do we want to lose functionality or capabilities that shorten our workflow in the New Smug?! And why would you want to fight observations from users who are only trying to make it better? I don't get it.
DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
to be the full version is both cases. Things like password setting, square thumbs are only a
couple of the things that need to be set. On legacy people were allowed to upload family
photos that should of been behind a password without a warning therefore exposing them
to the public.
On NewSmug you're presented an upload box with no warning or even a way to get to the
gallery settings.
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GO SET a trial! Stop "guessing" and just experience it.
Trials are FREE. Do it. Then you'll know how awesome it is, and you won't have to keep writing so many posts about how it isn't
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DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
Wow-- Al, after reading this post and looking back at the Gallery Creation Boxes, yeah, I see further stuff is missing from each box that I hadn't noticed before.
Basically, (and this is addressed to Chris too) the issue here is that in Smug's attempt to create a short version, they ended up actually making that quick need to make a gallery actually take longer! Remember, people will simply skip certain steps (such as filling in a gallery description)if they want/ need to to save time. They know they don't have to enter anything more than the critical things like titles if they don't want to. But most people will want the option to do any/all of the settings that are contained in both types of boxes in one swoop, even while they are in the Uploading process, & in my case & maybe Al's too, especially while I'm in that process! It takes extra minutes & clicks if you have to set a few things & then go back immediately after uploading & find your galleries & delve into them to set or re-set stuff that's critical to you or is a pain to change. I don't babysit my uploading, so I don't want new galleries sitting there for minutes or hours with the wrong settings.
Here's the kind of scenario I'm often doing when I upload/create galleries in my SmugVault: I often open 3 different browser pages. One is the last gallery I created, showing me its exact Title (& my exact time/date method) & NiceName & Cat / Sub-cat. I do this because sometimes I've forgotten exactly how I worded it before & need to stay consistent. Then I use another open page & copy the settings I need from the first & create a new gallery, with all the available settings such as privacy & thumbs & pricing & all that. I start that one actually uploading. Next I do that same process with the 3rd open window. This goes so much faster than choosing 3 separate "Create Gallery" pages & then finding them to upload to, etc. And then I don't have to rush back in to set anything else until I have time. For me, the only thing missing on that box (in Legacy) was the description. I had to open the gallery to do that. But the ability to use "Quick Settings" right there in that box, from other titled collections of Quick Settings (such as Archives) made the rest very simple. I see that "Description" is now available in both boxes, so that's good. One improvement!
I hope SmugMug can take our recommendations to make all these settings (the ones from both boxes) the same in both kinds of Create Gallery boxes, because it looks like it will be tough for SmugMug to make guesses about who will use which type of box in what way. It would be much less confusing for all the same settings to be available in both boxes & I guarantee you there will be way fewer questions or frustrations if these boxes match & have everything we need. The goal of New Smug is-- "intuitive", "simple", "elegant", "straightforward", right? All of that means: non-confusing.
DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
Well since I have changed to the New SM I guess I am qualified to comment!
It's not easier to make a new gallery in the new SM than the old. Andy you mention clicking on "create" from any page. I only see that "create" option if I enter the "organize" part of my site first. I don't see it anywhere else.
Now to be fair it's not really more difficult either but it does add one more click & page load than it did under Legacy to do the same thing.
But it is confusing to have 2 upload / create new gallery options that don't give you the same results & as a user you wont know this unless you try both ways. IMHO the upload / make new gallery boxes should be the same for both methods or the differences between the 2 should be clear to users before they use one or the other.
Guy, when you click on Organize, you should have two flyout options. Organize Site and Create. Click Create ---> Gallery and you will have the full gallery description options.
This isn't really an extra click. Same amount of clicks, you just need to drag your mouse down slightly.
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Michael, I hate to belabor what I admit is a minor point but why would it be an "intended desire" to have one create new galley method be different from another & not make that difference known to the users?
Look, Michael-- Very important points here are being missed. Not because they apply only to this issue (which for some may be a small one & for others uploading tens of galleries at a time may not!) but because they're representative of a whole host of irritations flying around here with your customers. I see a lot of people's patience simply wearing thin, with the many changes to tools that weren't broken, or tools that had already been through this entire grueling UI process eons ago. We all know that simple tweaks (but ones that would save huge lots of frustration for your paying customers!!) will get the kiss of death if doomed to the Feature Requests. I don't know if you guys need a third section (for design tweaks that aren't "new features" but you won't consider them bugs either) or what. But honestly and with all the best love I have for SmugMug, you need something!!! I mean, let's face it: Gallery Creation and Uploading are probably the two most important tasks site owners do here, correct??!!
I care a lot about this place, and all I want is for it to be its very best. For that to happen, you (meaning the designers, implementers, QA, & whoever) need to just stop & listen to what your paying customers are finding unintuitive, frustrating, irritating, harder than it used to be, and of course broken. In that latter category, "broken", it seems things are going better. I know a lot is getting fixed. I've cheered out-loud for some of them! But in those other categories, it feels too often like SmugMug feels its customers are working against them when pointing out things that just really need design tweaks, tweaks that should often be quite simple for SmugMug but would save its customers hours and hours of their lives. We're not working against you-- we're totally with you all the way & just want things to work the way we would (and should) expect, and want them to be either easier than before or at least not harder. And where there are complete inconsistencies such as what people have shown you here, we'd like them to be fixed, or changed. We're not asking for much in this case... just someone to "sit down" with people doing their normal uploading tasks and let them tell you what doesn't make sense with the present two "Create Gallery" functions.
In this "Create Gallery" tool issue, I'd like to be able to place the 2 boxes side by side that Guy & Chris provided screenshots for. I'll try to do that in the next post. But just at a glance, we can all see many obvious discrepancies (or inconsistencies) in them. Even if some were intended, that doesn't mean they make sense. And there are some that must certainly be unintended (or at least unintentionally not compared side-by-side). The odd thing to me is how little overlap there is between these 2 methods of Gallery Creation. They even have different titles. One's called "Create Gallery" and one's called "New Gallery" (is there really a difference??) So: in the "Create Gallery" style box, the first item listed is "Title". But oddly, in the "New Gallery" style box, it's not called "Title" as it should be. It's called "Gallery Name"! Ok, whatever. After that, the only thing that these two Gallery Creation boxes share in common is "Description"!! Then they each have 3 more settings, each of which is unique to either "Create Gallery" or "New Gallery" and which your customers are telling you should really be the same.
Why should such settings be the same? Because it's confusing. Because your customers are the ones deciding when they'd be using each of those Gallery Creation boxes, and they're telling you that the functions provided in each don't match their use situation. And because they can always skip over whatever functions they don't need to set at the time! There's nothing simpler about having fewer choices and having to then go back, find a gallery, & dig into its settings to set functions that weren't available (such as privacy or thumbs or Custom URL) if you don't need to! All of this is to say, people who are using these tools multiple times every day of their lives can tell you what is intuitive and what's simpler... if you let them. But if you relegate their honest and initially patient observations to years-long wait lists in some Feature Request forum, you'll continue to have many frustrated, irritated people on your hands who really only wanted to help make things work in the first place. And that's a shame. So do we need a "tweaks" spot, or what? Cuz people are initially patient, but then... well, then... we can see here...
DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
Gallery creation is stupidly simple - Hover on "Organize, Create, New Gallery" and have at all the options for setting that gallery's settings.
Why does this need such a huge debate ? I say, enjoy and move on...... and in your case, try it. Trials are free.
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"New Gallery" Box is missing: Meta Keywords (same as gallery keywords I guess) , Feature Image , & Custom URL(same as NiceName) . "Create Gallery" box is missing: Privacy Level, Quick Settings, & Parent Folder according to all of your lovely screenshots!!
DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
None of this is missing, you are incorrect. Perhaps you should trial new SmugMug so you can understand. It's all there
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There are 2 different methods available to make a new gallery & upload photos:
Method 1:
1) Click 1 - Click on "Upload" on Smugmug bar
2) Click 2 - Click "To New gallery"
A simplified dialog box opens up that does not give you all customization options.
Method 2:
1)Click 1 - Click on Organize Site
2)Mouse over "Create"
3)Click 2 - Click "Gallery"
The full dialog box opens up that does give you all customization options.
I think there would be much less confusion if Method 1 was just removed or it worked the same way as Method 2. I can't see any logic in having a difference between the 2 methods.
DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
available thru the "upload" button. Have to go up a level to get "create" to work.
The above is also the case when on a top level page, but there is no level to go up.
So it's critical to go to the folder where you want the new gallery so the path is added.
As mentioned above, always use the "organize" > "create" > "Gallery" and you'll have no problems.
Just got'a remember that myself as I have always used "upload" button.
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Moving on
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I think I agree, and don't know why there are two diff options. But it's not worth the electrons arguing about it since the one option gives ALL THE OPTIONS for creating a gallery. Just do it that way, boom-done.
SM will change, or not, but I don't care as long as I know how to create a gallery with all my choices.
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So much for the good old, simple "Upload" button. So much for my 3 open pages and having to go to one specific spot with all 3 pages. Too bad we had to waste all this time/space trying our darndest to ask for a simple tweak, only to find there's simply no hope in customer-driven progress. If they didn't thunk it & didn't thunk to have us test it, we get stuck living with it for who-knows-ever. They don't. We do. PS, see this thread (from today, although there've been tons of gallery creation questions related to all the stuff missing in the one place): http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=240641 Since it seems they enjoy spending gobs more time on Support than simply changing something so it's better, expect a lot more of that.
DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
We are 45 days into the release of the New SmugMug, and this is the first thread or email I have seen regarding this, so I think "what people want" is a little unfair. I will gladly pull engineers off the big projects that have been talked about in a large number of threads and emails to have this changed for you, but then everyone will be mad I did so. This is something I have submitted, but unfortunately, I do not see it changing anytime soon, as this falls very low on the feature/missing/bug list. Just being honest. We have alot of features we are working on that alot of people have requested over multiple channels.
Since I have submitted though, you don't need to bump to keep this thread going. It will not change the priority level as it is already submitted.
When you click on Organize, you should have two flyout options. Organize Site and Create. Click Create ---> Gallery and you will have the full gallery description options.
This isn't really an extra click. Same amount of clicks, you just need to drag your mouse down slightly.
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Andy didn't get snippy until after he left smugmug.
Any hint of what the big projects are (aside from prettying up the shopping cart, of course)?
Dave