I'm not against "New Journal" style at all. It's cool, and it definitely has its place. But frankly I think the old and new are so different that they both have a right to continued existence. Can you just give them new, distinctive names and leave them both as options?
Please don't take "Old Journal" away from the viewer-controlled styles. It's easy on the eyes, and people like it.
Great work as always - thanks!
Gina
Gina, do me a favor and try the new style on this gallery: http://pasadenagina.smugmug.com/gallery/8984035_sPbuD to me, it looks awesome. I want to appreciate your trip - so the photos are bigger - I don't have to click to get 'em bigger, either!
As someone pointed out on the main thread for the new styles, the dgrin IR photography tutorial is a good example of how the old journal style can be used.
Still a fan of the "old", but love the "new" too!
I've always been a fan of the "old style" journal format....I like the alternating left/right registration of the photo which allowed for sometimes lengthy captions. But on a wide screen display, the "page" width consumed only about one-half the available screen real estate...so I've always wanted to see the pictures BIGGER.
So I applaud the Smug team for what they've done. It's an improvement many of us like and appreciate, I'm sure. Yet I have to agree that the old alternating left and right format really does do a fabulous job when the goal is to "journal" a story.
My thought (not sure I ever expressed it) was that keeping the basic alternating format, but using all the horizontal real estate on the display, was the "ideal" layout. On my 22 inch screen, the photos could be 4 times larger than the old layout allowed, still alternated left and right, and still with plenty of room on the side for the wordy captions.
Combining the above left/right, full-width (with "side-mounted" captions) format, along with the "continuous" (one page per gallery instead of 10 photos per page) would be at the top of my Jounal style wishlist.
Keep the new uses coming, folks! This is great feedback, thanks to you all.
I'm using the old gallery style in about 8 or 10 applications where it was a quick and easy solution to managing some administrative stuff on a camera club site I maintain but I have to admit that I'm only using it for the admin stuff because it is quick and easy. I've already started moving all of it to HTML Only pages and I have to admit it does look better so I guess I should thank you for getting me off my lazy behind.
However, I am also using the old journal for guestbooks on both of my sites as well as some gallery applications that I would really hate to have to give up. I don't have a problem with the New Journal style but as others have already pointed out there are applications where it just isn't the best solution; or to put it another way, one size just doesn't fit all.
Another vote for maintaining the *OLD* Journal style.
Realize it is more a matter of taste, but the new style does nothing for me. Where as I have used the old style for posting many of my online course assignments.
Gina, do me a favor and try the new style on this gallery: http://pasadenagina.smugmug.com/gallery/8984035_sPbuD to me, it looks awesome. I want to appreciate your trip - so the photos are bigger - I don't have to click to get 'em bigger, either!
I tried New Journal style on that album, and it did look great. Having extra-large photos makes the viewer feel like they're on the bike trail alongside me. On my 22" monitor with the browser fully expanded, the photos are hugemongous!
But ultimately, I changed the style back to Old Journal. The reason I chose Old Journal in the first place was that I'd bothered to write some lengthy captions and I wanted the viewer to read them. The text seems as much a part of the story as the photos. Old Journal draws text to the viewer's eye, whereas captions are easy to overlook in New Journal style. Many of the other applications of Old Journal I've seen via this thread are also taking advantage of the text emphasis.
My bigger point is.... Old Journal and New Journal are not the same. I like both, but would tend to use them for different purposes. I don't really think it's fair to take a stylesheet, reengineer it to make it look completely different, then release it on SmugMuggers without warning. Believe me when I say I appreciate what a PITA it might be to develop and test and introduce all-new stylesheets, but in this case I think there's justification for going through the trouble.
An alternative / compromise MIGHT be to modify Old Journal so the text & photos take up more than half the width of the screen real estate. Can it be made expandable, instead of fixed width? Just a thought.
I actually use the "old" journal as an easy way to put multiple piece of information on the screen, but in a nice way. A photo to 'represent' the content, then the content. It'll be a big pain to have to do it all by hand, and, a lot harder for users to do it too... Removing old journal would be a big mistake.
We've been using old journal style for nearly everything, partly because the multiple viewable photos per page and the side-by-side captioning work well for telling a story, and partly because it's the easiest format for my 86-yr-old mother-in-law to view and use. I'd be happy to see old journal as a choice in the drop-down style menu, but I'll settle for having the option in customize. Please don't do away with it.
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I've always been a fan of the "old style" journal format....I like the alternating left/right registration of the photo which allowed for sometimes lengthy captions. But on a wide screen display, the "page" width consumed only about one-half the available screen real estate...so I've always wanted to see the pictures BIGGER.
So I applaud the Smug team for what they've done. It's an improvement many of us like and appreciate, I'm sure. Yet I have to agree that the old alternating left and right format really does do a fabulous job when the goal is to "journal" a story.
My thought (not sure I ever expressed it) was that keeping the basic alternating format, but using all the horizontal real estate on the display, was the "ideal" layout. On my 22 inch screen, the photos could be 4 times larger than the old layout allowed, still alternated left and right, and still with plenty of room on the side for the wordy captions.
Combining the above left/right, full-width (with "side-mounted" captions) format, along with the "continuous" (one page per gallery instead of 10 photos per page) would be at the top of my Jounal style wishlist.
I'm using the old gallery style in about 8 or 10 applications where it was a quick and easy solution to managing some administrative stuff on a camera club site I maintain but I have to admit that I'm only using it for the admin stuff because it is quick and easy. I've already started moving all of it to HTML Only pages and I have to admit it does look better so I guess I should thank you for getting me off my lazy behind.
However, I am also using the old journal for guestbooks on both of my sites as well as some gallery applications that I would really hate to have to give up. I don't have a problem with the New Journal style but as others have already pointed out there are applications where it just isn't the best solution; or to put it another way, one size just doesn't fit all.
Realize it is more a matter of taste, but the new style does nothing for me. Where as I have used the old style for posting many of my online course assignments.
http://ghealy.smugmug.com/Online%20Courses/599147
http://ghealy.smugmug.com/Online%20Courses/649686
My galleries: http://ghealy.smugmug.com
My Blog: http://photosbyhealy.blogspot.com
But ultimately, I changed the style back to Old Journal. The reason I chose Old Journal in the first place was that I'd bothered to write some lengthy captions and I wanted the viewer to read them. The text seems as much a part of the story as the photos. Old Journal draws text to the viewer's eye, whereas captions are easy to overlook in New Journal style. Many of the other applications of Old Journal I've seen via this thread are also taking advantage of the text emphasis.
My bigger point is.... Old Journal and New Journal are not the same. I like both, but would tend to use them for different purposes. I don't really think it's fair to take a stylesheet, reengineer it to make it look completely different, then release it on SmugMuggers without warning. Believe me when I say I appreciate what a PITA it might be to develop and test and introduce all-new stylesheets, but in this case I think there's justification for going through the trouble.
An alternative / compromise MIGHT be to modify Old Journal so the text & photos take up more than half the width of the screen real estate. Can it be made expandable, instead of fixed width? Just a thought.
David
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I do use the new journal for photo rather than info oriented displays with short captions.
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