Search Usability Issues

TooLooseLayTrack

Trial user here, deciding whether SmugMug is for me.
My use case is:
images are results of scanning of prints and negatives (3,400 at last count) - not digital cameras (no exif data)
images are for sharing with family only
not interested in selling

So far, smugMug meets several CRUCIAL criteria:
storage and download of full-size, original image files
parsing of image filenames for searching
includes sort by image filename

Issues:
1. Sort of Search Results
When a search is done, you get a gallery of results that does NOT default to the sort specified for that gallery - which in my case is by filename. Not only that, you are prompted with a convenient 'Sort By' option that does NOT include filename! Please default to the sort I already specified for the gallery.

2. Navigation amongst Search Results
When a search is done, you get a gallery of results. Then you want to look more closely at the pictures so you double-click on one. I believe this is called the lightbox view. Navigating to the right or left using either the '<' or '>' arrows or keyboard arrow keys results in navigation through the entire original gallery - NOT the subset selected by the search!

3. Navigation Back From Search Results
Having done a search and gotten into the lightbox view you then want to go back to the search results. Hitting either the Escape key or the 'X' results in return all the way back to the original Gallery - NOT the search results subset.

Am I missing something?

leftquark

Hi @TooLooseLayTrack,
I wish I didn’t have to say this but you’re not missing anything. The search interface is something we’d LOVE to improve but haven’t had a chance to get to quite yet. Searching in our iOS and Android apps still has problem #1, but #2 and 3 are solved (search for the iOS app actually launches tomorrow!).

I don’t have an ETA on when we would fix these but it’s definitely on our radar

TooLooseLayTrack

Interesting that the mobile platform is the only one mentioned. I neglected to include that my use case involves access only via PC and web browser. It is disappointing to hear that you know about the issues and appear to have no commitment to fix them.

As it stands, the issues outlined in my initial post mean a tedious, non-intuitive and iterative process when downloading the results of a search: search, select, download, return, search AGAIN, select the next result, download... etc. Imagine doing that 45 times in a row.

SmugMug has some really good things going for it, but this is pretty much a show-stopper for me.

I will continue looking for a photo sharing site that works for me and everyone I intend to share my resources with.

leftquark

@TooLooseLayTrack: We'd love to continue to improve a large number of things on SmugMug but we're a small company with a large product and we have to prioritize the areas that we give attention to. I know that sucks for you, because you're the one who wants to use it, and it's a pretty bad excuse, as it stands. We've imagined (and even prototyped) a number of iterations to the search page that would help but just haven't had a chance to implement them, as we've been working on some other pretty big requests that many of you have had.

(for the record, we're also mostly all photographers, so we go through this pain all the time ourselves)