SmugMug: many more clicks for permissions

MikeLaurel

When I told people our photos were moving to SmugMug, someone wished me well, saying that SmugMug was complicated and took a lot of time to figure out. I'm thinking that's true.

Let's take the use case where I'm trying to change the security on an album:

Phanfare
1. Click on album (gallery)
2. On the Sharing and/or Security panes, that are already visible on the window, check the boxes for the settings I want.

SmugMug
1. Click on the gallery (in the organizer folder view)
2. Click on settings (on the toolbar that's already visible on the window)
3. A menu appears. Click on Folder
4. The Folder Settings dialog appears. Click on Security & Sharing
5. On the Security & Sharing tab, select the options you want. These are all menus, so it's two clicks for each setting.
6. Press Save

From what I've been able to figure out, the number of mouse clicks and mouse movement around the screen to accomplish similar tasks is significantly greater in SmugMug. Am I missing an easier way to change these settings?

I don't see any keyboard shortcuts for SmugMug that might make it easier (I don't believe Phanfare had them, either, but with so many fewer clicks, I wasn't so concerned about alternatives.)

leftquark

It sounds like you're opening Folder Settings and not gallery settings.

On SmugMug
In the Organizer:
1. Click on a Gallery, so that it's selected
2. Click on "Settings". The settings overlay appears for you to change any setting.

From within a gallery (not in the organizer)
1. Click on "Customize"
2. Click on "Gallery Settings". An overlay with the settings appears.

We've experimented with a smorgasbord of settings in one screen and it was just an absolute disaster. We can certainly improve on the current iteration of gallery settings but it's been a much more pleasant experience for our customers to not have one long page of settings (or at least the majority of SmugMuggers that I've talked to have said so).

There are some keyboard shortcuts though none of them currently open gallery settings. I'll have to find the list of shortcuts because I'm blanking right now (there's a way to launch a screen showing them, but ... it's hidden).

MikeLaurel

@leftquark said:
It sounds like you're opening Folder Settings and not gallery settings.

Yes, I was doing Folder Settings. I was playing with permissions and realized a bunch of folders were appearing. I'd hidden all the galleries inside with a bulk change, but then you got to see a bunch of folders with nothing in them, so I was hiding the folders.