Zenfolio gallery slideshow too slow!!
I have a ZF and a SM account and one of the things that is really starting to bug me about ZF is the speed of the gallery slideshow. With SM, the photos change almost instantaneously while on ZF, there's is always a wait time of a few seconds. Does anyone else experience this?
My .02 on this thread...
I've been a SmugMug user for a while and I have no complaints - only compliments. However, I did sign up for a trial account with Zenfolio after seeing this thread. My quick take on it it does seem to "perform" a bit faster and the galleries do have a slick, modern look. Unless I'm doing something wrong - one area where SmugMug definitely keeps the upper-hand is on adding captions - I like how on SM you can enter this for all images at once due to the way it displays all pictures within a gallery (should you choose that option) - with Zenfolio, I seem to only be able to enter this info one pic at a time which takes a toll on the efficiency of captioning pics. Other than that, they seem to be quite equal - at least from a basic account standpoint.
Steve
You can bulk edit captions on Zenfolio as well. In Edit mode, you can select all your photos in a gallery by clicking on "Select All", or pick and choose specific photos by holding down the Shift key and clicking on the photos you want to select, or Ctrl key and click. Once your photos are selected, click on the Edit link in the Description section, type your caption (title, keywords, etc.) once and that caption will be applied to all photos selected.
Go to the Help section at Zenfolio and find the Help page called: "Selecting Multiple Photographs" for more info on batch processing.
Hi - thanks for the response. I did sort of figure that out but I was not clear then - what i meant is that with SmugMug -you can have all of your caption text boxes available to edit individually all on one long scrolling webpage. Make sense now?
Steve
You can bulk edit captions on Zenfolio as well. In Edit mode, you can select all your photos in a gallery by clicking on "Select All", or pick and choose specific photos by holding down the Shift key and clicking on the photos you want to select, or Ctrl key and click. Once your photos are selected, click on the Edit link in the Description section, type your caption (title, keywords, etc.) once and that caption will be applied to all photos selected.
Go to the Help section at Zenfolio and find the Help page called: "Selecting Multiple Photographs" for more info on batch processing.
Hi - thanks for the response. I did sort of figure that out but I was not clear then - what i meant is that with SmugMug -you can have all of your caption text boxes available to edit individually all on one long scrolling webpage. Make sense now?
Yeah, I think that kinda stinks too.
It seems you can bulk edit individual file names with Zenfolio though by just clicking under each photo when you're in edit view. So, I usually use the file name as a caption. Its in the same place & the text is a bit bigger, but I dont mind.
you can have your own domain name with zenfolio for only $40 :wow
i bet the support isn't as good as the smugmug community though
Although they lack a forum such as Dgrin as a component of their support - the e-mail support of my Zenfolio account has simply been top notch all the way. I think that they are looking into a forum in the near future.
Perhaps the greatest social service that can be rendered by anybody to this country and to mankind is to bring up a family. - George Bernard Shaw
Although they lack a forum such as Dgrin as a component of their support - the e-mail support of my Zenfolio account has simply been top notch all the way.
That's been my experience, as well. While what they've done is elegant and mainly works very well, the key issue for me is the glacial speed with which they are developing their functionality.
Although they lack a forum such as Dgrin as a component of their support - the e-mail support of my Zenfolio account has simply been top notch all the way. I think that they are looking into a forum in the near future.
Seconded. I remember last year, I worked directly with one of their programming guys exchanging emails, screenshots, etc about a rare IE bug. They fixed it in like a day & gave my account credits just for helping out! Awesome!!
Anyways, when you email their support team, they pretty much respond almost instantly. So its almost like you have them "on call". And I've emailed them quite a few times, so no complaints whatsoever about their support.
Hmmmmmm I may transfer my 16,000+ photos to Zenfoilo. I like the idea having more options for sorting galleries and it sound cheaper at $40. Frankly, I am tired of the slow speeds here and SM not willing to look into the problems.
That's been my experience, as well. While what they've done is elegant and mainly works very well, the key issue for me is the glacial speed with which they are developing their functionality.
I guess that is relative to the person evaluating the time frame for development. For a service that has only been available to the general public since the end of 2005, they seem to have an impressive list of enhancements that have been added. From what I can tell, it seems to be a pretty small scale development team at this point. It is more of the "pro" features that have come later - I do understand that.
Perhaps the greatest social service that can be rendered by anybody to this country and to mankind is to bring up a family. - George Bernard Shaw
I am tired of the slow speeds here and SM not willing to look into the problems.
Kristi
While you may be having speed problems, I can say for certain that it's unfair to say that SmugMug is unwilling to look into the problems. They look into each and every one, and are always concerned when their customers are experiencing speed problems. They may not have solved your problems, but they do care, and they are working hard to make things better.
We never turn anyone down. If we've missed a particular post of yours here on Dgrin, sorry about that. Please write us at the help desk, and give us the details of your speed issues - we'll surely help. Thanks!
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I tried the paid accounts for FLICKR (to 80's for me) then went over to SmugMug (to much of a hack job for me) then settled up with ZENFOLIO (it simply works amazingly well right out of the box) and now ZENFOLIO has "The Premium plan which lets you create a fully-functional Web store with customizable look-and-feel and flexible price lists" … which I signed up for immediately.
SmugMug needs a serious "face lift" in my opinion ... one must be a master in “HTML / CSS / Cut and Paste / Hack it Together to Hold it Together” with SmugMug to get anything close in resemblance to what ZENFOLIO has to offer right out of the box …
SmugMug / ZENFOLIO support … same-same … both are 5 star … and with ZENFOLIO I find myself behind the camera doing what I enjoy “taking pictures” than with SmugMug “trying to hack a site together” …
I tried the paid accounts for FLICKR (to 80's for me) then went over to SmugMug (to much of a hack job for me) then settled up with ZENFOLIO (it simply works amazingly well right out of the box) and now ZENFOLIO has "The Premium plan which lets you create a fully-functional Web store with customizable look-and-feel and flexible price lists" … which I signed up for immediately.
SmugMug needs a serious "face lift" in my opinion ... one must be a master in “HTML / CSS / Cut and Paste / Hack it Together to Hold it Together” with SmugMug to get anything close in resemblance to what ZENFOLIO has to offer right out of the box …
SmugMug / ZENFOLIO support … same-same … both are 5 star … and with ZENFOLIO I find myself behind the camera doing what I enjoy “taking pictures” than with SmugMug “trying to hack a site together” …
Mark
Mainly, that was my biggest beef with SM. I found I was constantly fiddling with html/css code, javascript hacks, etc & not taking any pictures. While I do appreciate the fact that you literally can do anything you want with your site, its almost a necessity to do it up with a lot of coding, or else it looks pretty generic IMO, even with the themes.
I also agree that SM needs a facelift, reworking & more polish overall instead of tacking on features. The little things go a long way.
There is still a problem with scrolling. Everything doesnt fit inside the browser window when viewing the thumbs along with the main photo in classic view mode. Any kind of scrolling on a photo site = bad. Honestly, the entire site should fill the browser window based on my screen resolution instead of wasting all that empty space on the sides. Most newer sites do this, SM still does not.
And I've said this before in the suggestions forum & it got blown off. Please PLEASE switch the main photo & thumbs around in the classic view mode. The main photo is right in the way & the pop up info is constantly getting activated because one must mouse over to the thumbs from the vertical scrollbar & then back again. Its a major annoyance. BOING BOING
Im not trying to criticize, I just want you guys to be aware of these things because I KNOW you can do better & make SM a beast. Building on old code can get you through for quite a while, but maybe its time for something totally new??
Comments
What he said.
Malte
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Would you consider a change of terms since SmugIslands helps to keep www.smugmug.com family safe?
As always, write to us at the help desk, and we can review stuff for you and advise. Cheers!
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Right. And people have always been able to do that...
Anyway, I was just curious if people would now be allowed to have their own SmutIslands..
Seriously, I think "artistic nude" should be allowed in private SmugIslands but I do agree drawing a line somewhere is hard.
I have a ZF and a SM account and one of the things that is really starting to bug me about ZF is the speed of the gallery slideshow. With SM, the photos change almost instantaneously while on ZF, there's is always a wait time of a few seconds. Does anyone else experience this?
http://tskphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/2692206#144149278
http://tskphoto.zenfolio.com/p677704354
But, like the US Supreme Court, "we know it when we see it" and so we certainly will keep SmugMug family-safe.
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
I've been a SmugMug user for a while and I have no complaints - only compliments. However, I did sign up for a trial account with Zenfolio after seeing this thread. My quick take on it it does seem to "perform" a bit faster and the galleries do have a slick, modern look. Unless I'm doing something wrong - one area where SmugMug definitely keeps the upper-hand is on adding captions - I like how on SM you can enter this for all images at once due to the way it displays all pictures within a gallery (should you choose that option) - with Zenfolio, I seem to only be able to enter this info one pic at a time which takes a toll on the efficiency of captioning pics. Other than that, they seem to be quite equal - at least from a basic account standpoint.
Steve
You can bulk edit captions on Zenfolio as well. In Edit mode, you can select all your photos in a gallery by clicking on "Select All", or pick and choose specific photos by holding down the Shift key and clicking on the photos you want to select, or Ctrl key and click. Once your photos are selected, click on the Edit link in the Description section, type your caption (title, keywords, etc.) once and that caption will be applied to all photos selected.
Go to the Help section at Zenfolio and find the Help page called: "Selecting Multiple Photographs" for more info on batch processing.
It seems you can bulk edit individual file names with Zenfolio though by just clicking under each photo when you're in edit view. So, I usually use the file name as a caption. Its in the same place & the text is a bit bigger, but I dont mind.
Just wish captions was that easy to edit in bulk.
Bravo to Smugmug for having a stance like this. I applaud this wholeheartedly!
i bet the support isn't as good as the smugmug community though
Although they lack a forum such as Dgrin as a component of their support - the e-mail support of my Zenfolio account has simply been top notch all the way. I think that they are looking into a forum in the near future.
I've had very good support from Zenfolio from a development perspective.
Anyways, when you email their support team, they pretty much respond almost instantly. So its almost like you have them "on call". And I've emailed them quite a few times, so no complaints whatsoever about their support.
Kristi
My SM site: http://www.simplykristi.smugmug.com/
I guess that is relative to the person evaluating the time frame for development. For a service that has only been available to the general public since the end of 2005, they seem to have an impressive list of enhancements that have been added. From what I can tell, it seems to be a pretty small scale development team at this point. It is more of the "pro" features that have come later - I do understand that.
IMHO SmugMug users have nothing to complain about as far as site speed and reliability are concerned.
While you may be having speed problems, I can say for certain that it's unfair to say that SmugMug is unwilling to look into the problems. They look into each and every one, and are always concerned when their customers are experiencing speed problems. They may not have solved your problems, but they do care, and they are working hard to make things better.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
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For some time now I'm a big zenfolio fan.
But there is somthing with the looks and feel. With SM it's just that beter.
So after some tim on sm sites I decided to give sm a change.
A real pro is the service. It took only 30 min to get feed back.
The cons are that zf is way beter to organise and teh speed is a big pro.
I will see who will be beter in the futhure.....
Please take a look at.
www.mijnfotosite.net and www.patnan.net
It's very impressive, I've been using it yesterday and today...
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Hi!
I tried the paid accounts for FLICKR (to 80's for me) then went over to SmugMug (to much of a hack job for me) then settled up with ZENFOLIO (it simply works amazingly well right out of the box) and now ZENFOLIO has "The Premium plan which lets you create a fully-functional Web store with customizable look-and-feel and flexible price lists" … which I signed up for immediately.
SmugMug needs a serious "face lift" in my opinion ... one must be a master in “HTML / CSS / Cut and Paste / Hack it Together to Hold it Together” with SmugMug to get anything close in resemblance to what ZENFOLIO has to offer right out of the box …
SmugMug / ZENFOLIO support … same-same … both are 5 star … and with ZENFOLIO I find myself behind the camera doing what I enjoy “taking pictures” than with SmugMug “trying to hack a site together” …
Mark
I also agree that SM needs a facelift, reworking & more polish overall instead of tacking on features. The little things go a long way.
There is still a problem with scrolling. Everything doesnt fit inside the browser window when viewing the thumbs along with the main photo in classic view mode. Any kind of scrolling on a photo site = bad. Honestly, the entire site should fill the browser window based on my screen resolution instead of wasting all that empty space on the sides. Most newer sites do this, SM still does not.
And I've said this before in the suggestions forum & it got blown off. Please PLEASE switch the main photo & thumbs around in the classic view mode. The main photo is right in the way & the pop up info is constantly getting activated because one must mouse over to the thumbs from the vertical scrollbar & then back again. Its a major annoyance. BOING BOING
Im not trying to criticize, I just want you guys to be aware of these things because I KNOW you can do better & make SM a beast. Building on old code can get you through for quite a while, but maybe its time for something totally new??