Feature request: "Timeline"
Nikolai
Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
OK, thi si a big one. I know. But I can't help it - I do NEED it.
I already bitched about inflexibility of just two category levels and impossibility to "share" the same image between two or more albums.
However, my biggest problem lies right here: I need a way to specify and present timeline of my albums.
The idea goes way back when I realized that I have more than a hundred pictures to store locally and to share on the 'net. That was way back when there was no fancy-pants photoalbums software packages avaialbe. So, my solution was quite simple: TIMELINE. Later I heard and read that many other photographers, including some quite prominent one, resorted to the same or similar method.
I simply created a directory structure like follows:
On the first level there are only years
...
2001
2002
2003
2004
Within each YEAR there is - you already guessed, right?;-) - upto 12 month folders named like that:
2002
2002-01
2002-02
2002-03
2002-04
2002-05
2002-06
2002-08
2002-09
2002-10
2002-11
2002-12
Where is 2002-07, you ask? well, it looks like there was no picture taken during this month.
What's next? Well, I definitely can entartain the idea that it's also feasible to have day-level folders (e.g. 2002\2002-03\2002-03-01). And for somebody who takes hundreds of shots almost every day (hello, Andy:-) that might be a very usuable level. For me, however, it was too much.
What's next? It's all easy from here. Every album of mine resided at some level of this time line. It was usually pretty easy to find them.
But what does it all have to do with SMUGMUG? Well, that's waht I'm asking for:
Introduce a concept of TIMELINE, let user define what level he or she needs (including none) and let every album be a part of this timeline - or let it be "timeless".
OK, here how I see it from the purely boring semi-technical perspective:
In user's account settings there will be a Timeline group of options looking like this:
Now the second part - we would need to add a matching set of settings for album/gallery properties:
Finally, we would need to provide a "Timeline" view in the style combo, which would effectively replace categories with years, subcategories with months, and, if we make it possible, add one more level for days - provided, of course user has chosen to participate in the Timeline up to certain level at all.
Note, that some albums may reside only at,say, year level or be purely timeless, in which case they should all be either shown in their normal category/subcategory hierarchy, or, what it's like to see first fall funder the "Timeless" root and shen show their eternal faces.
Thank you VERY much if you're still reading!
Now - tell me, what do you think? Please?
I already bitched about inflexibility of just two category levels and impossibility to "share" the same image between two or more albums.
However, my biggest problem lies right here: I need a way to specify and present timeline of my albums.
The idea goes way back when I realized that I have more than a hundred pictures to store locally and to share on the 'net. That was way back when there was no fancy-pants photoalbums software packages avaialbe. So, my solution was quite simple: TIMELINE. Later I heard and read that many other photographers, including some quite prominent one, resorted to the same or similar method.
I simply created a directory structure like follows:
On the first level there are only years
...
2001
2002
2003
2004
Within each YEAR there is - you already guessed, right?;-) - upto 12 month folders named like that:
2002
2002-01
2002-02
2002-03
2002-04
2002-05
2002-06
2002-08
2002-09
2002-10
2002-11
2002-12
Where is 2002-07, you ask? well, it looks like there was no picture taken during this month.
What's next? Well, I definitely can entartain the idea that it's also feasible to have day-level folders (e.g. 2002\2002-03\2002-03-01). And for somebody who takes hundreds of shots almost every day (hello, Andy:-) that might be a very usuable level. For me, however, it was too much.
What's next? It's all easy from here. Every album of mine resided at some level of this time line. It was usually pretty easy to find them.
But what does it all have to do with SMUGMUG? Well, that's waht I'm asking for:
Introduce a concept of TIMELINE, let user define what level he or she needs (including none) and let every album be a part of this timeline - or let it be "timeless".
OK, here how I see it from the purely boring semi-technical perspective:
In user's account settings there will be a Timeline group of options looking like this:
Now the second part - we would need to add a matching set of settings for album/gallery properties:
Finally, we would need to provide a "Timeline" view in the style combo, which would effectively replace categories with years, subcategories with months, and, if we make it possible, add one more level for days - provided, of course user has chosen to participate in the Timeline up to certain level at all.
Note, that some albums may reside only at,say, year level or be purely timeless, in which case they should all be either shown in their normal category/subcategory hierarchy, or, what it's like to see first fall funder the "Timeless" root and shen show their eternal faces.
Thank you VERY much if you're still reading!
Now - tell me, what do you think? Please?
"May the f/stop be with you!"
0
Comments
Maybe I'm more a visual guy, wanting to look at the actual pictures instead of browsing through categories.
Sebastian
SmugMug Support Hero