Square Thumbs Thread!

GJMPhoto

Square Thumbs
I have a small set (six sets) of saved options that I use when I create new galleries ... is there an easy way to update those saved copies to turn off the square thumb option rather than creating a new gallery with the option set, turning off the squares and then resaving each of them???

Thanks,
- Gary.

Andy

GJMPhoto wrote:

I have a small set (six sets) of saved options that I use when I create new galleries ... is there an easy way to update those saved copies to turn off the square thumb option rather than creating a new gallery with the option set, turning off the squares and then resaving each of them???

Thanks,
- Gary.

Hi Gary, for now, you must open a gallery, adjust the quicksetting, and save that as a new quick setting, new name. Sorry about that!

Ric Grupe

So...if I have this right. You can NOT just select square thumbs and get them on existing galleries.

Now that is clever. As is making it default...so that the user HAS to do something if they want their galleries to all look alike.

Glad my Driver's Ed instructor never put the car in reverse when I wasn't looking...."well I put a note on your locker"

Craig Ridley

Craig Ridley wrote:

Will BZT continue to be supported or is this dead now?

The key advantage of this tool was you were able to position the square thumbnail crop to get the best looking thumbnail. With the new automatic square thumbnails it automatically uses the middle of the image and this does not always look the best?

For me personally, the best idea would have been to place the BZT code on the server to avoid everybody adding it to their custom sites and having this as an additional gallery option.

bump...

Andy

Craig Ridley wrote:

Will BZT continue to be supported or is this dead now?

It's not dead. That hack works. And our plan as of now, is that Dev will continue to support it

Andy

Ric Grupe wrote:

So...if I have this right. You can NOT just select square thumbs and get them on existing galleries.

Now that is clever. As is making it default...so that the user HAS to do something if they want their galleries to all look alike.

Glad my Driver's Ed instructor never put the car in reverse when I wasn't looking...."well I put a note on your locker"

Hey Ric,

You're correct.

And this is the subject of a lot of discussion internally, I hope we can improve on the feature.

Ric Grupe

Andy wrote:

And this is the subject of a lot of discussion internally, I hope we can improve on the feature.

Good attitude, Andy!

The user experience is of paramount importance.

I should have said that the idea is very good.

GeekyGirl

Thanks
I just wanted to say a quick THANK YOU for this feature!

clongwor

Okay, I'm stupid
I read your post. I had uploaded a gallery before I knew about the square thumbs. I take nature photos and several of the pictures have animals on either side of the frame, so a couple of thumbnails in the gallery are in the middle and you don't see the animals at all.

How do I get this gallery back to the nonsquare thumbnails. I went to customize this gallery and found the Square Thumbnails option and changed yes to no, but the thumbnails are still square.

I guess others like this, but because of the nature of my photos, it'll be a pain to change the default everytime I upload a gallery. Some of us are over 50 and don't remember everything every time!

Thanks

Andy

clongwor wrote:

I read your post. I had uploaded a gallery before I knew about the square thumbs. I take nature photos and several of the pictures have animals on either side of the frame, so a couple of thumbnails in the gallery are in the middle and you don't see the animals at all.

How do I get this gallery back to the nonsquare thumbnails. I went to customize this gallery and found the Square Thumbnails option and changed yes to no, but the thumbnails are still square.

I guess others like this, but because of the nature of my photos, it'll be a pain to change the default everytime I upload a gallery. Some of us are over 50 and don't remember everything every time!

Thanks

Hi, be sure to set a quick settings template for 'no square thumbs' - then use that when you create new galleries.

To unsquare those thumbs, use bulk rotate, select all the photos, rotate them left and then go back and rotate them right. Holler to our help desk if we can help further, okay? Thanks!

Markjay

Square thumbs = square search engine results
One VERY important thing to remember / know before or after you've squared your thumbs........


If you are expecting your thumbnails to look "normal" in a google search...
it aint going to happen.

Your thumbnails are as they are......
even in the google or search engine search.

So, square thumbs means square thumbs are what people searching for images that match yours are what they are going to see in their search results.

Not really a big deal but, you should be aware of this. I've always wondered if a photo of mine appearing as a square thumb in a search result would be any kind of a disadvantage, like maybe the viewer doesn't know this is not the full view of that photo?

Guess I'll never know the answer to that one :-) until someone makes mention of it after a search. Besides, I haven't even finished SEO of my site yet so, my photos won't be showing up in a google search anytime soon till I've completed that task.

Hope this helps?

Andy wrote:

Today we announced a cool new feature, square thumbs.

twincitiesphoto

I'm noticing something with the way my square thumbnails appear compared to another gallery I noticed -

My monitor resoution is 1920x1200 - and on my gallery here
http://www.twincitiesphotography.com/gallery/4380094_r7rzX#267941508
I get 7 thumbnails across - with the larger picture on the right

But I came across this other gallery of someone elses
http://lbsphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/4555793_exweF/4/268811189_AwxCS#268811189
and he only has 5 thumbnails across - with the thumbnails looking larger -

this is using the same monitor - so why are his thumbnails appearing larger and only 5 across ??

Oakley

Safe to delete all things btz???

zack75144

Hi, be sure to set a quick settings template for 'no square thumbs' - then use that when you create new galleries.

Dumb question coming....How you do dis?

Oakley

zack75144 wrote:

Dumb question coming....How you do dis?

The quick settings for your gallery is the place where you make all your gallery settings via "customize gallery".

In there you'll find a radio button that allows you to turn off the square thumbs. You can now save that settings as a "quick settings" on the top of hte page and apply it to any exisiting or new gallery.

Does that help?

Craig Ridley

Oakley wrote:

Safe to delete all things btz???

Safe providing you are comfortable with the automatic square thumbs creating the thumbnail based upon centre of image. Otherwise if you want control over the thumbnail appearance, i.e. not chopping off a persons head, you will still require BZT.

zack75144

Yes I found the quick settings, thank you.

Here is the problem, Using "Send to Smugmug" to upload photos. You must upload to an existing gallery that you have already set for no square thumbs.
If you upload to a new gallery with "send to smugmug" by default it squares off the thumbs and changing the gallery settings after the fact does not change them back.

Through trial and error I've learned the work around but this is something that needs to be fixed.

Andy

zack75144 wrote:

this is something that needs to be fixed.

Send to SmugMug is a 3rd party app - I've written to Omar and asked him to update

twincitiesphoto

twincitiesphoto wrote:

I'm noticing something with the way my square thumbnails appear compared to another gallery I noticed -

My monitor resoution is 1920x1200 - and on my gallery here
http://www.twincitiesphotography.com/gallery/4380094_r7rzX#267941508
I get 7 thumbnails across - with the larger picture on the right

But I came across this other gallery of someone elses
http://lbsphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/4555793_exweF/4/268811189_AwxCS#268811189
and he only has 5 thumbnails across - with the thumbnails looking larger -

this is using the same monitor - so why are his thumbnails appearing larger and only 5 across ??

Andy - I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on this item - how do you modify the size of your thumbnails - is this a customization?

Andy

twincitiesphoto wrote:

Andy - I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on this item - how do you modify the size of your thumbnails - is this a customization?

You don't, but we do. If the browser window space is >1600px then we serve up 150px thumbnails.

brandofamily

Andy wrote:

You don't, but we do. If the browser window space is >1600px then we serve up 150px thumbnails.

I'm not following you. I look at both sites mentioned above w/ the same monitor. One site gives big thumbs, one does not...
Same "browser window space" different thumbs...

twincitiesphoto

You must have made the fix already as now I'm only seeing four thumbnails across and it looks MARVELOUS !

Thanks Andy -

Andy

brandofamily wrote:

I'm not following you. I look at both sites mentioned above w/ the same monitor. One site gives big thumbs, one does not...
Same "browser window space" different thumbs...

Please notice the difference in customizing.


Oh and this might help:

1280
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/226689265_V8ik9-O.jpg


2560
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/228670413_fxrDu-O.jpg

brandofamily

Andy wrote:

Please notice the difference in customizing.


Oh and this might help:

1280
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/226689265_V8ik9-O.jpg


2560
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/228670413_fxrDu-O.jpg

I see the diff in your examples. I'm viewing at 1680px wide. I also see the customization on the page w/ the smaller thumbs. It still does not make sense to me.
Both sites, 1680px wide monitor, different sized thumbs... Is it due to the customization on the site w/ the smaller thumbs?

claudermilk

I noticed this when uploading a new gallery. "Huh? How'd it get to square already, I haven't run BZT yet? COOL!" Thanks for the massive timesaver. clap

JETA

claudermilk wrote:

I haven't run BZT yet? COOL!" Thanks for the massive timesaver. clap

I keep searching and come up with nothing.

Can someone tell me what BZT is?

poorestyorick

inconvenient
The feature is cool if you like the squares look that alot of flash galleries use. I don't like the default setting (but I get that it has to be one or the other).

The side effect of having to rotate my photos to reset them is very regrettable. I don't like that part one bit.

JETA

poorestyorick wrote:

The feature is cool if you like the squares look that alot of flash galleries use. I don't like the default setting (but I get that it has to be one or the other).

The side effect of having to rotate my photos to reset them is very regrettable. I don't like that part one bit.

This sums up my feelings to a "T".

sskoutas

JETA wrote:

This sums up my feelings to a "T".

I looked at this requirement, plus the need to zoom-thumbnail all of the thumbs, as an opportunity to reacquaint myself with my images. Honestly, I'm STILL working on it a few days later, but I'm getting to see images I forgot about.

Oh, and the "flash gallery" / square thumb look is WONDERFUL if your gallery had a mix of portrait and landscape images... I always hated the sloppiness of the mixed-orientation thumbs. This is a very much so appreciated change.

kris10

I just uploaded and saw the square thumbs. At first I thought "what in the h-e-double hockey sticks did I do now". But I looked at the how to zoom photo thing and after thinking...square thumbs suck...and though it takes some time to zoom all of them....it's actually pretty cool. Nice feature!!!